The Screwy Truant

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't really care for the character of Screwy Squirrel. Of all of Tex Avery's wonderful cartoon creations, he is the one I could really do without. That being said, The Screwy Truant has to be one of, if not the best cartoon featuring this extremely annoying character. In this one Screwy is chased by a truant officer dog. The result is some very funny gags that remain fresh due to the fact that they have not been over used in other cartoons. My favorite bit involves Red Riding Hood and the Wolf getting lost in the wrong cartoon.

When I was a kid watching the Tom and Jerry show on weekday afternoons in the late '70s and early '80s, I watched most of the cartoons they aired that was from the '40s including those starring Droopy or Barney Bear. For some reason, however, they never either showed or I never saw any Screwy Squirrel cartoons made during the same time. So The Screwy Truant is the very first one starring this admittedly unappealing, both visually and personality-wise, character I've ever seen. Despite that, I loved the "everything but the kitchen sink" (actually, don't think too much about that one) humor of the entire premise of the title character playing hooky and getting chased by the truant officer with all the fast-paced wackiness you can only expect from the one and only Tex Avery. Absolutely nothing is sacred, certainly not "Little Red Riding Hood" or jokes related to WWII air raid uniforms. So to anyone who loves great animation and great laughs, The Screwy Truant is for you!

This was my second look at the "Screwy Squirrel" character of the mid 1940s, a character invented by the great Tex Avery and writer Heck Allen. Only five cartoons featuring this squirrel were made. That's too bad, because this humor is just pure genius.

The sight gags almost from the start are absolutely fantastic. The dumb dog I saw in the first Screwy cartoon is now the "villain," as truant officers are always the bad guys, aren't they? Of course, the squirrel's attitude is pure juvenile delinquent. The opening scene has Screwy outside the school house and telling us, the audience, "Can you imagine those chumps going to school on a nice day like this?"

Screwy may not be Avery's super-nice little "Droopy," but he is just as fascinating to watch and a great vehicle for laughs and because he's different, I appreciated the character. It's almost refreshing to see a wise-guy "good guy," just for variety sake. His violent nature, however, is sometimes shocking. This squirrel is a killer!

I don't know if all the Screwy cartoons as good as this one, but it is the best of the three I've seen, just squeaking out "Lonesome Lenny," which also was outstanding. Reviewers here mainly think this is the best of the SS cartoons, and I wouldn't argue with that.

I also have to believe that audiences back in 1945 had never quite seen the inventive tricks that Avery and Heck played in here. This is a wild, outrageous cartoon and I can't rate it high enough! Great stuff!

The most interesting character in this cartoon is the truant officer. Tex Avery gave him monumental abilities. But they do him no good against the impish squirrel. He counters every effort the officer makes to drag him off to school. Really, would one like to be in the same room with Screwy? It's a pretty well made little effort.

Screwy Squirrel is skipping school to go fishing. Truant officer dog is hot on his tail. It's not an easy chase. This is Tex Avery doing an MGM cartoon short. Screwy Squirrel is basically Bugs Bunny without his nice personality or Deadpool without his charms. He's not my favorite character but he works in this one. I love the irreverent turns and breaking conventions. I like this despite Screwy.