So You Want a Raise (1950) User Reviews

Today's world of Corporate Corruption, Fake Facts, and Alternative Reality . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 11 April 2017]

. . . is forecast for we Americans of the (then) Far Future by this prophetic Warner Bros. short, SO YOU WANT A RAISE. Warner taps Harry Batten to represent the USA's Deplorable Fat Cat One Per Center Crimelords, who whine to their employees about their Trump-like tax evasion troubles, their country club dues, their wive's scant supply of murdered mink coats, and their Hawaiian vacations. Harry, as an unrepentant Scrooge, slashes the average Joe's wage from fourteen to four dollars per hour so that he himself can Live Large while we Union Label Americans fight for any crumbs that might escape his rapaciously masticating jowls. Warner's eerily accurate prognosticators predict by the end of RAISE that America's Larcenous Oligarchical Billionaires will soon begin deporting Native-Born America Citizens to barren foreign wastelands once these defrauded suckers have nothing left to ante up for the sake feeding the Insatiable Corporate Gut. Joe's wife Alice urges him to Rage against the Machine by stripping its gears through Acts of Workplace Sabotage. This is the only way to Stop the Wheels of Industry from steamrolling America's Common Man, Warner informs perceptive viewers, Then and Now.

Fun Film

[Michael_Elliott · 24 February 2009]

So You Want a Raise (1950)

*** (out of 4)

Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) is being pressured by his wife to ask for a raise and he's about to do so when he over hears his boss talking to two different thugs about sneaking Mexicans in the country. McDoakes decides to call the police before the boss can pin the crime on him but of course Joe doesn't have the biggest brain going. This is another fine entry in the long running series and it features just the type of laughs you'd expect as our hero gets himself into one mess after another. There are many funny scenes here but the best has to be the one where Joe is trying to brown nose but then catches the bosses hand in the door. Another fine sequence is when he's talking down about the boss only to get caught and then try to work his way out. O'Hanlon gives another very good performance.

One of the better McDoakes shorts.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 18 October 2017]

When the story begins, Joe's wife is nagging him unmercifully to ask for a raise. Considering that he's a blundering idiot, it's actually amazing he isn't fired...and asking for a raise seems ridiculous. And, when Joe asks, the boss indicates he's in no mood to listen. In fact, after one failed attempt, Joe agrees to take a pay cut! But when Joe accidentally overhears the boss having a conversation, he assumes it's the truth...though the boss was really practicing for a play at his lodge. But Joe impulsively calls the police and they soon arrive to arrest this mob ring leader!!

This is a very funny short...one of the better Joe McDoakes films. The plot is silly but had me laughing out loud several times. Well done and well worth your time.

Striking a Balance between Home And Work

[redryan64 · 9/10 · 14 February 2016]

BRIDGING WHAT IS certainly familiar ground, Joe finds himself in the crossfire between his Boss at work and his Boss t home. The eternal strife that is marriage finds itself in conflict with the unavoidable phenomenon known as Office Politics.

IT IS HIS intention that he does indeed secure some monetary bump in salary, not only to help with the at home ca$h flow, but also (maybe especially) to placate Alice and get her off his back. Rather than implying that this battle of the sexes is raging in his household, Joe states so. "Women!", he shouts at us through the eye of the camera.

ADDED TO THE already existing fun plan, the Writer/Director, Mr. Richard L. Bare interjects the plot with some additional life. Using the long reliable element of mistaken identity and that of jumping to conclusions. A pair of the boss (Willard Waterman) are believed to be a couple of gangsters. From there reality becomes polluted with the belief that there is some smuggling racket hidden under the appearance and facade of legitimate business.

NEEDLESS TO SAY, at the conclusion, Joe has lost his chance at his raise, his opportunity to substitute as boss at the office and is now..., well as about as far away from as one could get!