Push Comes to Shove

In this typically bizarre Bill Plympton cartoon, two stolid-looking men trment each other based on the assumption that this is, after all, a cartoon, and so the characters are infinitely flexible and will heal instantly.

The underlying gag is how they take turns in torment each other, stolidly submitting to having one's face infinitely twisted, or converted into a patch of grass. It put me in mind of one of those Laurel & Hardy shorts, in which they would confront a nemesis -- Charlie Hall, for example -- and take turns in performing all sorts of indignities on each other, standing stolidly while each insult was heaped.

This short cartoon was later incorporated into Plympton's feature, THE TUNE.

This is the sort of Bill Plympton short I love. It's simple, funny and extremely violent--though the violence is very cartoony and is probably fine for kids to watch (except, of course, if your child is very stupid and imitates EVERYTHING--in which case you probably shouldn't let them watch anything).

The film begins with two similar looking men standing there rather emotionless. Then, suddenly, one hits the other. The other then responds. And, the entire cartoon is made up of the guys doing horrible--I mean REALLLLY horrible things to each other. What makes this so funny is that while they are torturing each other and mutilating each other, the guy about to get it just stands there and lets the other guy do it. And, like a cartoon, almost immediately after, the guy being maimed is just fine--without even a scratch. Otherwise, what's funny about sadism?! What also makes this work so well is not just how outlandish it quickly becomes but the cute and unexpected ending.

This is among Plympton's best and I suggest that unless you have no sense of humor you give it a try. I especially likes the lawnmower and baseball scenes.