Critical Reputation
L&H scholar Randy Skretvedt has written stirringly about You're Darn Tootin', its place in the L&H canon, and the poignancy of the canon itself:
- "You're Darn Tootin' is the first clear statement of the essential idea inherent in Laurel and Hardy. The world is not their oyster: they are the pearls trapped in the oyster. Their jobs hang by rapidly unraveling threads. Their possessions crumble into dust. Their dreams die just at the point of fruition. Their dignity is assaulted constantly. At times they can't live with each other, but they'll never be able to live without each other. Each other is all they will ever have. That, and the hope for a better day — which is about the most profound philosophical statement ever to come from a two-reel comedy."
Prolific film critic Leslie Halliwell liked You're Darn Tootin' as well: "...though early in their teaming shows Stan and Ollie at their best in a salt shaker routine and in a surreal pants-ripping contest."
L&H Encyclopedia author Glenn Mitchell contrasts the expanding-mayhem finale with earlier scenes:
- "You're Darn Tootin' contains what is in many respects the best of Laurel & Hardy's huge street battles. So good is this climactic sequence that other sections tend to be ignored: the opening bandstand segment is timed to a musical beat...."
Silent film maven and movie-stills webmaster Bruce Calvert says:
- "This classic Laurel and Hardy comedy is famous for the pants-ripping scene at the end, but the other parts of it are just as funny.... The final pants-ripping scene is not funny just because so many men lose their pants, but because Laurel and Hardy come up with inventive ways to pull more innocent bystanders into the fray."
Writing in the 1960s, early L&H analyst William K. Everson appraised You're Darn Tootin':
- "The boarding house is a charming sequence with Hardy's fruitless efforts to charm and cajole the landlady.... The shin-kicking, pants-ripping finale is one of their best and most meticulously constructed sequences of controlled savagery, similar to and in many ways better than the great pie fight ."
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