For Scent-imental Reasons

Chuck Jones's 'For Scent-imental Reasons' is a brilliantly witty cartoon for which Pepe Le Pew won a well earned Academy Award on only his fourth outing. As a child I hated the Pepe Le Pew cartoons for several reasons. Of course, I thought love was yucky but also the pseudo-French gags and more verbal approach to comedy went completely over my head. Bearing in mind that these sexually charged cartoons were never meant for young eyes, it's hardly surprising that I have come round to loving Pepe and his straight-to-camera witticisms. Having said all that, even as a Pepe-hating child I still enjoyed 'For Scent-imental Reasons'. There was something about it that made it stand out over the other Le Pew shorts and clearly the Academy agreed.

Set in and around a perfume shop, 'For Scent-imental Reasons' finds Penelope the cat locked in with the amorous skunk after a bottle of white hair-dye bestows the obligatory deceptive markings down her spine. There follows a series of great gags, two of which involve aborted suicides! The best gag in the whole cartoon is when Penelope locks herself in a glass case causing Pepe to go absolutely insane with frustration until finally he pulls out a gun, puts it to his temple and walks out of sight. Hearing the shot, the guilt-ridden cat unlocks the case and leaps out straight into Pepe's arms. "I meesed" he tells her! 'For Scent-imental Reasons' is a lovely piece of work and undoubtedly one of the best Pepe Le Pew cartoons. From its familiar setup through to the table-turning ending, it's a classy and classic short.

I quite like the Pepe Le Pew cartoons, and I quite like Pepe himself for how unique and how he stands out among the rest. For Scent-imental Reeasons is a very classy cartoon and one of Pepe Le Pew's best. From the hilarious beginning and familiar set-up to the classic talking through the class gag and the ending which is a table-turner, For Scent-imental Reasons works so well. Complete with beautiful, elegant looking animation, lilting and amorous music that couldn't have been more perfect for the cartoon's tone, fresh dialogue, very funny gags and Mel Blanc's infectious vocals particularly as Pepe, you have a near masterpiece. Pepe is wonderful and gives one of his best performances, and Penelope is not shabby either. In conclusion, classy and entertaining, perhaps it could have been longer, but so much works you don't necessarily mind. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This was the cartoon that formed Pepe Le Pew as we know and love him. It was this cartoon that Chuck Jones found the correct formula to make Pepe a true winner.

Earlier, producer Eddie Seltzer thought that no one would believe that a French-speaking skunk was funny. Jones and Seltzer really battled on that. But when this cartoon won an Academy Award in 1949, he was proven wrong, and stepped up to receive the award anyway!

According to Chuck, Pepe, like Bugs Bunny, is one of his aspirations. He held a place in Chuck Jones' heart. He claimed that he never had much luck with 'les femmes' when in school, and Pepe is a character with so much security in his own sexuality that he contained much will power. So Pepe's a very personal character to Mr. Jones.

In the past, the humorous 'talking-through-the-glass' scene was cut due to the suicide reference. However-Pepe: I meesed...fortunately for you!"

His name was a spoof of Charles Boyer's character in the French film Algiers, a character named Pepe Le Moko.

A truly great for the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes collection.

BTW: I am saddened by the fact that Mr. Charles M. Jones, the last of the original Looney Tunes directors and creator of such a great Looney Tune, passed away just recently.

*sniff* Goodbye, Chuck Jones... >_<

I'll be totally honest. I was never a big fan of Pepe Le Pew. Every one of his cartoons is the same. For some silly reason a cat will end up a white stripe on it's back and Pepe, a smelly skunk, falls in love with her. His foul scent is so strong that when he grabs her and unleashes an endless barrage of kisses, she can only become like butter in his arms with a dazed look on her face. Occasionally she will try to escape and Pepe will fob it off with something like 'You are play-eeng hard-to-geet'. Blah, blah, blah, they are all the same.

Grant, this one was the first and it won an Oscar. But that was probably the reason they made so many more. This one does have a funny twist at the end when Pepe's love falls into a barrel of water and emerges like crack-addicted rat and the tables are turned. But it's still not really THAT funny. Pepe was only ever a supporting character and never strong enough to carry a whole cartoon.

He IS very cute though.

Pepe Le Peu is trying out various perfumes in a shop. A shocked shop owner retrieves a policeman who promptly runs away. A black and white female cat catches the shop owner's attention. He throws the cat into the shop and commands her to drive the skunk out. White hair dye falls off the counter and paints a white stripe down the middle of the female cat. Pepe Le Peu mistakes her for a skunk.

Pepe Le Peu is problematic in the modern era, but some allowances must be made for the times. It helps to have the table turned on him. The early part has a lot of French. I would suggest less French and just do the fake French accent. This is standard Pepe Le Peu and is probably fine even today.