Henpecked Hoboes

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best ever made by anybody. The first George and Junior cartoon 'Henpecked Hoboes' doesn't represent him at his best, this was prime-era Tex Avery (1940s at the MGM) and most other cartoons from this period were far more representative of that which does make the cartoon a slight disappointment. While it is a long way from being one of his funniest or most inventive, 'Henpecked Hoboes' is not a bad cartoon at all, and other than a slight lack of variety there is very little wrong with it.

Regarding the black-face gag, it may not bode well with some and to me it wasn't that funny but actually it is a very brief gag and compared to the racial stereotypes seen in some of the Censored 11 cartoons and some of the Van Beuren Tom and Jerry cartoons it is very tame.

Although it is not hilarious, 'Henpecked Hoboes' does have very amusing moments and is timed well, and while Avery's wild and wacky approach that is so distinctive comes through stronger elsewhere this is hardly devoid of either.

George and Junior are an appealing and amusing double act. The chicken is a good foil. Avery is also on voice acting duty and he shows as much talent for that as he had for directing and animating, both of which he also does a characteristically very good job. Dick Nelson joins him with the voice acting and he's fine.

It is no surprise that the animation is superb, being rich in colour and detail. The character designs are unique, Avery always did have creative character designs, and suitably fluid. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed.

Overall, nowhere near classic Avery but worth tracking down. 8/10 Bethany Cox

When we had a VHS as a kid, my dad would record all of the old Tex Avery cartoons that were on TV onto a special cartoon tape which we wore out because it was watched so often. One of the best on the tape was this!

Always remember me, my brother and my dad killing ourselves laughing at this classic.

Just watched on Thad's Animation Blog this M-G-M Tex Avery cartoon. The stars are George-the bear father-and Junior-his oversize son. Junior's hungry so George tries to get his son a hen. First, he tries on a rooster suit which drives the hen love crazy but her husband in a jealous snit. George ties him in an over-sized rocket with the hen lighting a match. The rocket sends the husband rooster to the South Pole which results in him taking a long way back home. When George-still in the rooster suit-gets out of the log first, Junior hits him resulting in the first of several times George tells his son, "Bend over", with him kicking his son...Many of the gags that follow are quite funny and while the ending is not hilarious, it's still pretty good. Henpecked Hoboes was quite a good Tex Avery cartoon that I recommend to any fan of his who hasn't seen it yet. P.S. There's a blackface gag that may offend somebody in this PC-time but it's so brief that I had no shame in laughing at it.

If only John Steinbeck had known how many cartoons his characters from "Of mice and men" would inspire. This time George and Lenny (or 'Junior' in this case) are two bears mind set on catching a chicken. Not the rooster, whom they send to the North Pole in no time, just the chicken. As usual in a Tex Avery cartoon, "Henpecked Hoboes" is no more than one joke repeated a number of inventive ways: George tries to lure the chicken by wearing a crazy disguise, Junior hits George on the head instead of the chicken, George kicks Junior in the behind ("Bend over, Junior"). They should have gone for the rooster instead.

It's the crazy disguises the two of them wear that are truly inspired. First George (who is actually a lot smaller than either rooster or chicken) dresses up as rooster stud, then he puts on an appetizing king-size worm suit. The enormous Lenny gets to dress up as a baby chick, but takes his role way too seriously. Meanwhile, in a sub plot we see the rooster making his long way back home from Antarctica. Unfortunately the payoff is not as elaborate as the set-up. Oh yes, there is also one of those gags with African stereotypes that were common at the time but have been outlawed since.

7 out of 10 (one for each scheme)

I noticed one reviewer really hated this film and felt it wasn't funny. Well, to each his own. I liked it and think it's worth seeing...though it's certainly not among the weirder Tex Avery directed films.

George and Junior are idiot bears who want so eat a chicken. Considering they ARE bears, this shouldn't be difficult, but instead of just savaging the birds, George comes up with complicated plans and traps. Invariably, Junior ends up springing these devices on George and tormenting him...followed by George kicking Junior's behind.

There really isn't much more to the plot than this. In many ways, it's like a Roadrunner and Coyote film and it's worth your time. Not among Avery's better cartoons, granted, but still quite nice.

By the way, when I saw this one on TCM, one of the bits seems to have been cut. I think originally George's face blew up and they showed him looking much like a black person...an unfunny and politically incorrect joke to say the least.