Le grand méchant louche

This is perhaps the cartoon that best summarizes Tex Avery's style of direction, exemplifying superbly-timed gags, the chase, the use of puns for maximum effect, and the unexpected appearences of a protagonist thought lost earlier in the short.

More than a few viewers probably first saw this cartoon when it was mistakenly inserted into a Warner Brothers cartoon reel used in television syndication in the 1960s and '70s; how an MGM cartoon got mixed into a Warner Brothers reel is intriguing, even though Avery did spend much time at Warners.

The Wolf rides into town and encounters Droopy at several points, having the waiter dispose of the annoying dog over and over. When the Wolf sees the Girl dancing on stage, he kidnaps her and an angry posse takes off in pursuit. The Wolf loses the posse, but when he tries to collect his kiss of the Girl, guess who? "You've been a-doggin' me all through this picture," the Wolf says, demanding to know who Droopy is; when he gets his answer the Girl gets her freedom from the Wolf - or does she?

In the old west, wanted criminal Joe Wolf holds up an ice-cream stage coach and steals a treat. He's followed closely by Droopy. Wolf rides into town and starts shooting up the place. Everybody is scared except Droopy. Wolf is taken with hot lounge singer Red and kidnaps her.

I like everything except Droopy's voice. He doesn't sound like the Droopy that I know and he doesn't talk enough. He has the same style, but the tone is off. They're probably using different voice performers. As for the final reveal, a funnier joke would be Droopy demanding that Wolf pay for the ice cream and let him go afterwards. This is good overall.

Well, someone had to say it, because Droopy keeps showing up in this cartoon about how Woolfy is now a western bandit who kidnaps Red after she's only finished half of a song. A posse is assembled and they take after the villain, with Droopy popping up -- mostly -- on his little blue horse throughout the short subject.

This being a Tex Avery cartoon, of course the real issue is how many gags he can cram into its length. This being Avery's peak period, the answer is a whole lot. My favorite is the one where they're crossing the river, although you may prefer some other. There are so many of them, after all.

A "wanted poster" on a cactus sets up this story: the big bad wolf is wanted and the reward is $5,000, which would be untold thousands today. We then see the notorious bandit - and his horse who also is wearing a mask! - hold up a stage. Unfortunately, it turns out to be only the "Good Rumor Man" (they love puns in these cartoons) stagecoach, carrying ice cream. The bandit - and the horse - ask for "Neapolitan" and "Tutti Fruitti," respectively.

It's this kind of insanity that makes me love these Tex Avery Droopy cartoons. They are so full of great dialog in addition to the sight gags that I constantly laugh throughout most of them. The absurdity of a horse asking for a tutti-fruitti ice cream bar is just one example.

Of course, you know who is going to catch this bandit: little Droopy, with a cowboy hat on that is bigger than him. The action will take place at the "Rigor Mortis Saloon" where customers are invited to "come in and get stiff." Ouch!!

As with the "Dan McGoo" cartoon, we get the beautiful woman singing a song on stage and the wolf's eyeballs flying out but that part is very short. The chase begins when this varmint grabs that sexy singer and rides off with her out of the saloon. A posse is quickly formed and we a corny horse race....but you know who will win this "race" to get the villain.

My favorite character in this story was the bandit's horse, who was really funny. All in all, more good silly, corny animated fun....and another great restoration job on this Droopy "Complete Theatrical Collection" DVD. The colors in here look fantastic. For fans of this cartoon, I highly recommend this DVD.

As the creator of the character, it's understandable that Tex Avery would be best able to utilize him to best effect. Most of the Droopy shorts made after Tex left MGM don't really use the character as effectively, giving him too much dialogue or making him to soft-hearted and without an edge to him. Droopy has teeth and can use them. But, really, what Droopy is, and probably intended to be all along, is a simple character to react to things and bounce things off of, a sort of subtle focus point the audience can be drawn to and relate to, but who doesn't distract from the sight gags.

Watch for Droopy's appearances in this one-he pops up unexpectedly in some amusing places. There's also a great running gag here that may well be his best running gag, certainly the best Avery used while at MGM (the one at the core of The Legend of Rockabye Point may be better, but I love that cartoon so much, I could be biased in its favor) and running gags were a staple in Avery cartoons. Most of them had at least one. Good cartoon and the ending is great. Well worth watching. Recommended.