Mr. Pizza's Hardy Boys Forum

General Hardy Boys Discussion => General Hardy Boys Discussions => Topic started by: hardygirl847 on December 16, 2009, 11:59:01 PM

Title: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: hardygirl847 on December 16, 2009, 11:59:01 PM
So Frank and Joe are our heroes. That's obvious. However, they are not perfect. I'm pretty sure they have broken a few laws throughout the years and in the different series. Do you have some examples of this? Please try to include the book the crime took place.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: SDLagent on December 18, 2009, 01:20:47 AM
Nice thread. I'm planning on (re-)reading the original versions of the first 38 Hardy Boys books, which is probably the least-perfect portrayal of the boys, since they have no respect for the local police, and often carry guns, and, with Chet's help, even disturb the peace in their spare time.

I'll post the boys' crimes as they come across them.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: 4567TME on December 18, 2009, 06:56:59 PM
I'll look through my HBs (I hope a get a few for Christmas)!
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: hardygirl847 on December 19, 2009, 12:19:11 AM
Thanks! I am going to do the same since I recently got a bunch. Yay! :)
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: SDLagent on December 19, 2009, 01:46:53 AM
I can think of a few of the top of my head...breaking and entering, trespassing, and, of course, speeding (but who hasn't committed this "crime"?).
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: hardygirl847 on December 19, 2009, 04:01:01 PM
LOL Yeah Joe definitely has a lead foot. It's funny how those crimes are okay to them because they are minor. What else have they done maybe undercover as well? Hmm....
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: tomswift2002 on December 19, 2009, 05:58:28 PM
In the Tower Treasure (1927) the boys, along with Tony Prito, Biff Hooper and Chet Morton create a false alarm call that delays Collig and Smuff from going to interview Jackley by placing a clock under a fruit stand that is ticking and saying that it is a bomb.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: SDLagent on December 19, 2009, 08:21:48 PM
Quote from: Santa Claus on December 19, 2009, 05:58:28 PM
In the Tower Treasure (1927) the boys, along with Tony Prito, Biff Hooper and Chet Morton create a false alarm call that delays Collig and Smuff from going to interview Jackley by placing a clock under a fruit stand that is ticking and saying that it is a bomb.

Yeah, they aren't exactly role models in the early books.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: hardygirl847 on December 20, 2009, 12:30:59 AM
Thanks for the example! I am not familiar with the earlier series so that is helpful. They are not perfect...that's for sure.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: tomswift2002 on December 20, 2009, 02:12:47 PM
Then in Hunting For Hidden Gold (1928) the boys and their friends lob snowballs at Con Riley.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: Bigfootman on December 30, 2009, 02:05:58 PM
 The early casefiles come to mind.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: Jokerette on December 31, 2009, 10:56:20 AM
Quote from: Santa Claus on December 20, 2009, 02:12:47 PM
Then in Hunting For Hidden Gold (1928) the boys and their friends lob snowballs at Con Riley.

aw c'mon! give em a break on that one! they're teens after all! :D :D i mean, what teen can resist the urge to throw a snowball at a grown-up? ;)
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: SDLagent on December 31, 2009, 04:43:01 PM
Yeah, but he is a cop.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: Jokerette on January 01, 2010, 10:31:11 AM
guess you're right there. still...it was prob totally fun! :D
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: hardygirl847 on January 01, 2010, 02:27:01 PM
Con is a cop but also a friend of theirs. I would still consider that something they would get in trouble for though...
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: tomswift2002 on January 01, 2010, 03:51:15 PM
Quote from: hardygirl847 on January 01, 2010, 02:27:01 PM
Con is a cop but also a friend of theirs. I would still consider that something they would get in trouble for though...

Actually...at that point in the series the Hardy's and Con Riley were not really friends.  They were acquaintances, but the relationship between Con and the boys was nothing like the relationship that was developed in the Casefiles where Con was the opposite of Collig and the boys could trust him.  Really the way that we know Con Riley and the boys now comes from the Revision period of 1959-1973.  Of course there is still one book from the Grosset & Dunlap series that is still in print that still has the Con Riley from the pre-Revision period: The Mystery of The Chinese Junk.

With the Revised volumes of 1-38, whenever Con Riley appears you'll notice that he is a much more friendlier character towards the Hardy's, while in #39 he tends to be more of an acquaintance of the boys and a characature of cops from the 40's and 50's, and then from books 40 onward Con is back to his "normal post-revision" self.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: hardygirl847 on January 02, 2010, 04:53:25 PM
Hmm very interesting!
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: SDLagent on January 02, 2010, 06:35:36 PM
He wasn't their friend in those ones.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: hardygirl847 on January 03, 2010, 01:17:50 AM
Well whether they are friends or not...they should still respect him and his authority. Con isn't like Biff or Tony or Phil...He's still a police officer.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: MacGyver on January 22, 2010, 07:44:11 AM
QuoteThen in Hunting For Hidden Gold (1928) the boys and their friends lob snowballs at Con Riley.
I seriously doubt throwing a snowball should count as assaulting a police officer. (unless perhaps it's an all out barrage.) I'm not saying it was really nice or anything, but if Con was as good-natured then as he's portrayed later (regardless of his relationship with The Hardy Boys) I'm sure he would've laughed off with little more than a warning and probably a snowball or two of his own.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: SDLagent on January 22, 2010, 10:38:28 PM
Still, it's next exactly the role-model behavior the boys display in the later books, where they won't even break the speed limit!
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: tomswift2002 on January 24, 2010, 05:48:47 PM
Quote from: SDLagent on January 22, 2010, 10:38:28 PM
Still, it's next exactly the role-model behavior the boys display in the later books, where they won't even break the speed limit!

I seem to recall a few times in the Casefiles (I believe one occurance happened in A Killing In The Market) where the boys did go faster than even the posted highway speed.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: SDLagent on January 25, 2010, 06:33:32 PM
Yeah, the boys break a few more laws in the Casefiles then they do in the revised Original and Digest books.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: hardygirl847 on January 26, 2010, 12:27:19 AM
Quote from: tomswift2002 on January 24, 2010, 05:48:47 PM
I seem to recall a few times in the Casefiles (I believe one occurance happened in A Killing In The Market) where the boys did go faster than even the posted highway speed.

I've always thought they were guilty of speeding...especially Joe. But that's rather minor compared to other things....
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: SDLagent on January 26, 2010, 01:42:03 AM
Quote from: hardygirl847 on January 26, 2010, 12:27:19 AM
I've always thought they were guilty of speeding...especially Joe. But that's rather minor compared to other things....

Like breaking and entering, for example, which happens almost every book.
Title: Re: Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent
Post by: hardygirl847 on January 26, 2010, 05:07:23 PM
very true! They are quite the locksmiths... :)