Studio: MGM Cartoons
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Produced by: Fred Quimby
Short Synopsis
In the Wild West, at the Rig-R-Mortis saloon ("Come in and get stiff"), a cowgirl, Red, sings "Out on the Texas Plains". The Wolf, now a desperado named Joe Wolf, bursts in and carries her off. A posse sets out after him, and lagging at the back, on a tiny horse, is Droopy. The posse falls far behind, but the Wolf can't shake Droopy. However far and fast he rides, Droopy is already there, waiting for him at every stop across the plains, until the exasperated Wolf starts calling for a waiter to come and take Droopy away. At his hideout, the Wolf pulls a sheet off what he thinks is Red and kisses the figure underneath, only to find Droopy sitting on a stack of books. Desperate, the Wolf asks who he is and why he keeps following him. Droopy replies, "Why, haven't you heard? I'm the hero", knocks him out, and calls the waiter to cart him off to jail. Red gives Droopy a grateful kiss, and Droopy goes wild, seizes Red and rides off with her himself.
Why It Matters
- The film is the Dumb-Hounded formula moved to the Western, with Droopy's calm omnipresence even more absurd against the vastness of the plains. The ending, in which the quiet little hero becomes the kidnapper after one kiss, is a typically abrupt Avery reversal.
- It is one of six cartoons pairing Droopy with Avery's Wolf, and one of the very few in which Droopy is voiced not by Bill Thompson, who was in the military, but by Tex Avery himself. It shows Avery building a stock company of characters at MGM, combining Droopy with Red and the Wolf from his fairy-tale films.
Notes and Trivia
- Red's song is performed by Ann Pickard with the Pickard family musicians.
- The Wolf's howl is reused from Red Hot Riding Hood.
- See also: Dumb-Hounded (1943), Swing Shift Cinderella (1945).