This M-G-M comedy short, Robot Wrecks, is the two hundred first entry in the "Our Gang" series and the one hundred thirteenth talkie. After the gang watch a robot demonstrate doing work at a store display, they decide to make their own to do the same thing. It doesn't work, however, and Slicker cons them by selling them some "invisible rays". The robot does do what it's ordered to do but only because Boxcar is in it, unbeknownst to the gang. Okay, while this was another "let's-teach-the-kids-a-lesson" ep of OG, I found much of it pretty funny like when Spanky raises his voice when the robot doesn't reply right away to his question or when the camera is undercranked when the robot goes "haywire". Also, Billy Bletcher not only reprises his role as Froggy's father, he also does the masculine voice of the mother as well! So on that note, Robot Wrecks is at the least worth a look.
10 Reviews
Despite another lesson being taught, Robot Wrecks was a pretty funny Our Gang comedy
tavm29 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
One of the better MGM films even if it is clichéd
dbborroughs25 September 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Kids see a robot demonstrated and decide to build their own. When it fails to work, one of the other kids trick them into believing that he can make it work.
Amusing but clichéd story is well done, but I really wished that it didn't hit every one of the familiar gags for a story like this. You've seen all of this before and while its well done the, the familiarity drains the humor from the affair and makes it so that you watch and smile instead of laugh. You won't hate it, but odds are you'll wish it was better. Worth a look if you run across it but its not something you'll want to search out on its own.
Amusing but clichéd story is well done, but I really wished that it didn't hit every one of the familiar gags for a story like this. You've seen all of this before and while its well done the, the familiarity drains the humor from the affair and makes it so that you watch and smile instead of laugh. You won't hate it, but odds are you'll wish it was better. Worth a look if you run across it but its not something you'll want to search out on its own.
Low Budget Moralizing
Hitchcoc30 January 2019
It's kind of neat that when kids see something they find fascinating, they decide to duplicate it, in their own kid way. Here it is a robot that catches their eyes. They decide they can gather some junk and make their own. Soon, one of the older kids gets the idea of conning them into thinking they can sell an invisible substance that will make the mechanical man work. Of course, Boxcar, the toady to the big guy, is inside and he goes berserk. They are made to pay a price and shown that what they did was lazy. Actually, what they did was creative and imaginative, even though they got bilked.
a little lacking in credibility, but fun nonetheless (possible spo
marjcbs1 October 2004
Let me explain....
The Gang had previously encountered Slicker as a bully in "Fightin' Fools" and now faces him as a con man who sells them "invisible rays" to help them make their robot work. Is the Gang that gullible? (And Spanky, the unofficial leader of the Gang, is 13-years-old! Surely, he would have had more intellectual sense!)
That having been said, this film is rather fun. As the Gang builds and tests their robot, they copy some of the same things they witnessed in a previous labor-saving robotics demonstration (they even mimic the famous line: "Robot, do you feel in condition to go to work?").
Even more fun is to be had. Slicker enlists a friend of his to step inside the robot, and fool the Gang into believing their endeavor was successful. When the robot is instructed to mow Froggy's lawn, he does more than that --- he mows down flowers and vegetables, turns over wheelbarrows, and flings newspapers all over the yard. All filmed at double-speed!! It's really cool to watch.
Sadly, what is less fun is when Froggy's dad gives the kids a lecture on personal responsibility (such is often the case in MGM Our Gang films). This lecture is then followed by one of Froggy's lame Aunt Minnie quotes at the end of film: "Never put off till tomorrow what you should have done yesterday!" (this, of course, in inexplicably followed by raucous laughter from the Gang).
An interesting side note is that Billy Bletcher, the actor who played Froggy's father, is the guy who provided voices for some of the Warner Brothers cartoons (probably most notably as Henry, the grouchy father bear). His natural baritone voice made him the perfect actor to play Froggy's father. In fact, in an amusing throw-away gag, he even provided a dubbed voice for Froggy's mother!
In sum, this is a reasonably enjoyable film that could have been even more so if the writers didn't feel the need to moralize near the end. One more thing: is it really necessary to end an MGM short with a contrived joke that produces forced laughter at the end?
Just a thought.
The Gang had previously encountered Slicker as a bully in "Fightin' Fools" and now faces him as a con man who sells them "invisible rays" to help them make their robot work. Is the Gang that gullible? (And Spanky, the unofficial leader of the Gang, is 13-years-old! Surely, he would have had more intellectual sense!)
That having been said, this film is rather fun. As the Gang builds and tests their robot, they copy some of the same things they witnessed in a previous labor-saving robotics demonstration (they even mimic the famous line: "Robot, do you feel in condition to go to work?").
Even more fun is to be had. Slicker enlists a friend of his to step inside the robot, and fool the Gang into believing their endeavor was successful. When the robot is instructed to mow Froggy's lawn, he does more than that --- he mows down flowers and vegetables, turns over wheelbarrows, and flings newspapers all over the yard. All filmed at double-speed!! It's really cool to watch.
Sadly, what is less fun is when Froggy's dad gives the kids a lecture on personal responsibility (such is often the case in MGM Our Gang films). This lecture is then followed by one of Froggy's lame Aunt Minnie quotes at the end of film: "Never put off till tomorrow what you should have done yesterday!" (this, of course, in inexplicably followed by raucous laughter from the Gang).
An interesting side note is that Billy Bletcher, the actor who played Froggy's father, is the guy who provided voices for some of the Warner Brothers cartoons (probably most notably as Henry, the grouchy father bear). His natural baritone voice made him the perfect actor to play Froggy's father. In fact, in an amusing throw-away gag, he even provided a dubbed voice for Froggy's mother!
In sum, this is a reasonably enjoyable film that could have been even more so if the writers didn't feel the need to moralize near the end. One more thing: is it really necessary to end an MGM short with a contrived joke that produces forced laughter at the end?
Just a thought.
Amusing 'Our Gang' outing
jamesrupert201419 July 2021
Hoping to get out of doing chores, Spanky, Froggy, Buckwheat and the rest of the gang build a robot, but their mechanical man doesn't work until Slicker sells them some invisible 'magic-rays', which eventually prompts the automaton to run amuck. Typical 'Our Gang' hijinks. The best part is the complex (and heavily armed) protocols necessary to access and transport the wealth contained in the 'Club Treszuree', the price of Slicker's help. A moderately funny entry with some of the better known 'Rascals' from the end of the long running, constantly changing, series of comic shorts. Billy Laughlin (Froggy) was a one-of a-kind talent, too bad he died so young.
easy charm of Our Gang
SnoopyStyle16 October 2021
Our Gang is at a department store watching a robot demonstration. The robot, Volto, pushes a lawn mower around. The kids decide to make their own robot. Slicker tricks the kids and sells them a box of invisible rays. Slicker's friend Boxcar had put on the robot costume and pretended to make it work.
It's an Our Gang short. It's not anything special but it has an easy charm. I don't know why a department store would do a fake demonstration of the robot. Are they selling robots? The demonstration should have been about the appliances. The robot should have been a side show. Quite frankly, it should have been a giant rudimentary toy robots. The presenter could get frustrated with Our Gang and kick them out of the store. That would be a good catalyst for them to make their own robot. The rest is good kiddie fun.
It's an Our Gang short. It's not anything special but it has an easy charm. I don't know why a department store would do a fake demonstration of the robot. Are they selling robots? The demonstration should have been about the appliances. The robot should have been a side show. Quite frankly, it should have been a giant rudimentary toy robots. The presenter could get frustrated with Our Gang and kick them out of the store. That would be a good catalyst for them to make their own robot. The rest is good kiddie fun.
The Good Book teaches us that Scammers are Born . . .
pixrox130 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
. . . NOT Made, and ROBOT WRECKS soundly seconds that notion. 21st Century viewers of "Slicker" and "Boxcar" scheming to defraud "Our Gang" of their entire ready cash supply in exchange for invisible assets will think immediately of the Red Commie KGB-controlled rump cushion gang, which has replaced Altruism with Nepotism as the American Ideal. Our Gang is deprived not only of the coveted chocolate and strawberry flavors on the edges of their unseen Neapolitan sundaes, but they even lose access to the vanilla in the middle. It's far easier picturing Slicker and Boxcar as demonic imps or junior choir demons springing up directly from the Down Below, than to view this deplorable duo as a pair of lapsed Sunday School Regulars. It's not necessary to sit through two or three hours of BAD SEED to be convinced that you'll never pluck a Golden Delicious from a crabapple tree. ROBOT WRECKS reinforces Predestination as having the final say against "Free Will." Boxcar and Slicker will NEVER join the ranks of the Elect, no matter how many times they rig the "Electoral College" results!
The worst of the worst!
jbacks328 December 2004
Robot Wrecks should have been a great Our Gang entry--- the basic idea of building kid's robot slave in the days soon after the World of Tomorrow sounds pretty cool. Alas, sounds can be deceiving. Robot Wrecks blows the premise by bastardizing the robot by stuffing it with Billy Ray "Boxcar" Smith and allegedly fueling it with "invisible rays" and then selling it to one of their usual foes, Freddie "Slicker" Walburn (who's atypically gullible here). Voices are obviously dubbed, the acting is excruciating to watch and the only remotely funny aspect is that the writers could get even kids to recite the dialog (blame Hal Law and Robert A. McGowan). Sadly, future MGM Our Gangs would rival this deplorable production. If I could give this less than 0 stars I would.
Mediocre "Our Gang" short from the series' declining years
biker4518 April 2002
ROBOT WRECKS is a mediocre entry in the "Our Gang" series, made during the declining years of the once excellent short comedies. The aging "second generation" cast members look awkward, particularly Spanky McFarland, who is really too old to portray a kid. The plot is according to a well-worn formula, with the gang building their own backyard version of something they have seen. It's all familiar, with predictable results. The studio was trying to introduce another new generation of child actors to the series during this time period, but the originality of the characters seen in the earlier films just wasn't there. The best examples of the earlier films (1930's era) featured the gang doing their thing without any adult presence in evidence. The 1940's films are full of adult characters, and their presence is a big detraction. If you want to catch the true peak of the series, watch the films made from 1929 through the mid 1930's, and don't bother with later series entries.
An insult to "Our Gang" fans
Douglas_Holmes28 May 2002
Warning: Spoilers
(Possible Spoilers) Flat, dull and unfunny, this was typical of the "adults (for which read 'Authority Figures') know best" plots that betrayed the entire Our Gang concept. In the earlier films, the kids create things and get into trouble, but there was an endearing charm to watching them trying to mimic the kinds of things the adult world had (building a fire engine, operating a playhouse, attending club meetings, etc.)
This film uses that familiar idea and then perverts it by using it as a lead to a piece of "do it yourself" moralizing, which robs the film of humor. Also, there are problems with the kids: as someone said, Spanky is way too old to still be playing a thoroughly naive kid (all of the Gang's characters in this film were played as ignorant rubes who would have bought the Brooklyn Bridge if Slicker had offered it to them,) while Freddie "Slicker" Walburn himself looks distracted, as if he wished he were somewhere else. Given the quality of this miserable film, it isn't surprising.
This film uses that familiar idea and then perverts it by using it as a lead to a piece of "do it yourself" moralizing, which robs the film of humor. Also, there are problems with the kids: as someone said, Spanky is way too old to still be playing a thoroughly naive kid (all of the Gang's characters in this film were played as ignorant rubes who would have bought the Brooklyn Bridge if Slicker had offered it to them,) while Freddie "Slicker" Walburn himself looks distracted, as if he wished he were somewhere else. Given the quality of this miserable film, it isn't surprising.
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