Get Rich Quick

A narrator tells the story of a Goofy lookalike named George Geef, who is a compulsive gambler bent on cashing in the most winnings at casinos, alleys, and poker tables. Just about the funniest thing in the cartoon is toward the end when George's wife freaked out that he was out gambling all night. Other than that, much of the cartoon is just a lot of narrating and gambling - not much of a laughable cartoon here.

Grade D

A Walt Disney GOOFY Cartoon.

Mr. Geef hopes to GET RICH QUICK - and gambling is the way he plans to do it.

This rather odd little film has a tough time deciding where it stands in relation to Lady Luck. Goofy's two jackpot wins are hardly a warning against the dice vice for young viewers. Perhaps this ambiguity was a reflection of the animators' own experiences.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by 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 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 simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Goofy has a real problem. A gambling problem that is. He just can't resist a slot machine nor can he resist a friendly (or somewhat friendly) game of poker in a very smoky atmosphere. This was another one of those many Goofy cartoons that features all those Goofy look-alikes. Goofy seems to love it, but his cranky wife is waiting for him when he gets home. Apparently, she does not know a better way to handle it than hitting her husband with a shovel. Hopefully that cured his gambling problem, but now he has a new problem. A relationship with an abusive wife.

After finding Tomorrow We Diet (1951-also reviewed) to be excellent, I got ready to see Goofy get rich.

View on the film:

Rolling Goofy into a gambling habit, director Jack Kinney wins the jackpot on bringing a one-armed bandit to life for slap-stick gags, and the great hand-drawn animation filling the screen with smoke, which Goofy cuts into as he searches for a winning hand.

Making a change from past Goofy shorts by having a supporting character return (his wife) the screenplay by returning writers Milt Schaffer & Dick Kinney spoof the various methods of gambling,with a lingering fear from Goofy of his wife being angry, if he fails to get rich quick.

Goofy is a great character, not just in the case of Disney but also animation generally. Of the recurring popular characters in the Disney shorts of the 30s-50s, Goofy was the one who developed overtime to the everyman persona that makes him so endearing and easy to relate to. Get Rich Quick is great fun and showcases Goofy's talents and personality splendidly. Goofy, as well as being fully able to inhabit the role, is naturally funny and is likable as always, you even feel sorry for him at the end as he deals with another problem that isn't his gambling. The gags are clever and inventive, also more importantly hilarious, especially Goofy with the barrel. Where it succeeds as well is how well it tells its story, the gags and animation tell volumes, it is always involving and not predictable at all, and it takes a serious issue(that is even relevant today) and incorporates it in a way that entertains and teaches. The animation is colourful and clean, with the colours looking gorgeous and everything is beautifully drawn. Visual ideas like with the slot machine also shows that those who animated Get Rich Quick were having fun, and it was equally fun to watch from an audience perspective. The music compliments the humour wonderfully, one of the strengths with the Disney shorts musically was how the scoring added to the gags and you can hear that here, as well as the music being memorable and very pleasant on the ear. To conclude, great fun with Goofy and Disney. 10/10 Bethany Cox