History Film / TheLittleRascals

* AnimalReactionShot: Pete's speciality.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Several. Notable ones include Spanky (in his early years), Wheezer (again, in his early years), and Junior.

* BaldOfAuthority: Stymie, on occasion.

* BigDamnMovie: The box office bomb ''General Spanky''.
* BigEater: Chubby Chaney and Porky Lee.
* BigFriendlyDog: Pete the Pup.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Mr. Crutch in ''Shrimps For a Day''.
** Percy in ''Sprucin' Up''.
* BlackFace: Appears in ''Uncle Tom's Uncle'', ''Spanky'', ''Anniversary Trouble'', ''The Pinch Singer'', and ''Ye Olde Minstrels''.

* BlindWithoutEm: Froggy in ''Baby Blues''.

* TheBoxingEpisode: ''The Champeen!'', ''Boxing Gloves'', and ''Glove Taps''.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Alfalfa at the end of ''Came the Brawn''.
** The entire cast at the end of ''Saturday's Lesson''.
* BreakOutCharacter: The series had several: Spanky, Alfalfa, Stymie, Farina, and Froggy, among others.
* TheBully: Butch, but in the shorts ''For Pete's Sake!'' and ''The Lucky Corner'', the bully was played by Leonard Kibrick.
* BumblingDad: Mr Hood, Darla's father, in particular.
* TheBusCameBack: Sort of. Mickey Daniels returns to town in ''Fish Hooky'' as a truant officer.
* ButtMonkey: Farina, Bonedust and Wheezer.

* CloudCuckoolander: Stymie in his early days.

* CoveredInMud: Paul Toien in ''Olympic Games''.
* CowboyEpisode: ''War Feathers''.
* CrackDefeat: Jerry loses the downhill race to the Rascals in ''Hi'-Neighbor!'', despite having a better-looking car.

* DeadpanSnarker: Spanky.
* DeathGlare: Spanky in his earlier episodes. Usually directed at Scotty.

* DroppedAfterThePilot: Anna Mae Bilson and John Hatton.

* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Happens occasionally, mostly in the MGM era.
* FakingTheDead: Harry Spear in ''Spook-Spoofing''.
* FatComicRelief: Joe Cobb, Chubby Chaney, Porky Lee.
* [[TelevisionGeography Film Geography]]: The Rascals supposedly live in California, though a New York-like city appears in several entries.

* PrinceAndPauper: ''Alfalfa's Double''

* RegalRinglets: Dorothy.
* [[RevolvingDoorBand Revolving Door Cast]]: Used to keep the group young.

* SmugSnake: Jerry Tucker in ''Hi'-Neighbor!''
* {{Schoolmarm}}: Miss Crabtree

* StageMom: Spanky has one in ''Beginner's Luck''.
* StockYuck: Chubby's Limberger cheese. Makes all but him hold their nose and cower.
* StarCrossedLovers: Mickey and Mary, Alfalfa and Darla.

* SyndicationTitle: ''The Little Rascals''.
** Also ''Mischief Makers'' and ''Those Lovable Scallawags With Their Gangs'' for the silent films.

* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Porky in ''Three Smart Boys''.

* TookALevelInBadass: Alfalfa in ''Football Romeo''.

* NiceHat: Stymie's [[DashinglyDapperDerby derby]] (given to him by [[Creator/LaurelAndHardy Stan Laurel]]), Spanky's striped beanie, Scotty's sideways baseball cap.

* {{Corpsing}}: When Wheezer and Uh-Huh pose as midgets (by walking on their knees) in ''Fish Hooky'', John Collum keeps tripping. Bobby Hutchins clearly tries not to laugh.
** Eugene (Porky) Lee tries to hold in his laughter after some of the adult characters fall victim to a bottle of laughing gas in ''Men in Fright''.
* {{Costumer}}: ''General Spanky''.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Stymie, on occasion.

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Butch and Woim.

* ''Film/LazyDays''

* ButtMonkey: Farina and Bonedust.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Virtually every character in the series. That is, if one actually considers the series to have [[NegativeContinuity ever had any continuity]].

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Elmer.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Elmer

A revolving cast of child stars came and went throughout the course of the series. Among the better-known personalities were George "Spanky" [=McFarland=], Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Tommy "Butch" Bond and Darla Hood. Cast members who went on to adult acting careers (some shorter than others) include Ernest "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, Scotty Beckett, Matthew Beard, Dickie Moore, Carl Switzer, Tommy Bond, Robert Blake, Jackie Cooper and Creator/DorothyDandridge.

* TheMovie: A number of classic Little rascals shorts adapted and woven together until the plot of a single film,it largely reflects an effort to maintain the classic feel, but has a few contemporary touches.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "I whipped out my lizard!"
** Alfalfa jumps into a pool and swims to the other side. As he climbs out, he looks down and realizes he's totally butt-naked--his underwear floating on the surface of the pool. He grabs it to put it back on, only to discover he's right in front of Darla and Waldo.
--->'''Darla''': Alfalfa! This is a side of you I've never seen before! [[note]] In other words, Darla probably saw Alfalfa's penis, and ''definitely'' saw his butt.[[/note]]
** "Is that a cowlick OrAreYouJustHappyToSeeMe"
** Randy Newman's "Short People" plays over the lumber shopping scene; the volume drops, and characters speak over offensive lines about people with dwarfism.

* BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce: Several examples, usually involving a character secretly spiking the food of another for revenge. Dickie does this to Spanky in "Birthday Blues" and Wheezer does this to his spoiled stepbrother Sherwood in "Dogs is Dogs."

* FriendVersusLover: Spanky was during the first minutes of the film trying to separate Alfalfa from Darla, and the rest of the film trying to get Alfalfa to give up on her.

* ReCut: The film on DVD and VHS was actually trimmed down for time and content from the original theatrical release (Universal had done this to other films, including ''Film/GhostDad'' and ''Film/ProblemChild 2''). The extended edit broadcast on TV is actually the original theatrical cut with the scenes that were taken out for the home video release, although that version also edits a few scenes out for content or language (the girls referencing that boys like "farting and farting" as an example of grossness is one bit trimmed from TV airings).

* RoadSignReversal: While on their way to the race, Porky pushed the race track arrow from right to straight ahead. Three go-karts (Alfalfa/Spanky, Waldo/Darla, and Butch/Woim) follow that direction. A guy assigned by the arrow quickly moved it back to right as the other go-karts were coming.

* TwoScenesOneDialogue: The boys and girls complain simultaneously about their troubles with the opposite sex, with the camera constantly switching between the boys' tent and the girls' SlumberParty.

* VerbalTicName: Uh-huh is named that because it's the only thing he (usually) says.

[[caption-width-right:280:Boys will be boys, girls will be girls, but they'll all always be rascals.]]

* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: If the "Finders keepers losers suck!"/"Oh, bite me!" exchange didn't push the movie to a PG-rating, the scene where Alfalfa loses his underwear in a pool definitely did.

%%* TheMovie

* ReCut: The film on DVD and VHS was actually trimmed ''down'' for time and content from the original theatrical release (Universal had done this to other films, including ''Film/GhostDad'' and ''Film/ProblemChild 2''). The extended edit on TV is actually the original theatrical cut with the scenes that were taken out for the home video release, although that version also edits a few scenes out for content or language (the girls referencing that boys like "farting and farting" as an example of grossness is one bit trimmed from TV airings).

* SpikedWheels: It happens during the go-kart race scene. The resident SpoiledBrat [[MoralEventHorizon uses his money-fueled rocket car to take out Alfalfa's new MacGyvered car]]. Darla then seeing Waldo for the jerk that he truly is, promptly throws him outta his own cart.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Apart from being kicked out of his own racer by Darla, thereby losing both the race and the girl, it's not shown whether or not Waldo received anymore punishment. The last time we see him, he's in his limo telling Alfalfa and Spanky "You'll be hearing from my lawyers'' before driving off. Likely just an idle threat.

** ''Free Wheeling'' (1932): The home made taxi cab.

* BlackBestFriend: Several.

* SchmuckBait: In "Going To Press" the gang executes a sting operation against the boss of the Gas House Gang by announcing in their newspaper "The Greenpoint Flash" with little subtlety: "P.S. Don't forget that the office will be closed today on account of going fishing and that the Gas House evidence is in the safe." Amazingly, Frank falls for it.

* [[ShouldnTWeBeInSchoolRightNow Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?]]: Typical with most series focusing on kids, several episodes show the kids out of school. On rare occasions, this is justified:

* {{Cameo}}: Bug Hall, who played Alfalfa in the 1994 film, appears as the ice cream man in the beginning.

* KarmaHoudini: Apart from being kicked out of his own racer by Darla, Waldo never gets any major punishment. The last time we see him, he's in his limo telling Alfalfa "You'll be hearing from my lawyers'' before driving off. Likely just an idle threat.