drawing power: the cartoons of chuck jones february 9 - 15, 2001 photo: duck amok

see information about our box office sales here. film descriptions and times Chuck Jones is responsible for many people's most memorable cartoon moments, even if they don't necessarily connect his name to a singing frog that struts its stuff only when no one but his owner is watching, or the sight of Bugs, Daffy and Elmer standing around endlessly debating who should shoot whom and when ("pronoun trouble," Daffy diagnoses — too late) or the spectacle of a mangy coyote's all-consuming scrambles after a roadrunner. Some of us can't hear "The Ride of the Valkyries" without seeing a helmeted Elmer Fudd brandishing a spear and intoning "Kill the Wabbit!," Chuck Jones' encapsulation of Wagner's Nibelungen, starring Bugs Bunny as Brunhilde, occupying pride of place in our unconscious. Like Twain, Chaplin and Keaton, to whom he pays allegiance, Jones is an original in American comedy, a master of gag and character development who directed some of the funniest and most innovative short films ever made. In light of the recent PBS "Great Performances" documentary on Chuck Jones, which celebrated his amazing 60-year career in animation, the Walter Reade is presenting eight separate programs of Jones' magnificent cartoon oeuvre, each highlighting a different aspect of his art. This program has been curated by Greg Ford and Ronnie Scheib.

one froggy evening

PROGRAM I: UPSTAGING THE ARTS OR "CAUGHT IN THE FOOTLIGHTS" Musical masterworks include BATON BUNNY, HIGH NOTE, the peerless Rossini cartoonization RABBIT OF SEVILLE, and the riches-to-rags biopic of a down-and-out giraffe chanteuse that is NELLY'S FOLLY. Be it Bugs Bunny softshoeing to "Camptown Races" in MISSISSIPPI HARE, the rabbit masquerading as Leopold Stokowski (treating the entire Hollywood Bowl amphitheater as his oyster) in LONG-HAIRED HARE, Pepe mangling Shakespeare with his customary franglais in PAST PERFUMANCE, or the oh-so-dysfunctional Three Bear Family misguidedly bringing back vaudeville in BEAR FEAT, the showbiz bug seems to bite Chuck Jones and his usual gang of collaborators to good effect every time. Hats off to composers Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn, writer Michael Maltese (who composed the priceless "Attsa Matta For You" for Charlie Dog in A HOUND FOR TROUBLE), and layout artist Maurice Noble who supplied the breathtaking production design for the Wagnerian blockbuster WHAT'S OPERA, DOC? 11 cartoons in total, approx. 85m Fri Feb 9: 1, 5 & 9; Sun Feb 11: 4 PROGRAM II: MAGNIFICENT OBSESSIONS Other than Daffy's unbridled lust for gold (ALI BABA BUNNY), Pepe Le Pew's neverending mating difficulties (the Oscar-winning FOR SCENT-IMENTAL REASONS), and the Coyote's idée fixe, his everlasting quest for the Roadrunner (STOP! LOOK! AND HASTEN!, TO BEEP OR NOT TO BEEP), Jones and storyman Mike Maltese conceived bonus "one-shot" films on the theme of obsessional self-defeat such as CHOWHOUND, THE HYPOCHONRI-CAT, MUCH ADO ABOUT NUTTING (a brilliant pantomime in which an ordinary squirrel futilely tries to crack an extraordinarily uncrackable nut), PUNCH TRUNK (in which an entire populace projects its fears on an inexplicable miniature elephant) and, of course, the renowned parable ONE FROGGY EVENING. 11 cartoons total, approx. 85m Fri Feb 9: 3 & 7; Sun Feb 11: 2 PROGRAM III: COMEDY TEAMS Few of Jones' character pairings were as joined at the hip (or the psyche) as the Coyote and the Road Runner or Pepe and his several faux skunk inamoratae. In fact, Jones tried all kinds of permutations and combinations, each bringing out different facets of his characters' personalities. Even the Coyote (graced with a red nose and recast as the Wolf) had an alternative life as half of an adversarial pairing with the Sheepdog (DOUBLE OR MUTTON). Jones' Bugs and Daffy seem tailor made for one other, particularly when playing off a third character, usually Elmer (RABBIT FIRE, BEANSTALK BUNNY), though a passing yeti might do (ABOMINABLE SNOW RABBIT). The same-species team of Hubie and Bertie had their schtick down to a perfectly-tuned turn (MOUSE WRECKERS). Sylvester in his "pusillanimous pussycat" mode finds a perfect foil in Porky Pig's complacent blindness (CLAWS FOR ALARM), while Charlie Dog's opportunistic pushiness drives the bourgeois porker wild (AWFUL ORPHAN). And in his Daffy/Porky pairings, Jones created a dynamic between an overreaching hero and a surprisingly competent sidekick that gave the Pig a whole new lease on life. 11 cartoons total, approx. 85m Sat Feb 10: 5:30 & 9:30; Mon Feb 12: 2:45

a rabbit fire

PROGRAM IV: CHARACTER FORMATIONS THE NIGHT WATCHMAN (1938) the very first animated film directed by Chuck Jones, headlines a program full of 'firsts': the debuts of Pepe Le Pew (ODOR-ABLE KITTY), the Coyote and Roadrunner (FAST AND FURRY-OUS), and Marvin the Martian (HAREDEVIL HARE) are on display, not to mention the rough beginnings of Jones' exemplary work with Porky and Daffy (MY FAVORITE DUCK) and early glimpses of Jones' urge to evolve Bugs Bunny from an outright heckler to a more self-contained and "motivated" rabbit (ELMER'S PET RABBIT, HARE TONIC, HARE CONDITIONED, HARE-RAISING HARE). 11 cartoons total, approx. 85m Sat Feb 10: 7:30; Mon Feb 12: 1 & 4:30 PROGRAM V: GENRE PARODIES A not-so-secret media critic, Jones might lampoon desert epics (LITTLE BEAU PEPE), science-fiction (JUMPING JUPITER), "Old Dark House" thrillers (SCAREDY CAT) or even game shows (THE DUCKSTERS) but his underlying sense of characterization remained intact: while Bugs' flair and mastery allowed him to meet the inanity of any genre head-on (as yeoman in RABBIT HOOD, as earthling everyman in HAREWAY TO THE STARS and as a rabbit with matador-dom thrust upon him in BULLY FOR BUGS), Daffy's delusions led him to spectacular downfalls in every guise (as the would-be dashing swashbuckler THE SCARLET PUMPERNICKEL, the vainglorious gunslinger DRIPALONG DAFFY and the clueless space explorer DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24TH CENTURY). 11 cartoons, approx. 85m Sun Feb 11: 6; Wed Feb 14: 1, 4:30 & 8 PROGRAM VI: ONE-SHOTS AND ALSO-RANS Warner Bros. merchandising demands notwithstanding, many of Jones' most indelible pictures spotlight none of the best-known characters, but instead star lesser luminaries such as Marc Anthony (a tough bulldog who falls hard for a tiny black kitten, occasioning what's arguably Chuck Jones' most impeccable use of facial expressions ever) in FEED THE KITTY, Ralph Phillips (a little boy whose Walter Mitty-ish daydreams give rise to many of background artist Maurice Noble's most imaginative settings) in FROM A TO Z-Z-Z-Z-Z, the Three Bear Family in BEAR FOR PUNISHMENT (whose climactic, sidesplitting "Father's Day" pageant allows master animator Ken Harris to have a comedic field day), and the unflappingly geometric DOT AND THE LINE (Jones' first-time-out directing gig at MGM, netting him another Oscar). Also on tap: Hubie and Bertie, Charlie Dog, the Wolf and Sheepdog, Frisky Puppy, Witch Hazel. 11 cartoons total, approx. 85m Sun Feb 11: 8; Wed Feb 14: 2:45 & 6:15 PROGRAM VII: SEEING STARS Chuck Jones refined and matured the established "star" personalities of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Elmer Fudd into the finalized versions by which they are popularly known today, and gave us Pepe Le Pew, the Coyote and Road Runner besides. This sampling of star vehicles reveals the unexpected psychological complexity Jones could bestow upon these "funny animal" types. Among the gallery, Daffy Duck (DUCK AMUCK), Bugs and Elmer (RABBIT SEASONING), the Road Runner and Coyote (WHOA BEGONE, GEE WHIZ-Z-Z-Z-Z), Pepe Le Pew, Porky Pig, and a surprise guest appearance of the original GRINCH (not Jim Carrey), from Jones' later MGM stint in the 60s, in a rare opportunity to catch Jones' classic made-for-tv Seuss adaptation projected on the big screen. 8 cartoons total, approx. 85m Tue Feb 13: 1; Thurs Feb 15: 3 & 6:45 PROGRAM VIII: EXPERIMENTATIONS (OR "SAVING PRIVATE SNAFU") In the early 1940s, Jones made historical headway in the world of animation, not only connecting up with Warners' ever-zany "Looney Tune" cartooning style but taking it into whole new areas of expressionistic background design (THE ARISTO-CAT, WACKIKI WABBIT), non-naturalistic, lurch-tempoed, hastened action (the absurdly semaphoric Gay Nineties mannerisms of THE DOVER BOYS, the polymorphous chasers of FAIR AND WORM-ER) and heightened comic character analysis (Bugs in SUPER RABBIT, the misplaced zealous superpatriotism of DRAFT HORSE). This exhaustive study of Jones' pivotal breakthrough years includes a look at HELLBENT FOR ELECTION (the UAW-sponsored FDR campaign-film directed by Jones off-hours from his post at Warners) and new 35mm prints of rare "Private Snafu" titles (animated black-and-white army training films directed by Jones in collaboration with Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel). 13 cartoons total, approx. 90m Tue Feb 13: 3; Thurs Feb 15: 1, 4:50 & 8:30