Posse Cat

Posse Cat is the 81st one reel animated Tom and Jerry short, created in 1952. As with all Tom and Jerry cartoons at the time, it was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. The short was animated by Irven Spence, Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse and Ray Patterson, the usual quartet of animators who dealt with the vast majority of Tom and Jerry shorts in the Hanna and Barbera era. The backgrounds was credited to Robert Gentle. It was released on January 30, 1954 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Posse Cat is seen as the sequel or successor to 1950's Texas Tom, which is often considered one of the more popular Tom and Jerry shorts, though it was not nominated for an Academy Award that year.

Plot

The cartoon begins at the Cook Shack of a ranch with Tom sleeping lazily as Jerry steals a sausage. The cook then calls Tom using a triangle, preparing dinner (a turkey leg with a side of mashed potatoes in giblet gravy) for him but warning him that he can only eat when he gets rid of Jerry ("When you get rid of that varmint, you can eat, and not before! Now get going!"). The cook sends Tom away by shooting at him.

First, Tom paints his finger the color of a sausage so that Jerry mistakes it for a sausage. Jerry then lassos the 'sausage'. At first Tom get excited and smiles as if to say "got him!" Then he is being pulled by Jerry, Tom's expression goes from happy to a surprised look from Jerry's strength as if to say "uh-oh this isn't good" and Tom goes through the mouse hole. A chase follows, and just before Tom catches Jerry, Jerry pushes over a rake which rings the triangle. Tom drops Jerry and goes to collect his dinner. The cook takes it away and warns, "I said no dinner 'till you catch that mouse!" again shooting Tom away. The chase begins again, with Tom trying to lasso Jerry towards him, but he misses and catches the turkey instead. The cook once again shoots Tom away.

Later on, Tom has prepared a trap, but Jerry sees it. He then comes up with a trick of his own: preparing a sandwich with the sleeping cook's hand in it and ringing the triangle. Tom grabs the 'sandwich' and takes a bite: the cook yells in pain and shoots Tom away yet again, shooting several discrete holes in Tom which can be seen as water that he drinks comes back out through the holes. Jerry appears with a baton, but seeing Tom, runs away and does another 'sandwich' trick, this time with a bull's tail. Tom takes a bite and is flung back to the shack. Tom sees Jerry with a piece of paper, which turns out to be a contract saying that in return for Jerry's co-operation, Tom would share his meals. The two shake hands, ready to co-operate.

As the cook is peeling potatoes, gunfire can be heard and then seen as Tom 'shoots' at Jerry so that the cook thinks that Tom is trying to get Jerry. Tom fires a few shots into the air as the cook gives Tom his dinner, giving endless praise.

As Tom sits down to eat, Jerry whistles and reminds Tom about the contract. Tom fires several holes into it, as if to say "The deal's off!" before going back to his dinner. Jerry approaches and throws the dinner into Tom's face. In rage, Tom grabs a red-hot branding iron and chases Jerry. Tom is running flat-out as Jerry opens the shack door. Tom is unable to stop and runs right into the back of the cook, causing him to scream in pain and jump out of his boots and, seeing Tom as a traitor, runs after Tom, constantly shooting and with a burnt Circle-X brand on his trousers. Jerry watches, eating a turkey leg as the cook chases Tom into the sunset.