Release Date:

November 17, 1951

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Nasty Canasta

Summary:

“Western Type Hero” Daffy Duck, aided by his sidekick “Comedy Relief” Porky Pig, attempts to bring justice into a lawless Western town where everybody is either shooting at others or being robbed. He then attempts to bring down the menacing outlaw, Nasty Canasta, who isn’t easy for him to defeat.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1192 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is the first of a few Daffy and Porky cartoons directed by Jones where Daffy is very inept in the hero role he’s cast in and Porky is the one who is far more competent and accomplishes what Daffy is trying to do without breaking a sweat. Others include “Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century” (1953), “My Little Duckaroo” (1954), “Deduce You Say” (1956), and “Robin Hood Daffy” (1958).

This is also the first appearance of Nasty Canasta, a hulking brute of an antagonist, who in this one, is feared by the whole town. Canasta would also be up against Daffy and Porky again in the aforementioned “My Little Duckaroo” and Bugs in “Barbary Coast Bunny” (1956), where in the latter cartoon, he’s a lot less menacing and more comical. He would also make a cameo appearance in “Looney Tunes Back in Action” as one of Yosemite Sam’s henchmen (along with Cottontail Smith from “Super Rabbit”).

Porky sings an original tune by Michael Maltese over the opening credits and into the start of the cartoon called “The Flower of Gower Gulch”. Jones would also reuse this song in his 1961 masterpiece, “Nelly’s Folly”.

Daffy’s horse being named “Tinfoil” in this cartoon is a reference to the Lone Ranger’s horse, “Silver”.

The layout and background credits are mistakenly flip flopped making it look like Robert Gribbroek did the backgrounds and Philip DeGuard did the layouts instead of vice versa.

“The Toy Trumpet” plays during the scene where Porky sends a wind-up toy soldier to confront Canasta up until the point where it blasts Canasta in the face.

“Drip Along” is a play on words for “Hopalong” as in “Hopalong Cassidy”. Other media that use this play-on-words include Tex Avery’s 1954 MGM cartoon, “Drag A Long Droopy” and the Flintstones episode, “Droop A Long Flintstone” (1961). Jones would use the pun of Hopalong Cassidy himself nine years later in “Hopalong Casualty” (which is the cartoon that contains the iconic ACME Earthquake Pills sequence).

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

At one point in the 1991 film, “JFK”, one of Jim Garrison’s (Kevin Costner) children is seen watching this cartoon.

Favorite Scene:

Canasta orders his “usual”, which is a combination of three deadly drinks, one for himself and one for Daffy. Canasta is unaffected by it but Daffy gives his to Porky, who is seemingly also unaffected by it. Daffy demands one for himself, and drinks it, only for him and Porky to react to their respective drinks seconds later.

What Happens in This One:

Over the opening credits and into the start of the cartoon, Daffy is riding his horse Tinfoil and Porky is riding a small burro as Porky sings the original tune, “The Flower of Gower Gulch” complete with stuttering: “She’s the Flower of G-Gower Gulch. A cowpuncher’s sweetheart t-true. And her looks don’t amount to her much. ‘Cause one of her eyes is b-b-b-blue. She’s got skin just like prairie dog leather. She cooks nothing but chuckwagon st-st-st-stew. And her name is Minerva Ulch. She’s the Flower of G-Gower Gulch” (animated by Phil Monroe).

In the lawless Western town, “Snake Bite Center”, the population of 350 is changed to 349 thanks to a gunshot, with a sign revealing who specifically was shot: “Sheriff Wanted”. The population of Snake Bite Center’s cemetery changes from 23472986 sherrifs to 23472987. Everyone is seen either shooting at or robbing someone else, including a horse who robs a blacksmith of his horseshoes, and an Indian mannequin who gets held up by a robber mannequin. One guy who’s being shot at and his pursuer shooting at him have to stop a traffic light in order to allow another guy being shot at and chased by someone shooting at him to pass before they can continue with their chase. Two men’s horses immediately stage a shootout against each other when they come face to face. Another man gets shot from the highest floor of the Ritz Hotel and falls into a waiting stretcher carried by two unconcerned and similarly dressed undertakers before they head off with him into the building of “Rigor O’Mortis the Smiling Undertaker” (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Shortly, Daffy and Porky finally arrive at Snake Bite Center and upon seeing the “Sheriff Wanted” sign, Daffy pulls out a Sheriff badge from under his vest, which also has other badges such as “Oh You Kid”, “Chicken Inspector”, “Junior G Man”, and a green one labeled “Boo”. Before they head into town, Daffy tells Porky, “Alright, deputy, there’s going to be a sneak preview and the sneaks ain’t gonna like it. I’m gonna clean up this one-horse town” and rides in, “Hi-ho, Tinfoil! Away!” (animated by Monroe)

Bursting into the main saloon, Daffy attempts to draw his guns but obliviously draws his pants as well, with his guns stuck in their holsters: “Let justice be done! Tear up that mortgage! Unhand that rancher’s daughter! Cease that-that-that-” and realizes, “Uh. Seems awfully breezy in here” and upon looking down and seeing that his underwear is visible, he says, “Uh, cease that, uh, rustling”. Putting his pants back on, he informs, “Slight pause whilst I adjust my accoutrements” before dashing off (animated by Ben Washam).

He comes back in with his guns properly drawn this time but no one pays him any attention: “Drip Along Daffy’s the name! Anybody care to shoot ‘em out? Man to man? Under western skies? West of the Pecos? Tumbleweeds at ten paces? Ten thousand heads o’ cattle?” and starts to realize no one’s listening, “Cut ‘em off at the pass? Prairies? Lariats? Anyone for tennis? Anybody?”, before his mood changes to joyful, “Well, reckon I’ll have me a little braiser!” Daffy orders “Make mine a double-pasteurized milkshake, bartender. Uh, with a swami yogurt chaser” to which the bartender asks, “No kiddin’?” (animated by Washam) “Fool around with me will ya, ya ornery mange-bearing coyotes?” (pronounces it “ky-otes”) A bullet suddenly fires through his glass, where it’s revealed to have been shot by Canasta who’s standing in front of his own wanted poster and upon walking off, was doing the exact same pose and facial expression in his poster which says he’s wanted for a five million dollar reward (dead) and is a rustler, bandit, and square dance caller (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

This gets everyone’s attention as they all run away at once as Canasta makes his way (animated by Vaughan) up to Daffy. Daffy immediately points his guns at him, “Stick ‘em up, homber! You’re under arrest!” Canasta simply bites down on the gun and chews a part of it off, leaving only the handle, trigger, and six holes with the gunpowder spilling out. Daffy figures, “Probably didn’t have his iron today” (pronounces iron as “i-ron”; animated by Monroe). Daffy begins confronting him, “Hankerin’ for trouble, eh? Well, I would like-” before asiding briefly, “I would like? I would like a trip to Europe” and continues, “-I would like to introduce myself. Drip Along Daffy’s the name!” Canasta points his gun at him and insists, “Have a drink” to which Daffy meekly answers, “Awfully decent of you” (animated by Washam).

Canasta orders from the bartender, “Two of the usual”. The bartender nervously complies before putting on gloves and a welding mask and opening a cabinet labeled “Danger” that contains three poisonous drinks: a red one called “Cobra Fang Juice”, a yellow one called “Old Panther”, and a purple one called “Hydrogen Bitters”. After the bartender creates a concoction of all three, Daffy initially finds it delicious and licks his lips mindlessly. He then realizes this is a deadly beverage after the bartender drops two ice cubes into Canasta’s poisonous drink and they suddenly come to life, yelping in pain and jumping into a bucket of water to relieve it! “You wouldn’t dare”, Daffy says in shock. Canasta gurgles down his drink which only causes his hat to do a front flip (animated by Washam).

He then snarls at Daffy to “Drink!” Daffy instead gives the drink intended for him to Porky: “Oh, deputy? De-pew-ty?” After being offered the drink, Porky thanks him for it, and after drinking it, tells him it was delicious. Seeing it seemingly has no effect on Porky, Daffy demands while slapping the table, “Bartender! Bartender! Where’s mine!?” and immediately downs the drink given to him. Nothing happens for a few seconds before Daffy suddenly stops moving and his hat stiffens. He then begins to recite “Mary Had a Little Lamb” in a childlike manner, as does Porky. Daffy and Porky then turn green and walk around in a robotic manner while before Daffy’s guns shoot out a hole in the floor from under him. After he falls down it, he zooms back up like a rocket, before descending down gently with a parachute and calmly telling Canasta, “I hate you”. He then gets in Canasta’s face and threatens, “Listen, homber, if’n you’re not out of town by sundown, you’d better come a-shootin’ with your six guns a-blazin’ and a-firin’, (breathes heavily), I plumb reckon!” (animated by Washam)

Later, Daffy and Canasta walk up towards each other in preparation for their shootout in silence with the only noises heard being the sounds of the spurs on their boots and a horse whinnying at one point. When Canasta comes near him, Porky winds up a toy soldier that has a bayonet and has it march up towards Canasta. Canasta sees this and picks it up while laughing at it, believing it to be nothing but a harmless toy. The toy soldier suddenly shoots Canasta in the face, causing him to collapse forward (animated by Ken Harris).

Unaware of Canasta’s defeat, Daffy is still walking up to him when the whole town runs toward Porky and carry him off as a hero while cheering loudly. Bewildered, Daffy demands, “Say, what’s goin’ on around here!? What’s-!? Put down that comedy relief! What’s the big idea!? I’M the hero of this picture! Carry me! Give me the cheers!” before he begins to see what’s happened with Porky, “Give- give me the- give- give me th- give me one dozen roses”. It turns out that Porky’s been unanimously made as the new sheriff, as he gives Daffy a “come here” gesture, “Oh, eh, D-Drip Along. D-D-Drip Along, pal”. Daffy is shown to be rather happy with his new job in the next scene, “I told ya I’d clean up this one-horse town!” where he is shown to literally be a street cleaner. Porky ends the cartoon with, “Eh, l-lucky for him, it IS a one-horse town!” (animated by Harris)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕