Daffy Duck Hunt

Daffy Duck Hunt (1949)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Porky Pig goes hunting and ends up bringing Daffy Duck back with him. However, Porky's dog decides he has his own plans for the duck, which includes accidentally letting him out of the freezer. This is a decent short from the Merrie Melodies gang but it's certainly no classic. This is certainly fairly entertaining but when you've got Daffy and Porky together I expect a lot more. The best sequence in the film happens towards the start when the dog and Daffy come up with an agreement to make the dog look good. When the action heads back to Porky's house things get a little weak but this is still worth watching at least once.

Porky Pig and his loyal dog are out hunting duck. However, of all the possible ducks they could go after, it's just bad luck that they go after the craziest duck in the swamp - Daffy Duck! And Daffy is too much of a wise-quacker to get caught easily by anyone.

I'm a big fan of Daffy Duck but I vastly prefer him when he is in fully `crazy' mood, doing all sorts of manic things; I find that much funnier than his later greedy & selfish personae. Here he is spot on in his crazy personae and he totally makes this cartoon work. The plot is split between the hunt and Porky's house (where Daffy gets taken in an agreement with the dog). While the hunt section is funny, the stuff in the house is much better and is a perfect forum for Daffy to do his stuff. It is funny and imaginative throughout.

Daffy is great here and his manic actions and delivery are hilarious. Porky is not a great character but he is good in a solid partnership; here then, he works and reacts well to the action. The downtrodden dog is good but I must admit that I didn't like some of his voice work here in comparison to some other Daffy shorts I have seen him in.

Overall, for true Daffy Duck fans (i.e. those who appreciate him when he is daffy) this cartoon will be hilarious. For those who have yet to be won over by the little black duck, this will surely help you come round to my way of thinking. Personally, `I like him; he's silly.'

In the late '40s and early '50s while Chuck Jones was making Porky and Daffy cartoons that had the latter the "hero" while the former the "sidekick", Robert McKimson was bringing back the adversarial relationship they originally had when they first met in Tex Avery's Porky's Duck Hunt. This short is similar to that in that Porky is once again a hunter who's looking for ducks. Daffy, of course, becomes the target but because he emptied many bullet shells of pellets, the shooting Porky does won't hurt him. At this point, the dog makes a deal with the duck for him to surrender to him so his master won't throw him out. Many funny gags involving the duck and dog follow. And dig the holiday twist that ends this short. So on that note, I highly recommend Daffy Duck Hunt.

Daffy Duck lets a dog take him home, under the pretense that the dog caught him for Porky Pigs supper, only to be trapped there when the dog won't let him leave. This is vintage wacky Daffy all the way. Almost makes me forget that McKimson directed it. Actually in this short Daffy may be even a little too nuts for my liking in some respects. But the film does move at a pretty good clip and is frequently quite funny indeed, so i'll recommend it, just steer clear of McKimson's Bugs Bunny shorts. This animated short can be found on disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1.

My Grade: B

Starting out as a variation on Daffy Duck's debut cartoon, 'Porky's Duck Hunt', Robert McKimson's 'Daffy Duck Hunt' quickly develops into something quite different. McKimson's Barnyard Dog character from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons plays the role of Porky's hunting dog who tricks Daffy into surrendering on the understanding that he'll let him go when they get home. This plot development is almost immediate, meaning the majority of the cartoon is unexpectedly set in Porky's kitchen. A late example of the crazy version of Daffy at work, 'Daffy Duck Hunt' is one of McKimson's greatest cartoons. Daffy is on top form, making up for his early duping with some inspired zaniness which invariably lands the dog in trouble with his master. McKimson overcomes the possibility of a cartoon set in a kitchen becoming dull by virtue of some extremely lively animation to compliment Warren Foster's brilliant script. All in all, 'Daffy Duck Hunt' is a thoroughly unexpected classic full of brilliant moments and an especially energetic Daffy performance.