Drip-Along Daffy
| Drip-Along Daffy | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies (Daffy Duck/Porky Pig) series | |
 Title card of "Drip-Along Daffy" | |
| Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
| Produced by | Eddie Selzer |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Voices by |
Mel Blanc John T. Smith (uncredited) |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Animation by |
Phil Monroe Lloyd Vaughan Ben Washam Ken Harris |
| Layouts by | Philip DeGuard |
| Backgrounds by | Robert Gribbroek |
| Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date(s) | November 17, 1951 (USA) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7:00 |
| Language | English |
Drip-Along Daffy is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short released in 1951, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese.
This cartoon was produced as a parody of the Westerns widely popular at the time of its release, and features Daffy Duck as a "Western-Type Hero", who, with his trusty "Comedy Relief" (Porky Pig) hopes to clean up a violence-filled "one-horse town". In a tongue-in-cheek nod to The Lone Ranger, Daffy's horse is named Tinfoil. The cartoon includes an original song (sung by Porky) "The Flower of Gower Gulch", a parody of sentimental cowboy-style love songs, Gower Gulch being an intersection in Hollywood known as a gathering spot for would-be actors in early Westerns.
Drip-Along Daffy marks the first appearance of the villain character Nasty Canasta (voiced here by John T. Smith.), a Mexican rogue who would resurface in several later Jones cartoons, as well as an episode The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, the movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and occasionally on the Duck Dodgers series.
Plot
Daffy, introduced as a "Western-Type Hero" and Porky (billed as "Comedy Relief") ride along the desert until they come across the small "Lawless Western Town" of Snake-Bite Center which is so full of violence, the population sign changes immediately when someone gets shot. Daffy notices that the last sheriff is shot, and the town needs a new sheriff. Daffy picks a sheriff badge out of his collection of badges and rides into town on his horse Tinfoil, with Porky following behind on his small mule. In a recorded commentary on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, the commentator warns the viewer that "...this film is literally stuffed with every western cliché ever done." That is illustrated and spoofed in such scenes as when a man is firing guns chasing another man; both stop at a traffic light so a second pair can cross, then their chase resumes, while two riders on horseback approach one another peacefully when the horses recoil in anger and begin shooting at each other. Other scenes include a holdup at "Custard's Last Stand" and a masked horse stealing horseshoes from a smithy at gunpoint.
In the town, Daffy is about to take a drink at the bar when Nasty Canasta walks in past his 'Wanted' poster (which states "$5,000,000 REWARD (DEAD)" and "RUSTLER, BANDIT, SQUARE DANCE CALLER"). Daffy tries to intimidate Canasta with his gun ("Stick 'em up, hombre! You're under arrest"), but Canasta just bites off most of the gun and swallows it ("Hmm. Probably didn't have his iron today!"). Canasta then threateningly orders Daffy "two of his usual", a drink made of various poisons and toxic materials like cobra fang juice, hydrogen bitters and old panther (so hot, when two ice cubes are put in, the ice cubes jump out, yelping and bouncing into a fire bucket to cool off). Canasta downs the drink with no side effects (other than his hat flipping), and when Daffy gets Porky to take the second drink with seemingly no side-effects, Daffy downs a third as well. A few seconds later, Daffy and Porky exhibit wild side effects, including reciting "Mary had a Little Lamb" in Elmer Fudd-ese, turning green, and acting like they're both motorized and Daffy's bullets shooting a hole in the floor which he falls into, then rockets out of before coming back to earth. Daffy sternly says to Canasta "I hate you." Eventually, Daffy challenges Canasta to a showdown in the street.
Daffy and Canasta start walking towards each other, the street deserted (with camera angles designed to parody the showdown camera angles common in Western films of that era), when Porky takes matters into his hands by winding up a small British soldier doll and letting it go towards Canasta, accompanied by Raymond Scott's The Toy Trumpet. Canasta picks up the doll, chuckling, until the doll points its gun at Canasta and fires, sending Canasta to the ground (this typically refers to the fact that in his pairings with Daffy, Porky always takes matters into his hands to thwart a villain). With Canasta defeated, the rest of the town rush over to Porky, while Daffy is still pacing his way to the middle of the street. Daffy finally notices the adoration given to Porky, and in vain tries to get their attention ("Gimme the cheers! Give me ... Give me one dozen roses."). Porky is now the town sheriff, and Daffy reiterates his claim that he'd "clean up this one-horse town" to the camera – except now he's a sanitation worker. Porky remarks: "Lucky for him [Daffy] it is a one-horse town."
Censorship
- When this cartoon aired on ABC, some of the gun gags in the introduction scene (one of which involves a victim being taken to "Rigor O'Mortis: The Smiling Undertaker") before Daffy and Porky arrive were cut, and the scene of the bartender mixing the noxious drink for Nasty Canasta and Daffy was shortened.
- On Cartoon Network, in addition to time-compression, the very last scene of Porky as the new sheriff saying of Daffy's new job as street-sweeper, "Lucky for him it is a one-horse town", was dropped, mostly likely for the not-so-veiled reference to horse manure (though it can be argued that this was a time cut, as Cartoon Network's original programming do contain toilet humor at times and are not edited for it). It instead ends with Daffy just beginning to push the street sweeper cart followed by a jump to the end card.
Availability
This cartoon is included with the original ending restored in Disc Two in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1.
See also
- List of cartoons featuring Daffy Duck