Recluta a la Fuerza

Daffy is reading today's paper which says, "U.S. Army announces a smashing frontal attack on enemy rear." He suddenly gets a surge of patriotism, racing around the room and waving a flag, imitating Teddy Roosevelt, singing patriot songs, saluting a picture of Douglas MacArthur and on and on.

Suddenly the phone rings and it's the draft board calling to say they are bringing him a notice. Wow, Mr. Patriot has a change of heart and now starts crooning, "It had to be me....poor me," sobbing big tears. His knees start shaking and he loses it - so much for bravado and patriotism!

I have to admit; Daffy doing everything he can to avoid being drafted sure reminds me of stories I used to hear in the late '60s concerning guys trying to get out of the Vietnam War. Daffy would have fit in with those guys. I laughed at the rocket ship on his roof with the billboard underneath that said, "Use in case of induction only."

Daffy still had that stupid laugh he had the first decade of his existence but you can see he's changing into the real wise guy he was in the '50s cartoons.

The direction in this cartoon from Robert Clampett is fantastic, so good it was more than noticeable, such as the angles in which we see Daffy racing around the house, trying to avoid the man from the draft board. The confetti-like sparks denoting speed was fun to see, too.

In all, an extremely entertaining and colorful cartoon.

What can I day about this that hasn't been said by those above. After "Daffy the Commando", to "Scrap Happy Daffy" (or was that after this one?) Daffy as DRAFT DODGER? Even Daffy wouldn't.. but in (unlike much later and to the day) a very funny fashion he constantly and outrageously runs right into that little man kindly serving him ye ole draft notice, and who looks like Elmer Fudd (though his character's borrowed from a radio comic character of the day, Peavy the Druggist on the "Great Gildersleeze", right down to the "Oh well, now, I wouldn't say that!" shtick.), and does the "Tex Avery/Droopy" bit that itself is equally hard to get away from.

But this is a riot, yet if a later Vietnam or today Sept. the 11th counterpart were done with Daffy, dodging the draft..NO WAY would Daffy be this symphatetic (though I disagree that W.C.Fields "took a back seat" to ANYBODY.)

(To the tune of "Marine's Hymm"-aka "From the Halls of Montezuma") "Oh-oh, the lit-tle man from the dra-aft board/ Is comin' to see me"..then realizes what he's just singing about.

Anyone who's seen enough Daffy Duck cartoons should know that he's...well, daft. In "Draftee Daffy", he maintains that personality, only it's now like he's on steroids. In this case, he's a super-patriot until the government tries to draft him into the army. Maybe it's just me, but this reminds me of the average chicken hawk (a politician who never fought in a war - and most likely never even got drafted - but sends people to fight in wars; sound familiar?).

But that's just a side note. This is a really hilarious cartoon, and the beginning of Daffy developing his greedy side. Included in "Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons".

Daffy changes his tune from patriotic flag-waver to craven draftdodger when he learns that the little man from the draft board is coming to pay him a visit. Daffy's reaction when he learns of his induction status is the highlight of the cartoon; the implication slowly dawns on him. He spends the rest of the cartoon trying to avoid the little man, even resorting to attempted murder. (And to think, only a few years before Daffy fought the Nazis in such cartoons as Daffy the Commando [1943] and Plane Daffy [1944].) Only Daffy could get away with such brazenly unpatriotic behavior during World War II, and only a director like Bob Clampett could pull it off and still keep the duck an appealing character. This also marks the beginning of the craven, self-preserving Daffy that Chuck Jones would later develop in such cartoons as Duck, Rabbit, Duck and Rabbit Fire. Another very funny and energetic Clampett cartoon.

Daffy Duck is less than patriotic. He is visited by a persistent draft board representative. He keeps escaping from the draft all the way to Hell.

At first glance, I am not sure if an unpatriotic Daffy is the way to go during a time of war. I do get the premise. Make Daffy a coward and make him suffer for his choice. To be sure, Daffy is a great coward. This probably worked for the audience back in the day, maybe. The problem is that Daffy is a great character and he could still appeal to some part of the audience even as a lowly coward. That is the central conflict. One should be enticed to join.