Man, there's a lot of history with this cartoon. First of all, it was Bug bunny's first Looney Tunes cartoon and the final cartoon produced by Leon Schlesinger during his stay at the Warner Bros.
Buckaroo is also one of Bob Clampett's finest cartoons. There's great animation from Bob McKimson and Rod Scriber to see in this gem, especially near the end when Red Ryder and his horse jump off a canyon cliff. The horse's take in that scene was genius and could only be thought up of by an animator from Clampett's unit. I think it was McKimson, but I'm not sure.
Out of all of the "Tortoise vs. Hare" Bugs bunny shorts, this one is the best one. directed by the ever-so vunedvah Bob Clampett! There's a lot of great jokes in this one as well as fluid directional control and beautiful scenes animated by Rod Scribner.
A model sheet of Cecil. I like his new hat. Wonder why they didn't use it...
I think Clampett may have had a fetish for suicide gags.
Anyway, here's the toon so you can watch, too! :)
Aside from that, this post is about the partnership between Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. It almost seems like they were MADE just to be partners. Perhaps it's just because thier personalities are so diffreent from each other that they go well together. After all, opposites attract! :)
It all started in 1937 with Tex Avery's film, Porky's Duck Hunt. This film was one of Tex's gems when he worked at Warner Bros. This was the first time Porky and Daffy had been together as well as Daffy's first cartoon.
(Yeah, I didn't post this, but I'm just using it as an example.)
After Tex, Bob Clampett was the next director to try out this odd couple. The relationship between duck and pig always changed with directors. In the case of Bob Clampett, they're acquantances or good friends. Here to represent this are two Clampett toons, The Daffy Doc and Tick Tock Tuckered.
Even though Robert McKimson had alot of Clampett's ideas when he became a director, his ideas with Porky and Daffy's partnership was far diffrent. The two are usually casted as enemies or they just don't like each other. Daffy Doodles, McKimson's first cartoon he directed, is a good example of this rivalry.
Finally there's Chuck Jones. Jones usually casted them as friendly partners, but he usually made Daffy the star of these cartoons instead of Porky. Daffy still retains a little daffiness for these shorts while Porky was downgraded to an eager sidekick or just a calm sarcastic one. They also parodied a lot of movie genres with Jones, form westerns to science fiction. Here are a couple of these cartoons, Deduce, You Say, Rocket Squad, and Duck Dodgers.
If there was an award for the most violent Bugs Bunny cartoon ever, I'll bet Hare Ribbin' would win it with no sweat.
This cartoon is legendary, even by Bob Clampett's standards. Yes, it does have the basic chase plot of your typical 1940's Warner Bros. cartoons, this one is diffrent from all the others. During the beginning of the film, Bugs meets up with a dog with a Russian accent. The dog is a joke on comedian Bert Gordon's signature character, "The Mad Russian", complete with his catchpraises, "How do you do?" and "Do you mean it?", wich were quite common in these cartoons.
See? Told ya!
Now, part of the short involves Bugs being chased into a lake, and for some bizzare reason, the rest of it takes place at the bottom of this lake.
But the real reason that this one is special is that this cartoon has two seprate endings, both of them deemed for being too violent to show on TV. Fortunatly for you, I posted both versions on this blog for you.
This version is the one you're more likely to see on TV. At the end, the dog assumes that Bugs has been killed (he "ate" him in a rabbit sandwitch) and is so upset by what he did that he wishes he were dead as well. The ol' grey hare comes back alive, says "Ehh, do you mean it?", and gives the dog a gun so that the job can be done.
This is the rare directer's cut. At the end, the dog says the same thing, and so does Bugs, but this time, he shoots the dog himself! You can find this one on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 5 DVD as a special feature on disc 3.
You gotta love this one, especially the drawings of Old Man fudd as seen on this model sheet.
This one, I think, may have been the first time a toddler version of an already cartoon character appears on-screen, which also was turned into a popular trend in the 1980's (i.e. Muppet Babies, Baby Looney Tunes, ect.)
Also, watch for hidden newspaper gags like during the "Smell-o-Vison Replaces Telovision" headline, it states, "Carl Stalling Sez, 'It'll never work!'"
A lot like other animation fans, I'm a big fan of the 1940's version of Daffy Duck. So in honor of our little black duck, the next cartoon is one from 1945 entitled, "Draftee Daffy".
This may be a Clampett Daffy here, but this cartoon shows a diffrent side of Daffy, as the self-preserving waterfowl he evolved into today. (Chuck Jones, I think, seemed to take that characteristic and really emphasize it.)
It does feature great animation from Manny Gould, Rod Scribner, Bob McKimson, and Basil Davidovich.
Oh, and who could forget that little man from the draft board. Pretty good character. Looks a lot like Elmer Fudd.
Here's the First cartoon for my Blog, and it's....
This one of Bob Clampett's first cartoons in where his true colors are flown. What I ment by that is that this old black n' white toon demonstrates Clampett's pure wackieness at the Warner Bros. This was the first were his familiar, rubbery animation style is shown (animated by Virgil Ross and Rod Scribner). It also shows off his timing talents as well, since the animation is timed perfectly well with the music. So for your enjoyment and mine, here is "Eatin on the Cuff", or "The Moth Who Came to Dinner". (1942)
A model sheet of Cecil. I like his new hat. Wonder why they didn't use it...
#2:
