Don't Give Up the Sheep

Don't Give Up the Sheep (1953)

**** (out of 4)

Sam Sheepdog (named Ralph in this film) clocks into work and right away Wile E. Coyote (not the name used here) is trying to steal the sheep. Sam has to stay wide awake because Wile has a lot of stuff up his sleeve. This is an excellent cartoon full of great laughs and violent action. Even though he isn't address as Wile, it's clear who the character is suppose to be and I must admit that I think his character here is a lot better than any of the match ups against the Road Runner. Don't get me wrong, I do love the Road Runner series but for my money this film is flawless. The running gag of sawing through the tree is priceless as are the many attempts to steal the sheep. The coyote also takes a pretty big beating throughout the film, which is always fun to watch.

Ralph the Sheepdog punches in the work clock and takes over guard duty over a flock of sheep. In comes a wolf to scope out the potential buffet. First, he tries to trick Ralph by setting the work clock ahead. This keeps going and going until Ralph truly finishes his shift and is replaced by another sheepdog.

This is the first sheepdog and wolf short. The names are not set yet. What it absolutely gets right is the punch clock. That is the biggest and most important aspect of this franchise. It taps into the postwar workers who have to punch a clock everyday. There are later improvements, but this sets up the formula.

The first in a series of shorts about a sheepdog (usually named Sam) guarding a flock of sheep and a wolf (usually named Ralph) trying to steal them. The joke is that the dog (and in later shorts the wolf) is just doing his job, punching a clock like any blue collar human. Unlike some of the other reviewers here, I don't feel like this is the best of the series. It's a great start, and there are lots of funny gags, but I think some of the others in the series were even funnier. The Pan gag was my favorite in this one. The lively music is supplied by Carl Stalling. Great voice work from Mel Blanc. The animation is colorful and nicely drawn. Ralph's feet are different here than they would be in later cartoons. It's a clever and original start to a great series; yet another example of the genius of Chuck Jones.

Chuck Jones, in addition to both working with solidly established stars such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and doing one-shot cartoons like Martian Through Georgia, did some thematic groupings of short using continuing characters in a small number of cartoons. Ralph and Sam, a sheepdog and wolf, were one of these. The series is one of the better ones as far as I'm concerned. The concept of protector versus predator as a 9 to 5 job just amuses me no end. This particular short isn't the best of the lot (there were seven all told and I believe this was the first of them) but all of them are quite fun and are well worth watching. Recommended.

In the first pairing of Sam Sheepdog (here named Ralph) and Ralph Wolf (here anonymous), the latter constantly tries to snatch the sheep but the former always foils him, even when not too wise to the wolf's plans. I will say that I sort of predicted what would happen in the scene where they kept chopping the tree and cliff, but the truth is that nothing can weaken a cartoon like this. "Don't Give Up the Sheep" is a formidable part of cartoon history (only Chuck Jones could create a cartoon where a sheepdog works punch-clock shifts). Still, a later cartoon where they both punched the clock made the idea a little neater, what with how it raised the stakes.