Private Snuffy Smith

The characters from this are from the comic strip "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith" by Billy DeBeck. And, like most films based on strips, this one is bad….no, horrible is more like it! In fact, it may just be the most horrible film of the 1940s. Yes, it's THAT bad.

Snuffy Smith and his very stereotypical hick friends are the stars of this monstrosity. While they might look and sound a lot like the original characters, this is NOT a plus. They come off as grotesque and terribly offensive. It's hard to believe, but the folks make those from "Li'l Abner" seem like Shakespearian actors by comparison. Lots of moonshine, hick humor and the like wears incredibly thin after only a few minutes. In many ways, it is reminiscent in style to the 1980 horror "Popeye" but, and I NEVER thought I'd ever say this, the horrible "Popeye" is a better film. "Private Snuffy Smith" simply has horrible writing, horribly broad characters and not even a single entertaining moment in this rotten movie. The only things of minor interest are seeing Edgar Kennedy and Jimmy Dodd (later of "The Mickey Mouse Club" fame), but they, too, are simply terrible. The film is so bad that I can clearly understand how it was able to slip into the public domain! No one would want to claim ownership over this mess. Even Ed Wood would have been ashamed to put his name on it!