Walky Talky Hawky

This cartoon, nominated for an Oscar, was actually a Henery Hawk cartoon. But Foghorn Leghorn-a takeoff on a radio character of the 1930s-1940s-steals the show and launched himself to fame and fortune, while Henery saw his career fizzle. The Foggy in this is the Foggy everyone knows today. Very little change from the first appearance to the familiar figure, unlike Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Elmer or most of the others. Well worth watching.

In Foghorn Leghorn's debut, he tries to get Henery Hawk to to go after Barnyard Dog, with unexpected consequences. One thing that I noticed was that Henery Hawk's father called the family "chicken hawks", meaning that they hunt chickens. That phrase now refers to politicians who never served in the armed forces but send other people to fight in wars (often for lies). The connection that I see - however loose - is that Foghorn lies to Henery about Barnyard being a chicken. So he sends Henery off to do something for a lie. On the other hand, Foghorn had tortured Barnyard many times, so he wasn't being as much of a hypocrite as George W. Bush.

But anyway, it's a really fun cartoon, a sign of the later Foghorn Leghorn shorts. Cool.

Listen when I'm talking to you boy! This is Foghorn Leghorn's first short. And he got an Oscar-Nomination! WOW! I SAY, I SAY OSCAR NOMINATION! HAHA! You're a good reader but you ain't paying attention to a thing I say!

3(***)out of 4(****)stars

McKimson tends to be overlooked as a director, despite having done so many important and hilarious cartoons.

He clearly did something right, considering his fourth release was nominated for an Oscar.

The Foghorn character and situation is almost entirely crystalized from the start, save for the voice. His rivalry with the barnyard dog and tricking the naive Henery Hawk became a staple for the series. Foghorn's voice would eventually be set in stone by his fourth appearance.

Having inherited Tashlin's former crew, McKimson's cartoons from 1946 more or less have Tashlin's sense of energy. This entry is the most frantic paced of the series. Art Davis, Cal Dalton, and Dick Bickenbach had a lot to with the zaniness and this was the sole Foghorn that they animated on.

This entry makes a strong case for Robert McKimson as a director.

Foghorn Leghorn is not my favourite of the Looney Tunes characters. He is however a very funny one and one of their most distinctive(Pepe LePew probably gets the top spot on that front. Walky Talky Hawky was Foghorn and Henery Hawke's first cartoon, and while it's their first it's also one of their better ones. The animation is beautifully done, Foghorn is a little overweight here as he was in his early cartoons but the colours are vibrant with a good amount of depth and the backgrounds are fluid and detailed. The music has always been one of the main reasons why Foghorn's and Looney Tunes' (in general) cartoons score so well with me. It is lushly orchestrated, it is hugely energetic and very catchy and jazzy, it enhances the action so well and keeps you in a good mood throughout and afterwards. The writing would get wittier later on- as you'd expect for a first time there is the sense that it's trying to find its feet still, perfectly natural- but it is still very funny and fresh with the Foghorn series' writing style(ie. Foghorn's repetition and crazy similes) evident. The gags are clever and well timed. The two characters come off against each other very well, they're not at their best, their personalities got stronger as the series evolved, but they are still like the characters that we know. Mel Blanc does a great job, spot on as Foghorn as always and while he's fine as Henery there are times where he sounds as though he's experimenting with which voice he used before settling with a hybrid of Bugs Bunny, Speedy Gonzales and Tweety. In conclusion, a great promising start in introducing a character that is funny and sticks out from the crowd. 9/10 Bethany Cox