Suppressed Duck (Looney Tunes)

Suppressed Duck (episode 946)
Not bad as the previous three shorts, but still wasn't the best way to end the Daffy solo cartoons in the classic era.
Directed by: Robert McKimson Written by: David Detiege Release date: June 18, 1965 Franchise: Looney Tunes Prequel: "Well Worn Daffy" (previous short) Sequel: "Corn on the Cop" (next short)

Suppressed Duck is a Looney Tunes short form 1965. It is the only solo Daffy short that was made during the DePatie-Freleng era of Looney Tunes (thus being the last one made during the classic era); and is considered to be one of the weakest solo Daffy shorts besides "Good Noose", which is arguably worse than this.

Summary

A boundary line is put between the hunters and the bears, so Daffy resorts to using trickery to hunt down the bear.

Bad Qualities

1. The cartoon is a knock-off of a 1955 Donald Duck cartoon "Beezy Bear", but with the hunter as the rule-breaker instead of the bear.
2. As with the other shorts from the DePatie-Freleng and Seven Arts era, Daffy is now miscast as an outright evil and villainous antagonist due to very bad flanderization.
   • Having Daffy Duck as the hunter was a weird choice, where it could have been Elmer Fudd or Yosemite Sam.
     • Not only that, the concept of Daffy hunting a bear makes absolute no logical sense, even by Looney Tunes standards, since ducks are not predatory animals by nature nor do they ever prey on bears, when it should've been the other way round (something which the Barney Bear cartoon "The Little Wise Quacker" (1952) from MGM produced 15 years prior (which also co-incidentally had a duck vs bear hunting premise) got it right, unlike this cartoon). Compared to earlier cartoons from the 1940s and 50s, the story makes no logical sense and the gags became predictable.
     • A boundary line appears out of nowhere and was enforced to prevent hunters from going into the forest to hunt the animals there.
3. The ranger serves no purpose to the story other than reprimanding Daffy. Also, he is portrayed as a faceless character (which is unusual for a 60s cartoon with low budgets).
   • This short takes place at a national park, where it should have been taken place at a regular forest like in the Bugs Bunny cartoons. Not helping is that the setting has very few trees and lush greenery drawn on it, hence highlighting the cartoon's low budgets further.
   • Also, the ranger is a knock-off of Disney's Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore, but without any of his charm and likability.
4. The cartoon feels like a rejected Elmer Fudd cartoon but with Daffy Duck in Elmer Fudd's place.
5. The bear teases Daffy and never gets comeuppance for his actions at the end of the cartoon.
   • Also, the bear is a knock-off of Disney's Humphrey the Bear, but without any of his charm and likability.
6. Most of the animation (by Cliff Nordberg, who's uncredited) is stiff and robotic, due to budget cuts made for theatrical shorts at the time.
7. Terrible Ending: The ranger closes hunting season early, causing Daffy to leave the premises.
   • Overall, this short was a rather poor way to end off the solo Daffy cartoons in the classic era of Looney Tunes.

Good Qualities

1. Even know the ending is bad, It did make sense since Daffy had a pretty bad flanderization.
2. The ranger had a valid reason why hunters and bears are separated from each other.
3. Bob Matz and Manny Perez are still pretty good animators.
4. Mel Blanc, as always, does an amazing job with the voice work.
5. The music from the title card sounds amusing and sounds better than the rest of the cartoon.
6. There are some funny moments like Daffy trying to erase the boundary line only to fall of a cliff and Daffy getting blown up by a tank and and bombs dropped from a plane.

Trivia

• As mentioned above, this cartoon short is infamous for being a knock-off of the 1955 Donald Duck short, "Beezy Bear".
• This is one of the few DePatie-Freleng era shorts to not feature Speedy Gonzales with Daffy Duck, the other two being "Corn on the Cop" and "Tease for Two".
• This is the only solo Daffy Duck short in the DePatie-Freleng era.
  • It's also marks the final time Daffy appears solo, as well as the final time he says his catchphrase: "You're despicable."

Reception

While most of the Daffy Duck solo shorts are well-received, the same can't be said for this short, which received mixed reception.

On one hand, Suppressed Duck is slighty better then Good Noose.

Robert McKimson and Warner Bros. themselves are even aware of the negative reception the Daffy Duck character had during the DePatie-Freleng era in the mid-to-late-1960s, and therefore following negative reception of that more villainous incarnation of Daffy Duck in that Seven-Arts era from both fans and critics alike.

Since then, no more solo Daffy Duck cartoons would be produced until 1980's "Daffy Flies North" and 2004's "Attack of the Drones"

This short holds a 6.4/10 on IMDb.

Comments

Loading comments...