Release date: March 11th, 1933
Series: Looney Tunes
Director: Hugh Harman
Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko), Rudy Ising (Villain, Referee, Car)
Bosko takes to the racetrack to tackle the champ, but, as always, the champ’s got a few tricks up his sleeves.
Honey is ogling at her sweetie in the newspaper, crooning “Ain’t he grand?”. She turns the page to read more, the headline screaming in bold letters “THE CHAMPION IS FAVORED TO WIN”. She turns up her nose and pooh-poohs him.
As it turns out, Honey is perched on a fence, watching Bosko work on his car. Great staging! Very creative. Bosko, jolly as ever, whistles while oiling up his car. There are some more shots of the other contestants working on their hot rods: a dog furiously pumping air into his tire, a pig sewing a patch into his tire, and another dog cranking his car, twisting his body up and unfurling.
Enter the champ, who looks exactly like the kidnapping lumberjack from Bosko the Lumberjack. His car is a marvel, all tricked out and fancy—much grander than Bosko’s dinky little car. Honey isn’t deterred by Bosko’s mediocre car (which also has a big 13 emblazoned on the side. Y'know, for good luck). She encourages him by admiring his work, declaring “Oh, Bosko! That looks swell!”
Lumberjack turned champion doesn’t think so. With a jeer of “Looks swell, eh?” and a swipe of a matchstick to the car, Bosko’s hood is scratched and burned. Boys will be boys!
Rightfully so, Honey and Bosko get angry, with a “You old meanie!” from Honey . Bosko assures he’ll get him, and tells her that they’ll tune up the motor first. Literal gags are always the best. Honey saunters up to a nearby piano and presses a key, the motor revving in the same key. Tuning the motor goes from a few keys to a whole rendition of "Yankee Doodle Dandy". I love it!
Before he knows it, Bosko is being summoned to prepare for the race. He hops in his car (a belt hiding his shiner) and putters his way up to the starting line, as always greeted by a warm reception.
This next gag really feels like something from Looney Tunes, maybe because it involves stuttering. The flagman stutters “On your m-m-m-mark, g-g-g-get set... g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-“, the cars inching forward and back with each “g”. The flagman whistles (a gag that would often be used in the Joe Dougherty Porky cartoons) to “Snap out of it” and yells “SCRAM!” all at once, the cars speed off (save for a dog pedaling on a go-kart), and there are some pretty neat ground-level angles of the cars hurtling straight at us. One gag includes a hood ornament (of Hermes?) getting covered in a plume of exhaust. The hood ornament opens the little pedestal it was perched on and dives into the gas (or... some sort of fluid. It looks like water, but what do I know about cars?) below and comes out squeaky clean.
More shots of the cars, such as this awesome “Free wheeling” car with its wheels all out of whack. The animation is great! I always love the purposefully discombobulated animation, that’s always a bear to synchronize asynchronization.
In pure Wacky Races style, the champ tosses a box of tacks onto the track. Hapless victim Bosko, as always, is just one of the many people who get flat tires.
Bosko skids to a halt and thinks of how he can get himself out of this mess. There’s a cat nearby, which he grabs and uses as a lever, jacking the car up. He then unzips the tire and takes out the actual deflated tire and puts a new one in, zipping it up, good as new. Very creative! Though the gags are somewhat predictable or serve as a “standard” of sorts, they’re still fun to help. I love the next detail of Bosko putting the cat down and giving it some pets as a thank you. A car barrels past him, and he realizes that he’s in the middle of a race, not a pet shop. Nice little glimpse of personality!
The other contestants improvised, too. One car has a crutch on its deflated wheel, one tying the tire into segments, another guy pushing his car like a wheelbarrow. Bosko is now gaining on the champ, who takes notice. To ensure his status as champ and keep Bosko back, he blows a plume of exhaust in Bosko’s face.
Standard gag now, but I wonder how often this was used in the '30s! Bosko wipes the smog from his goggles with mini windshield wipers and smiles like nothing ever happened.
Vision cleared, Bosko can focus on the prize. He veers to the opposite side of where the champ is, but he blocks him. They do a zig zag tango of aggression, and Bosko’s car turns sentient and bites the champ’s car in the rear. Nothing like a good bite in the ass to get your message across! I love cartoon physics. The champ’s car flies into the air and lands behind Bosko, who is now in the lead.
The underdog comes out on top! Honey presents him the grand prix crown and situates it on his head. They kiss, until they realize they have a hefty audience watching. Bosko chokes the engine and causes a plume of black smoke to form a smokescreen as they kiss again. Fade out.
This was a cute one! It’ll certainly be filed under the better Bosko cartoons list. Bosko didn’t have much personality, but he was still enjoyable to watch and root for. Honey was very endearing and cute! She DOES have some personality, so it’s always exciting to see her in the shorts, especially when she isn’t deemed irrelevant halfway through the short, never popping up again. This cartoon reminds me a lot of Porky’s Road Race, which would technically be the same premise, albeit with more hollywood celebrities and more of a Wacky Races feel. The gags were standard in this, yet entertaining regardless! It didn’t seem to drag on for too long, maybe the scene with Bosko using the cat as a car jack, but it wasn’t bad. I loved the gag of the flagman stuttering and the cars inching forward with each stutter. Overall, above average cartoon! I’d recommend it!
Link!
No comments:
Post a Comment