Deputy Droopy

The sheriff in a small western town takes receipt of a bag of gold.He tells his deputy, Droopy Dog, to keep an eye on it and holler if anyone tries to steal it. Two thieves overhear this, gag Droopy -- but do not bind his hands or thief. While they attempt to steal the money, Droopy torments them with an assortment of devices to make them scream.

It's all variations on a single gag, and while the variations are amusing, it lacks the variety of other Droopy cartoons. Tex Avery was pulling up stakes at MGM, getting ready to head over to Lantz, so he shared credit with his AD,Michael Lah. The result is amusing, but not one of the best.

In this "Old West" story, Droopy is helping guard a shipment of gold. He takes orders from the sheriff, a burly big guy, and the two of them have just gotten off a stagecoach with several big bags of the valuable ore. They place it in the safe and the sheriff instructs Droopy to guard it while he goes in another room. Of course, two crooks have been watching all of this and are right outside the window watching and listening. The sheriff tells Droopy, "If you get in any trouble, if you see any varmints, just make a noise - any kind of noise - and I'll come a-shootin.'"

The two bandits are hilarious and what happens when they try to rob the safe, when they tie up Droopy, how they try to crack the safe, and - especially - what they do when they have to yell, is all great material. These are the dumbest two bandits I've ever seen and some of the gags are repetitive but they still will make you laugh. The best was the gag with the laughs coming out of the bottle. Now that was clever!!

Tex Avery used a plot device here that he used in several cartoons: A character or characters want to avoid being heard by another character. Another character does their level best to cause them to disturb the character, setting the stage for his much-beloved sight gags fired rapidly at the audience. Cartoons are an artform and animated shorts have differing limitations and requirements from longer works. Conventions, plot devices and gimmicks have been developed over the years. Tex Avery developed and/or refined many of these over the years and is, in my view, the most seminal creative force in the history of the animated short. He was an extraordinary artist. This is a funny, engaging, delightful short with a hysterical ending and one of his better efforts. Well worth watching. Recommended.

The sheriff directs deputy Droopy to guard the safe. Two outlaws try to steal the gold without making a sound which could alert the sheriff in the next room. This Droopy short is a classic, simply put.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. Generally like the Droopy cartoons and the character himself a lot, his best cartoons are classics and among Avery's best. 'Deputy Droopy' is one of the funniest Droopy cartoons and contains some of Avery's funniest material, at the same time it does lack the imagination of their very best cartoons (with much of it being a remake of 'Rock a Bye Bear' and also the premise is a formulaic one) and visually it doesn't always look as refined as usual.

Droopy, as usual, is so well established in personality and is high on the humour and charisma scale. The bandits are hilariously dumb, when it comes to bandits in animation or anywhere they are among the funniest and their dumbness is actually endearing as well.

Typically, Avery does a very nice job directing, with his unique, unlike-any-other visual and characteristic and incredibly distinctive wacky humour style all over it as can be expected. Michael Lah co-directs but his contribution isn't as inspired.

Once again there is nothing sadistic or repetitious, instead it's wonderfully wild and hilarious with some inventive moments.

Animation has been more imaginative and refined before than in 'Deputy Droopy', with some of the drawing lacking smoothness. Avery's distinctive wackiness and creative designing of characters though can be seen and there are some lovely vibrant colours and detailed backgrounds. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed.

Voice acting as always sees Bill Thompson, Daws Butler and Avery himself on top form.

Overall, very good and hilarious but Droopy and Avery have done better quality-wise. 8/10 Bethany Cox