94. Viva Buddy (1934)

Release date: December 12th, 1934

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Jack King

Starring: Billy Bletcher (Pancho, "Caramba!")

Jack King’s last Buddy cartoon of 1934, the next cartoon being a Ben Hardaway entry. Our adventurer Buddy finds himself in Mexico, but trouble arises when Pancho, a caricature of Wallace Beery, shoots up a cantina.

Hmm, it seems Buddy’s hair is greased again? Buddy strolls through the streets of Mexico, strumming his guitar and singing like always. Just a collection of visual gags like always as he strolls the streets, walking up a wagon and crushing a duck, sliding down a ton of sombreros on top of a man’s head. The usual.

His destination? “CANTINA EL MOOCHER”. As predicted, stereotypes are abound. Buddy struggles to get inside as everyone’s snoring blows the doors open. Buddy enters through a window, everyone asleep. A game of checkers is engaged only by some Mexican jumping beans on the tiles.

Buddy tosses a coin in a man’s mouth, who plays the piano with his feet. Everyone is thusly prompted to wake up, the cantina full of life as beer is served and a group of singers sing, the lead singer strumming a corset instead of a guitar. Buddy even shows off his guitar kills, playing with his teeth and hands. The man can do everything! He’s a wunderkind! The guitar comes to life and plays itself as buddy eagerly dances along, playing it once more while doing a handstand and kicking his feet together to the beat of the music.

Gunshots welcome a scene change as a man darts on his hours around town, shooting aimlessly. He urges his gang to follow, and we have a shot of a bunch of men shooting guns while riding in a car... and a nice pan out to reveal they’re carrying sides of the car and running with their feet Fred Flintstone style. The Yosemite Sam wannabe shoots various pots of tequila, one in a poster and one in reality. Just because he can, right? 

His poor horse attempts to flee, but the villain ties him up to a post, licking the horse’s tail to flatten it enough so it’ll go through the hole in the post. A nefarious mustache tug and a physical lift of the doors (like lifting a garage door) and the menace is inside the cantina.

Various gunshots to accompany a grand entrance. The residents of the cantina recognize him instantly, exclaiming “Pancho!” as he shoots around—shaving off some man’s hair, shooting a barrel with a man inside who shouts “Pancho!”, another repeating the routine in a cash register, and my favorite: the Marx brothers emerge from a murphy bed, introducing themselves as “Zeppo!” “Harpo!” “Chico!” “Groucho!” Great gag! 

Pancho even targets Buddy, blowing his banana to smithereens. That does it! Buddy gives him a piece of his mind for ruining his fill of potassium, squirting the remains of the banana right in Pancho’s laughing face. Pancho holds buddy and gun point and backs him into the piano, ordering him to play.

Ah, Cookie’s here too for some reason! Of course! She does a flamenco dance to accompany Buddy's piano music. The dance is cute, but not timed well to the sound effects of the castanets at all. I think it may have been reused from How Do I know It’s Sunday, too. Pancho applauds the performance, clicking his gun holsters together and skating on his spurs. He spots cookie and flirts for her, asking for a “nice kiss”. Cookie gives him a nice slap in the face, sending him skating backwards on his spurs outside, lodging himself in the door.

A nearby goat bucks Pancho back INSIDE, where he continues to flirt like nothing happened. Buddy grunts “that big bozo!” and lodges a fork right in Pancho’s butt. Two suction cups attached together (what we all need, right?) cover Pancho’s pistols, who cries “CARAMBA!” and tosses his pistols to the floor. In retaliation, he summons a whip and snags Buddy, dumping him right into his sombrero and giving a good ol’ Billy Bletcher villain laugh. It’s tried and true, but Billy Bletcher does do a great villain!

Pancho yanks Buddy out of the hat, who punches his stomach repeatedly upside down. A parrot cheers on the fight. Buddy holds onto a chandelier as Pancho swings him around by his feet, nice animation as the two fly off the chandelier and land into a shelf. The two pop out of the debris, and Pancho, suddenly friendly, puts his arm around Buddy and laughs “I was only foolin’, Buddy!”, iris out as the two laugh it off.

Unsatisfying as the ending was, I loved it. What a way to totally backtrack from the entire events of the cartoon! Though it is a bit of a cop out from a “proper” ending, I suppose. That doesn’t bother me, but I can certainly see how that would be a problem. This cartoon was okay, nothing too great. The “lazy/sleepy” stereotypes were cringeworthy and annoying and detracted slightly from my enjoyment of the cartoon, though there isn’t too much to enjoy. Buddy was cute, but not particularly charming or charismatic. Pancho was full of personality and Billy Bletcher’s vocal performance definitely held my interest. The music was good, backgrounds good, animation decent... Just another buddy cartoon that’ll be soon lost from my memory bank. Probably safe to skip it, nothing too exciting.

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