PlatinumRead
Just so...so bad
MamaGravity
good back-story, and good acting
Tyreece Hulme
One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
fjaye
Like another reviewer, I saw "Tit for Tat" shortly after viewing "Them Thar Hills," (a crackerjack short in its own right) and was pleasantly surprised to see Busch and Hall back as the same characters; I didn't realize that this was a sequel until Stan referred to meeting them in the hills."Tit for Tat" is essentially a simple, one-joke outing. But, much like "The Music Box", Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy wring every last possible laugh out of the situation. Their battle with grocer Charley Hall starts small, but doesn't stay small for long.There's no need to see "Hills" before this one; the story really can stand alone...but is enhanced if you know about the previous antics.Other reviewers had remarked about Ollie's rather salacious-sounding comment to Mae Busch. Oddly enough, the Hays (censorship) code was in effect at the time; it was one of the reasons that Betty Boop ended up with collared, long-hem/long-sleeve dresses. Pre-Code, Ollie's remark wouldn't have been noticed. But with censorship rules in place, I too, am surprised that the line was kept in.Superior work from all involved makes "Tit for Tat" one of my favorite Stan and Ollie films.How do you do!
Robert J. Maxwell
This is the one in which Laurel and Hardy open an electric supplies store and find their neighbor is a grocer with whom they've had a previous run-in -- in "Them Thar Hills." There's nothing dull about this short. It's not wildly creative in any way but the gags some satisfyingly quickly. Much is done with exploding light bulbs.The usual ritual is followed. The hostile grocer stands quietly, glowering, while Hardy opens his cash register and pours a jar of glue over the compartments and the change they contain.Distracting if you have the blues. Mildly diverting for most others. Essential for fans of the comedy team.
JoeytheBrit
Revisitng Laurel and Hardy's films it's surprising to see that the practice of slipping in a few adult references for the grown-ups wasn't the idea of the makers of full-length 90s cartoon films. As other reviewers have mentioned, Ollie's comment to Mae Busch, the wife of the diminutive neighbouring shopkeeper with whom he is embroiled in the 'tit for tat' feud of the title, is clearly a deliberate double-entendre that somehow slipped by the censors as, no doubt, it would have any watching children. There's a similar sight gag in County Hospital that is quite subtle by comparison but no doubt just as deliberate.Anyway, this one's pretty good. It's a sequel to the previous year's Them Thar Hills which introduced us to the memorable song lyric Pom Pom and it probably just shades that one for laughs. The boys were at the top of their game in the mid-thirties thanks to sharp, well-paced shorts like these and some of the touches here are truly first-class.
Theo Robertson
This is certainly one of the best L & H shorts because unlike most of the others there`s little in the way of an episodic feel and it has a continuity with THEM THAR HILLS . What makes memorable to me is the innuendo involved when Ollie comes down the stairs with the grocer`s wife and laughs " I`ve never been in a position like that before " I was totally shocked , Oliver Hardy comes out of a bedroom , down a flight of stairs and exclaims " I`ve never been in a position like that before " Of course there`s an innocent explanation for all this but it`s unbelievable the censors allowed this type of innuendo to be used in 1935 . I would have loved to have seen this at a cinema when it was first released just so I could see if anyone picked up on the ambiguity of Oliver`s statement
