After 12 Chuck Jones shorts, it is a bit refreshing to see a Bob Clampett cartoon, and one of his best ones too!
I love Beaky Buzzard, his idiotic giggling, his slower than a crippled tortoise voice, his politness. This whole cartoon just makes me laugh from beginning to end (and it's Beaky's first appearance). It is one of Clampett's higlights and it's far superior than the Clampett cartoon that was one the Bugs Bunny disc.
We begin with the mother buzzard telling her four children to get food for dinner and three rush off enthusiastically, however Beaky ( here nicknamed killer) refuses to get food ( this is done by Beaky repeating nope nope nope and rubbing his head against his mum's body) so his mother encourages him to get something small, Beaky still refuses so she literally kicks him into the sky.
when he realises that he has to fly, he goes into full Mortimer Snerd ( a famous ventriloquest puppet) mode and begins to sing a country hick song. On spying Bugs he tries to grab him in one fel swoop but he fails and crashes into the ground, due to Bugs giving him the wrong angles to land.
When the dust falls Bugs asks what Beaky's looking for and he takes a awhile to remember, when he does, Bugs tells him to wait so that he'll prepare himself. After Beaky realises that Bugs may be tricking, he reaches down Bugs' warren and a chase begins.
Beaky does manage to catch Bugs but drops him after being tickled with one of his own feathers. Bugs then lands on cattle skeleton and falls in the ground waist up. This gives the impression that Bugs has turned into a skeleton, with only his upper torso as the only living thing. This fools Bugs momentarily and he gets out of the ground and moves on.
Beaky manages to catch Bugs again but then Bugs turns it into some type of dance and twirls Beaky so hard that he lands in the skeleton. Beaky really thinks he's dead and begins to cry. Suddenly Mama buzzard comes along and demands to Bugs why her son his like this. When Bugs pulls Beaky out of the ground she pronounces him as the hero and Bugs begins to blush and giggle stupidly.
.... gets the Boid is Clampett through and through. Zany, cultural references, breakneck animation ( thanks to Clampett's partner in crime, top animator Rod Schribner) and laughs by the dozen. Like most cartoons, it's a chase but one that takes some bizarre detours.
In NO WAY can a summary do justice to this cartoon. I cannot mention every single detail and Clampett's cartoons are brimming with them. I urge you to try find this gem and watch it.
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