Two Gun Goofy

Before viewing the Finnish Horror The Witch (1952-also reviewed) I decided to watch a short. Still having a good number of shorts on the second disc of The Complete Goofy to view,I got set to see Goofy travel down to the Wild West.

Sending Goofy in to take on a outlaw, director Jack Kinney quick-fires with a lush parody of the classic American Western,via the pale blue sky and burning pink being scattered across the walls of the town. Bouncing off of Kinney's Western backdrop,the screenplay by Dick Kinney & Brice Mack draws rapid-fire zany gags of Goofy unknowingly trying to save the town from the two-gun welding Pistol Pete.

This is a more conventional and entertaining Goofy cartoon, much more amusing than those other ones that features numerous Goofys and a narrator guiding us through a boring story. Here, we go to the Wild West where Goofy takes on Pete, who had just robbed the town's bank. After rescuing a carriage full of people from Pete's robbery, Goofy inadvertently foils Pete's attempted robbery of the town.

Great animation and a fun story!

Grade B

A Walt Disney GOOFY Cartoon.

Without even trying, silly TWO GUN GOOFY is more than a match for evil Pistol Pete.

This funny little film is a fine spoof of Western movies & stories. Pete once again proves his adaptability, a quality which kept him as the top villain in the Disney shorts for decades.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

I'm not a terribly big fan of the post-1930s Disney short cartoons, but Two-Gun Goofy (1952) is a great deal of fun. Goofy is hilarious as the unwitting hero and the gags are all good, though not terribly inventive or side-splitting. A small dose of dark humor keeps things interesting.

It's interesting to compare this short with the similarly-named and much earlier short Two-Gun Mickey (1934). Both are western spoofs with Pete as the villain; however, Two-Gun Mickey features more dramatic stakes, with Pete posing a serious threat to Mickey and Minnie, while here, everything is played for laughs, even though there is a death toll on display here (as evidenced by the undertaker taking tally of Pete's victims during his opening raid). The Mickey cartoon also has more inventive visuals and better characterization on the whole, coming from a period of experimentation at the Disney studio.

Still, these shorts are two different beasts, as are Mickey Mouse and the Goof themselves. If you love Goofy, westerns, or classic cartoons, then this one will be worth your time for sure.

Not the most surprising of plots, one that is fairly similar to a Mickey and Pete short from the late 20s-30s, but still a huge amount of fun. It works wonderfully as a spoof on westerns, an interesting genre that can be under-estimated. The gags are clever and hilarious, especially the literally explosive ending and Goofy's finishing line. The plot is not much of a surprise, but moves very quickly and is still entertaining. The animation is bright and colourful as well as beautifully drawn, while the music is so well orchestrated and characterful, as always managing also to synchronise with the action. Goofy's song is catchy and has funny lyrics. Goofy is still a very likable character with great comic timing and a strong personality that is well interwoven with the scenario. Pete, with a closer character design to the Pete we are familiar with now, is decidedly antagonistic and contrasts to thrilling effect with Goofy(though he generally works better with Mickey). The voice work is excellent.

To conclude, a little routine but funny, colourful and clever western spoof that is quite a good introduction to the genre. 9/10 Bethany Cox