The Pigskin Palooka (1937) Poster

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8/10
No singing!
planktonrules3 February 2012
As the short begins, Alfalfa is in a military school and he's wearing the football star's (Dickie Jones) uniform to get his picture taken. It seems that the Alfalfinator has told all his friends back home that HE is the star of his new school's football team--when in reality he's scared to death of the game. So, when he returns to visit, he's expected to show everyone his amazing sports skills (which are negligible) in the big football game. How will Alfalfa manage to extricate from this mess?!

This is one of the better later shorts for two reasons. First, there is no singing and dancing--things that ruined many of the late Our Gang shorts. Second, while Alfalfa Switzer definitely overacted, the plot worked well and the film quite clever. Worth seeing even if you aren't a fan of the films.
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7/10
Playin' Tackle Football With The Little Rascals
Ron Oliver12 June 2000
An OUR GANG Comedy Short.

While away at military academy, Alfalfa has lied in his letters to Darla about his nonexistent football prowess. So, upon his return home, THE PIGSKIN PALOOKA finds himself the only hope for Spanky's All Stars in the big game against Spike's Tigers...

Not many laughs in this little film. Alfalfa is the whole show here & he doesn't even get to sing!
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7/10
At Least It Looked Like Football
Hitchcoc11 April 2018
Alfalfa has been away at military school. In order to impress Darla, he claims to have been a star football player when in reality he has not even played. She tells the Gang about his exploits and he comes home to a hero's welcome. Unfortunately for him, they expect him to play in a game against butch and the big guys. It's all silliness as his efforts to avoid things keep having positive consequences. A bit above average for the series.
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9/10
The Pigskin Palooka was another funny Our Gang comedy
tavm29 December 2014
This Hal Roach comedy short, The Pigskin Palooka, is the one hundred sixtieth entry in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the seventy-second talkie. At military school, Alfalfa has written about his heroic exploits as a football star to the gang at home. Trouble is, none of it's true! So when he arrives back home by train, it's to a crowd of admiring fans and Spanky recruits him for the afternoon game. Oh boy! I'll stop there and just say this was another funny outing for the gang especially concerning Alfalfa's facial reactions and movements. So on that note, The Pigskin Palooka is definitely worth seeing.
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7/10
The Football Flick Genre has nowhere to go . . .
pixrox19 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
. . . but downhill after the release of THE PIGSKIN PALOOKA. The hard-hitting realism of PIGSKIN PALOOKA convinces viewers that RUDY isn't fit to hold "Alfalfa's" shoulder pads. "Our Gang" makes THE REPLACEMENTS look like the rag tag bunch that they are. The GRIDIRON GANG would quake in their cleats if confronted by "Porky" and "Spanky." PIGSKIN PALOOKA eats NORTH DALLAS FORTY's lunch. KNUTE ROCKNE, ALL-AMERICAN would never be able to "win one for the Gipper" against Our Gang. Alfalfa alone could compress THE LONGEST YARD down to an angry inch or so. "Darla" does not need FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS to obscure stretch marks of any sort. Alfalfa would leave FORREST GUMP in the dust by the SOUTH Dallas 40. As for the 37 films revolving around pin-pointing football's equivalent to Brooklyn Dodger #42, "Jackie Robinson," Game of Broke Bones aficionados need look no further than Our Gang's #12--"Buckwheat"--in THE PIGSKIN PALOOKA.
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