The Slick Chick

Right at the start, Foghorn Leghorn (Esq.) treats us to a rendition of the 'Camptown horses' that swings more than usual. Unfortunately, this is probably the high point of "The Slick Chick". Widow Hen is looking for someone to baby sit her little Junior, who, according to first choice Mr. Cackle, "makes Dennis the Menace look like an angel". Predictably Mr Leghorn offers to look after the little angel, so the Mrs. can be of to her hen party. Before long the little brat is blackmailing Foghorn about his horse gambling habits.

There are more new characters than usual in "The Slick Chick", most without purpose (old Mr. Cackle springs to mind), all with speaking parts. In fact, their beaks never stop yapping. Junior continually talks about hatching dirty schemes, leaving little time for the actual gags. We do get to see some parts of the farm we never saw before, like the barn with the cement mixer, but it is obvious they were cutting down on the costs of animation considerably. This gives the proceedings the feeling of a Hanna Barbera TV show. Only the laugh track is missing.

2 out of 10

This saddens me as I like Foghorn Leghorn and find his cartoons very entertaining. Is it among the worst of Looney Tunes? No, the likes of Devil's Feud Cake, Pre-Hysterical Hare and See Ya Later Gladiator are worse. But The Slick Chick was disappointing. Does it have good things? Oh yes, absolutely. The best assets were Mel Blanc's voice work and the music. Blanc, apart from Foghorn sounding more subdued than usual, is as exuberant and versatile as ever, while Milt Franklin's music(though not as good as Carl Stalling's) is beautifully orchestrated and rhythmically energetic, merging with the visuals very well. The animation is also decent, it has been more colourful before but it is beautifully drawn and detailed. Foghorn doesn't really shine in The Slick Chick, here he is the butt of the joke, which is against his persona as usually he's the craftier character, and the charmingly sharp wit doesn't come out. His chick counterpoint(Junior?), aptly likened to Dennis the Menace but worse, takes on the crafty role but manages to be both annoying and bland. He and Foghorn have none of the chemistry that Foghorn has with Barnyard Dog and Henery Hawke, and the only entertaining thing about him is how remarkably like Bugs he sounds. The story is predictable and the pacing is not as crisp as before, I felt that some of it dragged. And apart from the amusing delivery of Foghorn's final line the ending falls flat. And sadly, The Slick Chick is not very funny. The gags felt drawn out and tired, and while the dialogue has its moments like Cackle's description of Junior and Foghorn's final line it was lacking in freshness. All in all, has its moments but Foghorn's weakest cartoon. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Foghorn Leghorn agrees to babysit Widow Hen's troublesome son Junior but lives to regret it. An amusing Foghorn short with all of the laughs coming from the character of Junior, who is very obviously based on Red Sketon's "Mean Widdle Kid" character right down to stealing that character's catchphrase. I respectfully disagree with other reviewers that this is Foghorn's worst short but I agree it is far from his best. For the most part, I thought it was fun. This is mainly due to Mel Blanc's wonderful voice work. The animation is decent with nice, bright colors. The music is lively and upbeat. All of the gags are worth at least a chuckle.