Thugs with Dirty Mugs

Last updated
Thugs with Dirty Mugs
Thugs with Dirty Mugs title card.png
Title card from the 1944 Blue Ribbon reissue
Directed by Tex Avery
Story byJack Miller
Produced by Leon Schlesinger
Starring Mel Blanc
Danny Webb
John Deering
Tedd Pierce
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Sidney Sutherland
Color process Technicolor
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • May 6, 1939 (1939-05-06)
Running time
8:05
LanguageEnglish

Thugs with Dirty Mugs is a 1939 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Tex Avery. [1] The short was released on May 6, 1939. [2]

Contents

The title is derived from the Warner Bros.' 1938 acclaimed feature film, Angels with Dirty Faces . It is similar to Avery's later MGM crime/detective-oriented cartoon Who Killed Who?

Plot

The film takes place in the fictional New York town of Everyville.

The title card and technical credits are followed by introductions of the two lead characters: "F.H.A. (Sherlock) Homes" as police chief "Flat-Foot Flanigan with a Floy Floy," and "Edward G. Robemsome" (a caricature of Edward G. Robinson) as gang leader "Killer Diller." After these introductions, Killer and his gang are seen robbing banks whose names run from "1st National Bank" to "112th National Bank" in numerical order (they skip the 13th bank out of superstition) — with the newspaper Telegraph Post reporting the criminals' every move, and saying that they have robbed 87 banks in a single day. Sight gags include Killer causing one bank to behave like a casino machine, and his pointing his gun into the speaker of a pay phone, causing the operator to shriek in terror and a steam of coins to come from the.coin return, the police are unable to arrest them. Flanigan himself gets help from a man in the front of the theatre who has already seen the whole movie; he tells him that Killer is making plans to go to the estate of Mrs. Lotta Jewels at 10:00 in the evening. While Killer and his gang are at the estate, listening to The Lone Stranger on the radio, Flanigan and his men capture the criminals at gunpoint. Killer is given a long sentence — which is revealed to be a prison term in which he must write "I've been a naughty boy" on a blackboard over and over. The imprisoned Killer blows a raspberry as the cartoon irises out.

Reception

The cartoon was banned in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1939, because censors "felt the film was just an excuse to show criminal activity." [3]

Animation historian Greg Ford said Thugs with Dirty Mugs "insightfully satirizes the live-action crime thrillers being made at the Warner Bros. studios during this period... The real secret behind Thugs with Dirty Mugs' durability lies in the spot-on accuracy with which the cartoon reconstructs the trappings of Warner's gangster films." [4]

Home media

Thugs with Dirty Mugs was released uncut and restored on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 .

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Looney Tunes</i> Warner Bros. animated short film series and media franchise

Looney Tunes is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series Merrie Melodies, during the golden age of American animation. Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.

<i>Porky in Wackyland</i> 1938 animated short film directed by Bob Clampett

Porky in Wackyland is a 1938 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated short film, directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on September 24, 1938, and stars Porky Pig venturing out to find the last do-do bird, which he finds in Wackyland, a land that makes no sense located in Darkest Africa.

<i>Merrie Melodies</i> Cartoon series owned by Warner Bros. (1931–1969 and 1988–1997)

Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the Looney Tunes franchise and featured many of the same characters. It originally ran from August 2, 1931, to September 20, 1969, during the golden age of American animation, though it was revived in 1979, with new shorts sporadically released until June 13, 1997. Originally, Merrie Melodies placed emphasis on one-shot color films in comparison to the black-and-white Looney Tunes films. After Bugs Bunny became the breakout character of Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes transitioned to color production in the early 1940s, the two series gradually lost their distinctions and shorts were assigned to each series randomly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Censored Eleven</span> Group of animated short films

The Censored Eleven is a group of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons originally produced and released by Warner Bros. that have been withheld from syndication in the United States by United Artists (UA) since 1968. UA owned the distribution rights to the Associated Artists Productions library at that time, and decided to pull these 11 cartoons from broadcast because the use of ethnic stereotypes in the cartoons, specifically African and African-American stereotypes, was deemed too offensive for contemporary audiences.

<i>Bugs and Thugs</i> 1954 animated short film directed by Friz Freleng

Bugs and Thugs is a 1954 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on March 13, 1954, and stars Bugs Bunny, with Rocky and Mugsy. The film is a semi-remake of the 1946 cartoon Racketeer Rabbit. It is also the first Warner Bros short to feature Milt Franklyn as a musical director.

Piggy (<i>Merrie Melodies</i>) Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Piggy is the name of two animated cartoon characters in the Merrie Melodies series of films distributed by Warner Bros. The first character was a fat, black pig wearing a pair of shorts with two large buttons in the front, and his first film was You Don't Know What You're Doin'!

<i>The Heckling Hare</i> 1941 Bugs Bunny cartoon

The Heckling Hare is a Merrie Melodies cartoon, released on July 5, 1941, and featuring Bugs Bunny and a dopey dog named Willoughby. The cartoon was directed by Tex Avery, written by Michael Maltese, animated by soon-to-be director Robert McKimson, and with musical direction by Carl W. Stalling. In a style that was becoming typical of the Bugs character, he easily outwitted and tormented his antagonist through the short, his only concern being what to do next to the dog.

<i>I Love to Singa</i> 1936 film

I Love to Singa is a 1936 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The short was released on July 18, 1936.

Uncle Tom's Bungalow is an American Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Tex Avery, and released to theatres on June 5, 1937, by Warner Bros. The short cartoon is a parody of the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin and of the "plantation melodrama" genre of the 1930s. It contains many stereotypical portrayals of black characters. The cartoon plays off Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel in that it portrays Uncle Tom as an old man, and wooden shacks and cotton fields pervade the scenery. Director Tex Avery adds his own sense of humor and "trickster" animation, giving the classic theme a modern, humorous twist.

<i>The Isle of Pingo Pongo</i> 1938 film

The Isle of Pingo Pongo is a 1938 Merrie Melodies cartoon supervised by Tex Avery. The short was released on May 28, 1938, and features an early version of Elmer Fudd. This is the first of a series of travelogue spoofs, and the first Warner Bros. "spot gag" cartoon, where each vignette is punctuated by a moment of blackout.

<i>The Great Piggy Bank Robbery</i> 1946 animated short film by Bob Clampett

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery is a 1946 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The cartoon was released on July 20, 1946, and stars Daffy Duck. The short is Clampett's penultimate Warner cartoon, produced shortly before he left the studio.

<i>Hare Ribbin</i> 1944 animated short film by Robert Clampett

Hare Ribbin' is a 1944 animated short film in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Robert Clampett and featuring Bugs Bunny. The plot features Bugs' conflict with a red-haired hound dog, whom the rabbit sets out to evade and make a fool of using one-liners, reverse psychology, disguises and other tricks. It was released in theaters by Warner Bros. on June 24, 1944. The title is a pun on "hair ribbon".

This is a listing of all the animated shorts released by Warner Bros. under the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies banners between 1940 and 1949.

<i>Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3</i> 2005 DVD compilation of Looney Tunes animated short films

Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 is a DVD box set from Warner Home Video that was released on October 25, 2005. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical short subject cartoons, nine documentaries, 32 commentary tracks from animators and historians, 11 "vintage treasures from the vault", and 11 music-only or music-and-sound-effects audio tracks.

<i>Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2</i> 2012 American cartoon anthology

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2 is a Blu-ray and DVD box set by Warner Home Video released on October 16, 2012. It contains 50 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements. Disc 3 is exclusive to the Blu-ray version of the set. Unlike Volume 1, which was released in a digibook, Volume 2 was released in a standard 1 movie case. This release was followed by Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3.

Wise Quackers is a 1949 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The film was released on January 1, 1949, and stars Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd.

Detouring America is a 1939 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The short was released on August 26, 1939.

References

  1. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company. p. 87. ISBN   0-8050-0894-2.
  2. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. ↑ Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America by Karl F. Cohen — Google Boeken
  4. ↑ Beck, Jerry, ed. (2020). The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. Insight Editions. pp. 186–187. ISBN   978-1-64722-137-9.

Thugs with Dirty Mugs at IMDb

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.