Bad Ol' Putty Tat

Sylvester's at it again, trying desperately to eat poor Tweety. This time Tweety's protected by a birdhouse surrounded in barbwire. He's also not afraid to smack Sylvester around. There are a lot of amusing gags where Sylvester gets banged up. You almost feel sorry for him until you remember he wouldn't have these problems if he would just find something else to eat. Tweety is especially adorable and funny in this. He has some great lines. Lovely and colorful animation as you expect from Warner Bros. in its heyday. Excellent voicework from Mel Blanc and fun music from Carl Stalling. You either like Tweety and Sylvester cartoons or you don't. I happen to enjoy them and this is a pretty darn good one.

Oh-me! Oh-my! - Who would've ever thought that being a sweet, little bird like Tweety would also have its fair share of hazards and drawbacks, too?

But - Hey! - When you've got a totally determined and persistent putty-tat like Sylvester continually stalking you for his next meal - How can Tweety's diminutive size not make him a victim who is repeatedly finding himself on the lookout for any dangerous traps that are being cleverly set for his inevitable capture?

Anyway - This pre-CGI animated short from 1949 was (IMO) quite an enjoyable view. It was delightfully directed by Friz Freleng with the added bonus of featuring the always-amusing voice-talents of Mel Blanc.

Friz Freleng's 'Bad Old Putty Tat' was only the third pairing of Tweety and Sylvester but already this set-up was beginning to grate. An uninspired chase around a nondescript, dingy garden, 'Bad Old Putty Tat' was an early indicator of how repetitive and unfunny this series would be. After an inventive opening shot which suggests a joke has happened off screen before the cartoon even began, 'Bad Old Putty Tat' quickly descends into the same tired old gags. Tweety, once such a brilliant character in the trio of Bob Clampett films in which he debuted, has become infuriatingly cutesy and unfunny while the usually brilliant Sylvester is here, as in so many Sylvester and Tweety cartoons, reduced to a mute dupe, a role that could be played by any other generic cat character. The only sequence during which 'Bad Old Putty Tat' feels like it might come to life is a scene in which Tweety is mistaken for a shuttlecock and that is mainly for my own sadistic desire to see the ruined Freleng version of Tweety being smacked back and forth with Badminton racquets!

I'm not the biggest Tweety fan, but this one was pretty good. It had a funny humorous moments (seeing that damn speech impediment having bird getting the feathers blown off him as a badminton ball really made my day) And it's always good to watch Slyvester (before he got saddled with a little tyke) Seeing this and liking it made me realize that maybe my dislike of Tweety was misplaced. Maybe I just really couldn't stand the Granny character. I'll have to look more into this new spin on it, but it would change all my understands of my Tweety watching childhood. This animated short can be seen on Disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.

My Grade: B

Tweety's outside slumbering away in his nest in a birdhouse atop a long barbed-wire pole with a "do not disturb" sign outside his hole. Sylvester, (who else?) is below figuring a way to get up there. He's already covered in bandages, obviously coming out the worst for wear in a previous attempt.

His first attempt is a trampoline, to bounce high enough and snatch the bird, but Tweety is ready for him with a variety of funny attacks of his own. Then, after sawing the pole down only results in the poor cat losing all his teeth, Sylvester comes up with an inventive idea, painting his finger to look like a little bird. He inserts the finger, complete with bonnet to draw Tweety's romantic interests, into a nest and.......well, you have to see this to believe it. It gets even more insane with Tweety becoming part of a badminton match, Sylvester winding up in a water cooler, and more.

Overall, a very funny , fast-moving "Tweety" cartoon.