Banty Raids

Just watched this last Foghorn Leghorn cartoon on Daily Motion as linked from ThadBlog. In this one, a beatnik rooster-having been literally kicked out of one chicken coop-disguises himself as a baby chicken to get through Leghorn's place of residence which has lots of hens for the new guy to woo...Many amusing lines from the beatnik fowl on the order of "daddio" and the like. Also liked his familiar "Gee Whiz Willikens Golly Gee" that I originally heard Bugs do on "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour" (with the same voice!) and the way that barnyard dog got knocked to pieces! Well worth seeing for any Warner cartoon fan enthusiast.

The last Foghorn Leghorn cartoon made during the classic era is a funny one, directed by Robert McKimson. The plot has Foghorn dealing with a young "hip" Romeo rooster. Seeing this diminutive rooster with sunglasses on spouting his beatnik lingo and singing his Buddy Holly-esque rock song is pretty cute. Foghorn and Barnyard Dog are both amusing but all the big laughs here come from the little rooster. Great voice work from Mel Blanc. The animation is nice, if not particularly impressive. The music is credited to Bill Lava, mostly known for using stock music in his cartoons. I don't know if the rock song the little rooster sings is an original compositions of Lava's or not but it's fun. Most of the Looney Tunes characters fizzled out in the '60s with some fairly dreadful shorts. I'm happy to say at least Foghorn went out with a good one.

Saving the best for last, the final Foghorn short is quite simply the funniest, wittiest short cartoon in the whole Warner Brothers library. Yes, the ending even tops Some Like It Hot!

There are so many memorable images - and great lines - in Banty Raids that it's hard to know what to pick. The whole script is hilarious, and while Foghorn fans will have some idea what to expect, the introduction of a new character (the beatnik rooster) gives the usual set-up an unusual, updated flavour. Finger-clickin' good!!

That it still hasn't been released (along with another great Foghorn classic Fox Terror) on DVD is utterly disgraceful. But mere words in a review cannot do this little gem justice - you just gotta see it and you know, like, dig it man! Wow.

Foghorn Leghorn, who had been Robert McKimson's main cast member for seventeen years (along the way, McKimson had also created Hippety Hopper and the Tasmanian Devil)*, made his final appearance in 1963 with "Banty Raids". Whereas most of the cartoons have Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg engaged in an endless feud, rather detached from anything else in the world, here Foggy adopts a beatnik rooster as a son. While the little guy prefers to get slinky with the hens, FL immediately seeks to teach him how to play practical jokes on BD. But then of course BD has some tricks up his sleeve...

It's worth noting that by this point, the Looney Tunes had truly passed their prime, and so it was probably good that the Termite Terrace crowd was retiring the characters. FL and Marvin the Martian both ended in 1963 (while Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd and Pepe Le Pew had already departed during the two previous years); Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Yosemite Sam and the Tasmanian Devil made their final appearances in 1964; Sylvester made his final appearance in 1965; Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales, and Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote had all departed by the end of 1968; Warner Bros. ceased cartoon production in 1969. In other words: that was all, folks (except for the compilation films).

Anyway, it was great while it lasted, and this is certainly a worthwhile cartoon.

Foghorn Leghorn cartoons often feature one-off guest stars to add something to the old rooster-dog feud. In his last starring role, Foghorn is paired with a character representing the decade the film was made in. Quite a rarity on the otherwise timeless Foghorn farm.

Foggy adopts a young Rooster. Of course he does not realize this is a full grown (albeit small in stature) hepcat cock who was kicked off his own farm for chasing too many chicks. Fatherly Foghorn immediately starts teaching ‘Sonny boy' the goal in life of every rooster: to inflict pain on the local watchdog. But the slick hipster is only interested in the chicks and starts moving in on Foghorns henhouse harem.

After all these years the vocabulary of the Beatnik Rooster is still a gas, if you can dig it. As usual Barnyard Dog doesn't start to use his brain until the end, when he comes up with another one of his ingenious machines (only using material found on the farm) to take revenge on Foghorn. It seems he was inspired by `Some like it hot' this time.

7 out of 10