Cartoon Discussion of the Week: "Hopalong Casualty"

[Matthew Hunter]

Here's an idea I'm going to try out, and if it works, I'll keep doing it.

I think much of the reason some of us are having trouble getting along these days is that we don't take the time to just stop and watch a cartoon just to enjoy it for what it is. It's always about a particular character, or director, or studio...and some of us take disputes over minutia personally. It's up to y'all (yeah, I'm a Texan so I can say "y'all") to decide the direction this forum is going to take. But whatever the outcome, I think we all just need to step back from the daily routine of the forum and just watch a cartoon. Put aside all preconcieved ideas..."Everybody's seen that, it's been done to death", or "I hate that series" or "That director was terrible", and just watch and discuss.

Here's the idea.

Once a week I will post a thread with a link to a cartoon that is on Youtube (or in some cases Dailymotion or some other universally available video-host site) . I will also post my thoughts on it, and it is then up to you, the forum members, to post YOUR thoughts.

RULES:
1. The discussion will be limited only to the particular cartoon in question. If it's a Popeye cartoon from 1938, for example, then there is no reason to link it to a Bob Clampett Looney Tune or Hanna/Barbera Tom and Jerry cartoon from some other era or studio entirely. No "Degrees of Kevin Bacon" here.

2. The discussion must pertain to the cartoon itself. You can say anything about it, love or hate it, but it must pertain to that cartoon. Look at how it's drawn and animated, the backgrounds, the music, the characters...but disregard anything else you know or think you know. Look at the cartoon for its individual merits.

3. You must say something positive about the cartoon, even if you hate it. You can say all the negative stuff you want, but you must say one good thing about it.

4. You must post more than 3 words. "I love it" or "this sucks" doesn't cut it. You must say WHY you love it or WHY you think it sucks. Remember how your art teacher in high school or college taught you to criticize a piece of art? That's what I am looking for.

5. There will be only one of these a week. This is not the same as "Hit or Miss", which has its own set of rules and is welcome to continue. Only I will post them for now, but if you send me a PM through the forum with a suggestion for future cartoons, I will consider them. I will also allow other moderators to choose a cartoon in the event of my absence. (And by the way, if anyone else wants to post discussions about individual cartoons, they're welcome to, it just won't be the cartoon of the week or subject to these particular rules!)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
So here we go. Here's "Hopalong Casualty", a Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon from 1960, directed by Chuck Jones. Watch and discuss.

Hopalong Casualty (http://youtube.com/watch?v=OAhJSaX3udc)


In my opinion, this cartoon has some very strong gags. It's funny, the animation is fluid, and the drawing style is pure Chuck Jones. The backgrounds aren't as detailed as ealier entries in the series, but serve a purpose for the action in most scenes. Take a look at the "take" at about 6:07 on the video...great Avery-inspired gag. Also, the "Christmas Package" machine made me laugh.

[Speedy Boris]

I've said this a few times, but I LOVE the earthquake pills scene. Great animation by Ken Harris which runs the gamut of facial expressions as Wile goes from excitedness to annoyance to skepticism to dread, and many more subtler emotions. The actual earthquake animation is really well-done, too.

[oceansoul]

Good idea, but this particular cartoon choice is terrible IMHO. What to discuss about an x+1 Road Runner cartoon with mostly average gags? These 60s RR/C shorts are usually slow and lack the energy of the likes of "Fast and Furry-ous" or "Beep Beep".

[UncleJunior]

First off, I like a lot this idea for a "Cartoon of the Week". Now then, I always thought that the later Post 60 Jones Road Runners were arguably some of the best Road Runner cartoons. And this is no exception. I always enjoyed watching this cartoon when it used to air on Nick primarily.

The standout gag before the great finish was the Christmas Package gag. Great Noble layouts there. I liked Wile walking away as a present.

Of course the best part of this was the classic Earthquake pills bit. Everything about it worked. From Wile getting foiled to the brilliant animation (Im assuming Ken Harris did most of the work here) to the sound effects even the Milt Franklyn music which really worked well here. One of IMO the best Road Runner gags.

[larriva9/11]

Good idea, but this particular cartoon choice is terrible IMHO. What to discuss about an x+1 Road Runner cartoon with mostly average gags? These 60s RR/C shorts are usually slow and lack the energy of the likes of "Fast and Furry-ous" or "Beep Beep".

Considering MH's "put aside all preconcieved ideas" statement, aren't you stumbling out of the starting gate? (Sorry.)

Though yeah, the gags leading up to the Xmas Package Machine gag are filler--and even said machine is peculiar as the most UPAesque, if not Deitch-era Terrytoonsesque, thing ever in a RR cartoon.

Take a look at the "take" at about 6:07 on the video...great Avery-inspired gag.

The clip is 6:07 in total--you mean 4:04 or so?

[Marty26]

Great idea, Matt! One suggestion, though: Try to cover cartoons from various "eras." Including oft-maligned periods like the Buddy and Daffy/Speedy periods.


Now, on to the cartoon itself. I always found this to be one of the better Wile E. Coyote cartoons. The gags are considerably more complex than in most other cartoons in the series. The music is among Milt Franklyn's finest (although it's odd that, for the cartoon's opening credits music, he reused the same music from the beginning of Wild And Woolly Hare). And it contains two of my all-time favorite jokes in a Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner cartoon: The Acme Christmas Gift Machine joke (just seeing Wile E. wrapped in a Christmas box and then walking away, pissed that his trap backfired, makes me chuckle), and the Earthquake Pills joke. Which showed some great emotional expressions, and was also unique in that Wile E. was pretty much unscathed through his whole "bad trip." Only to finally "get it" when his high wore off and he started celebrating his survival of it!

[Matt the Y]

Yeah, I like this short as well. A lot. This short ranks pretty high on my list of favorite Road-Runner shorts. The "Earthquake Pills" scene is an absolute classic and is pretty much the centerpiece for the short since it takes up about half the short's running time (all the other short's gags are much shorter then usual since they lead into this classic bit) and is brilliantly executed and staged. I also like the Xmas-gift-packaging machine bit, the dynamite-on-the-fishing-reel bit, and the film's first bit with the Coyote leaping into the air carrying the telephone pole with him and then getting squashed by said telephone pole on his return to the ground (The look on the Coyote's face when he glances at his arms once he realizes he's carried the telephone pole into the air with him in an "I don't know my own strength" sort of look is hilarious, IMHO).

[Speedy Boris]

Was this the first Road Runner short in a while to use the blue sky instead of yellow? Or did it come a short or two before this?

[angilbas]

Was this the first Road Runner short in a while to use the blue sky instead of yellow? Or did it come a short or two before this?

Hopalong Casualty was the first "blue sky" short. Jones and Noble may have changed the RR color scheme in the summer of 1959 with the awareness that the cartoon would be released in 1960 -- new colors for a new decade.

As for the cartoon ... it's a classic. The routine gags are brisk and well-crafted but this film will always be remembered for Wile E.'s reaction to those "dud" pills. Even the censored version, in which he's seen to swallow only one pill, works well (though without the belly laughs when he empties the bottle).



-Tony

[oceansoul]

Wow, I've never noticed this sky thing. Gotta check it out.

[Douglas E.]

As others have noted, this is a great idea Matthew!

And As For The Short:
It's a great cartoon for the various reasons already mentioned. (Earthquake Pills, Christmas Wrapper)

One thing that's notable in some of the Wile E. Coyote shorts after Mike Maltese left Warner Bros., is that Chuck Jones would write two or three long gags, instead of ten, or eleven short gags. It doesn't change how great the short is, but it's notable.

Another Roadrunner that features only two or three gags is Fastest With The Mostest (http://youtube.com/watch?v=6R9C9ubwc8I)

-Doug

[oceansoul]

As others have noted, this is a great idea Matthew!

And As For The Short:
It's a great cartoon for the various reasons already mentioned. (Earthquake Pills, Christmas Wrapper)

One thing that's notable in some of the Wile E. Coyote shorts after Mike Maltese left Warner Bros., is that Chuck Jones would write two or three long gags, instead of ten, or eleven short gags. It doesn't change how great the short is, but it's notable.

Another Roadrunner that features only two or three gags is Fastest With The Mostest (http://youtube.com/watch?v=6R9C9ubwc8I)

-Doug

Also there is a huge running gag in Lickety Splat. And also a big one in Zoom at the top.

[Marty26]

Isn't Lickety Splat also the last cartoon to use the Gray And Black Wile E. Coyote color scheme? Or is it Zip 'N Snort?

[oceansoul]

As much as I noticed in my latest run on Wile E. shorts, the yellow sky pioneered in Gee Whiz-z-z-z, but only used for the first two minutes. Then the cartoon changes the palette into a very different grey-white style, which looked like some hoary or snowy place. Then for some gags they used a blue sky, and different color shemes. Strange, because as I noticed Gee Whiz-z-z-z was the only cartoon that didn't have a consistent palette and color sheme for the entire film. Do you know any reasons for this?

The yellow sky then were used in There They Go-Go-Go and Scrambled Aches again but these two cartoons looked very UPA-ish overall in the background drawing style.

A brand new and very consistent color sheme and layout work pioneered in Zoom and Bored, and it was used again in Hook, Line..., Hip-Hip-Hurry, Hot-Rod..., Wild about..., and for the last time in Fastest with the Mostest. One exception was Whoa Be-gone, where they used an oldschool white sky-lighter rock coloring but the strange crescent-shaped bushes (which were also debuted in Zoom...) were used here as well. Also notable, that unlike in the first three yellow cartoons, these ones have yellow-white sky overall (not just simple yellow, which looks like some vanilla ice-cream), and a red-brown rock colors. I never noticed any of these things before, but it was a great discovery, so thanks for Speedy Boris for pointing this out. :)

As for Hopalong... not only the blue sky pioneered here, but also the white-red rocks, and the crescent shaped clouds. Also, the opening credits became different in most of these cartoons, they are mostly seen in the outdoors, where the action began.

[speedy fast]

I thought that the first two Road Runner shorts (Fast and Furry-Ous, Beep Beep) had blue sky backgrounds as well.

Anyway, I think that Hopalong Casualty is one of the best Road Runner cartoons. The earthquake pils gag at the end is very funny (better than the tornado pills in another cartoon).

[angilbas]

As much as I noticed in my latest run on Wile E. shorts, the yellow sky pioneered in Gee Whiz-z-z-z, but only used for the first two minutes. Then the cartoon changes the palette into a very different grey-white style, which looked like some hoary or snowy place. Then for some gags they used a blue sky, and different color shemes. Strange, because as I noticed Gee Whiz-z-z-z was the only cartoon that didn't have a consistent palette and color sheme for the entire film. Do you know any reasons for this?


This was the only Jones RR with layouts by Ernie Nordli, who imposed his own style on regular background artist Philip DeGuard.


-Tony

[nickramer]

Great cartoon with one of the best ACME products.