Drip-Along Daffy

Of all Chuck Jones's brilliant genre spoofs featuring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, 'Drip Along Daffy' is one of the best loved and is only dwarfed by the classic duo of 'Robin Hood Daffy' and 'Duck Dodgers in the 24th ½ Century'. A hilarious parody of Westerns, 'Drip Along Daffy' finds Daffy all too willingly taking on the role of cowboy hero. A bewhiskered Porky, we are informed by a caption, is the comedy relief. This proves to be somewhat of a misnomer as it is in fact Daffy who provides the majority of the laughs as his heroic posturing is quickly diminished by his trademark buffoonery and a frightening encounter with villain Nasty Canasta. Despite some impeccably timed physical comedy, the biggest laughs in 'Drip Along Daffy' come from the verbal gags, a particularly on form Mel Blanc nailing every line with hysterically accurate observation. I find myself particularly floored every time by Daffy's disbelieving "You wouldn't dare", as he witnesses Nasty Canasta's horrifyingly toxic drink being mixed. 'Drip Along Daffy' is another typically classy Jones film which shows exactly why he's such a treasured director. Porky's final line is the icing on the cake.

Followed-up by My Little Duckaroo, Drip-Along Daffy is one of my favorite cartoons. Daffy is the star, playing a Western-type hero who becomes sheriff of a town in disarray, accompanied by his one-man fanclub, comedy relief in Porky Pig. The antagonist is Nasty Canasta, the core of all the trouble. So if our inept hero can rid the town of Canasta in a one-on-one shootout, all the problems will be solved. With Daffy responsible for the fate of the town, the prospect seems bleak, doesn't it? The animation is excellent. Jones' simple use of subtle expressions is at its glorious best here. Canasta can't really be called a character since he's just a one-dimensional prop, part of the background for Daffy and the show-stealing Porky. For any fan of the greedy, overly confident Daffy, a must-see.

Drip-Along Daffy (1951)

*** (out of 4)

Daffy Duck and his comedy relief Porky Pig arrive in a lawless town so Daffy decides to become sheriff and clean the place up. Before he can do that he must deal with the ruthless Nasty Canasta. This spoof of the Western genre is a winning entry into the Merrie Melodies series and I'm sure fans of the genre will get a nice little kick out of it. It's certainly not the best the series ever offered up but it's still 7-minutes worth of nice entertainment. The best thing about the movie is of course Daffy who really goes all out in his maniac-type of way. The scene involving the mixed drinks was priceless as was another sequence when Daffy first kicks through the bar doors. Being from Jones I always look for that small little thing that some might not notice and this time out it was the great whiskers on Porky.

Drip-Along Daffy is great fun from start to finish. While it is essentially a nice cartoon, a lot of it is hilarious. Helped hugely by some excellent artwork and a rousing Western theme tune, the plot tells of Daffy, portrayed as a rather inept hero trying to clean up "the one horse town" and his struggles with Nasty Canasta. A vast majority of the gags are verbal, and delivered flawlessly by Mel Blanc. But the scene with the drinks is absolutely hilarious and the showdown is a real treat.

While Daffy serves his part well as the inept hero, it is Porky really who steals the show as his sidekick. Particularly when he uses a miniature toy nutcracker to help Daffy to defeat Nasty Canasta. Overall, this cartoon is very enjoyable. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The graphics set this one up. We see decked-out cowboy Daffy Duck riding on a beautiful horse and the screen reads: "Western-type hero." Following him is Porky Pig riding a donkey. It says, "Comic Relief." Then, after some Monument Valley-type scenery, we see "Lawless Small Town." The sign says, "Snake-Bite Center: population 350, which quickly changes to 349 followed by another sign that comes out saying, "sheriff wanted." The next thing we see is the cemetery where the sign reads, "Population: 23,472,987 sheriffs."

You get the picture. This is a rough town where the small ice-cream booth is called "Custard's Last Stand" and horses are even shooting each other!

Daffy is going to clean up this "one-horse town." Well, he does...... sort of. This is one of the funniest cartoons I have ever seen - just fabulous. Great artwork, too!