The Hep Cat

Bob Clampett's 'The Hep Cat' is a distinctly average cartoon only really notable for the fact that it was the first colour Looney Tune (previously Looney Tunes were all black and white while Merrie Melodies were in colour). The tale of a singing, dancing cat's attempts to woo a lady cat and a dog's attempts to catch the cat, 'The Hep Cat' lacks the trademark energy and pace of most Clampett shorts. To be fair, Clampett doesn't have a great deal to work with. Warren Foster's script is embarrassingly thin and, while he has spun straw into gold with other cartoons, Clampett doesn't manage it with 'The Hep Cat'. It's often said of Clampett that you can't mistake his cartoons for anyone else's and it's generally true but 'The Hep Cat' is an exception. There's flashes of Clampett genius, such as the chase scene in which the cat stops to ask the dog "Hey, are you following me". When the dog confirms that he is, the cat simply says "Oh" and the chase immediately resumes. Unfortunately, there's very little of such brilliance on show here. Knowing who directed it, 'The Hep Cat' is a bitter disappointment. We all have off days and this was clearly one of Clampett's!

I love to hear the slang of the day, whatever decade, and this one has a lot of it of the '40s beginning with the title. For those you don't know, "hep" used to mean "hip" or "cool" or whatever. Here, it's cat who struts his stuff in words, song and dance. He spots this hot female feline and is smitten. The trouble is this stupid dog - and he is portrayed as really stupid at times, clever at other times - keeps interfering.

Getting back to the slang: just read the note the Hep Cat receives one day: "Dear Gorgeous Hunk, If you would like to pitch some woo - come back to the fence for a rendezvous!"

I love it! Words like "hunk," come back around every other generation but "woo" has been out of our vocabulary since about 1950.

Unfortunately, this was the only funny thing in the cartoon. I enjoyed the artwork and the direction the humor was not much. There seems to be a big difference in a lot of these Looney Tunes, depending on the decade. The early '50s still hold up well today, but some of these '40s are too dated to be funny.

The Hep Cat thinks that he's more hep than he actually is. He gets chased by the local dog named Rosebud. He tries and fails to woo the beautiful female cat. He gets tricked by the dog who later uses a puppet female cat to trap Hep Cat.

I didn't get the Victor Mature reference. That happens sometimes. I also don't know Hep Cat. I don't know if he appears anywhere else. Let's just say that he is a work in progress. I think that he would work better if he is either smarter or dumber. He is somewhat in between and not particularly that compelling. He has some fun. This is fine but nothing special.

A swinging hep cat is trying to make it with a cute female cat but a dog is in the way at every step. When I usually think of the name Robert Clampett, the word that automatically comes to mind is "sheer greatness", which only makes this short all the more disappointing. In fact if I didn't read the title screen I would've had to no clue he even made this short. In other Clampett cartoons you can come in at any point and sit down to watch and KNOW he made that given short. His hand in it was usually that great. Sadly, this one I don't like nearly as much as it's not a good barometer of his major talents. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.

My Grade: C

I can't claim to be a connoisseur of Bob Clampett's work, but I've liked most of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons. A previous reviewer said that "The Hep Cat" falls short of Clampett's usual quality. I, on the other hand, think that this cartoon is actually quite neat, as a cool feline tries to woo a woman, but a dog keeps interfering. I assume that the title referred to the sort of person who would soon be a beatnik. Even if it doesn't, I still have often noticed that the Looney Tunes cartoons had a way with jazz (the ultimate kind of beatnik music).

All in all, not a masterpiece, but worth seeing.