Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Rob Doorack (R) on July 22, 2005 at 20:24:28

In Reply to: Re:Who is Tex Avery? posted by Gee LP on July 22, 2005 at 05:58:45:

To this day there have never been any cartoons that compare to Avery's five MGM cartoons featuring Screwball Squirrel. The star is literally insane, abrasive to the point of being unlikeable, with an annoying laugh and a nasal drip that frequently causes him to sniff loudly. 1944's Screwball Squirrel introduced him with a big slap at Disney. We first meet the very cute but realistically drawn Disneyesque Sammy Squirrel. Garish orange grotesque Screwball Squirrel arrives, and Sammy explains that the cartoon will be about Sammy and his forest friends and his fluffy tail. Screwball groans "Oh brother, not that!", lures Sammy behind a tree, and beats the crap out of him. From that point Avery dispenses with all pretense of a plot and the cartoons are non - stop Avery gags and violence. The other characters have no purpose other than to be victims of Screwball Squirrel. Avery throws away all rules of the real world too. As Screwball Squirrel himself observes, "in a cartoon anything can happen." In the fifth and last Screwball Squirrel cartoon, Lonesome Lenny, Avery defied another cartoon convention by killing the character! Anarchic to the end, the dead Screwball Squirrel gets the last word by holding up a sign that says "Sad, ain't it?"

A short Windows Media extract of a Screwball Squirrel cartoon can be viewed at the link below.

• 30 seconds of Screwball Squirrel   (Open in New Window)