Crockett-Doodle-Do

Foghorn Leghorn is not my favourite Looney Tunes character but he is very interesting and distinctive as well as always entertaining. Crockett-Doodle-Do has everything a good Foghorn cartoon is, and that's why I love it. Foghorn, the only character who speaks, is just great here just doing what he does best. The little chick is not as interesting a character, though it was nice once in a while to have a supporting character other than Barnyard Dog and Henery. The animation occasionally lacks finesse but on the most part it is colourful with some lovely detail, and the music is very catchy with lively orchestration and upbeat rhythms. The dialogue is hilarious, some of it is repetitive but that is part of Foghorn's charm, but these are far outweighed by the gems that are "Hey boy. Got any more of those long-haired books?" " I hadda ask! I hadda to ask!" and "I'm going to learn you a fire without matches". The gags are also entertaining and efficiently timed, not all are original with one admittedly amusing one that is lifted out of Henhouse Henery. Mel Blanc's voice work is as always brilliant. All in all, great fun. 9/10 Bethany Cox

In order to really get into character for `Crockett-Doodle-Doo', Foghorn takes to wearing a Davy Crockett raccoon-tail hat for almost the entire film. Having decided to go tramping through the woods, Foggy encounters Egghead Jr. reading ‘Basic Research in the physical sciences' (by prof. Newt Ronn) and decides that a young boy like that should not spend his days reading such long haired gobbledegook. He should know better than to try and teach Egghead Jr. anything.

Foghorn has the only speaking part in this cartoon and he certainly makes the most of it (his Indian raindance being especially inspired). He teaches us how to light a fire in the woods, to create a duckwhistle and all about communicating by smoke signals. But Egghead knows better and improves upon his lesions each and every time.

The old Leghorner comes off a lot more lovable as a pushy father figure than as the violent prankster he usually portrays. At least this time he is not out to hurt anyone on purpose. The gag with the trap where ‘the principle is all wrong' from `Henhouse Henery' (1949) resurfaces and naturally Egghead Jr. takes it a step further by making use of some strategicly placed forces of nature. So the moral of the story is: Read a book!

6 out of 10