Don't Give Up the Sheep 1953 ( Dir Chuck Jones)

I can't help liking the Ralph and Sam cartoons. Although it's the same old chase theme that Jones had perfected with previous cartoons, there is a lot of charm. The idea of two characters going to work as friends and yet during their jobs play the roles of enemies is quite intelligent.

The Sam and Ralph cartoons always have the same structure. Ralph is a wolf (not dissimilar to Wil E. Coyote and Sam is a sheepdog. They both punch in for work and seem to be the best of friends.

That is until the whistle that jumpstarts their day begins. They then start to fulfill their roles. The wolf tries to steal the sheep and Sam foils his plans, usually hurting Ralph in the process. Usually during their lunch break they are friendly again but when work resumes they return to their roles till the end of the day. Usually Ralph is a total mess and Sam is triumphant.

Don't give up the Sheep is the first cartoon out of the six that Jones directed ( there is a seventh that was written by Jones but tackled by a different director) and I would say that it's the best one (although 1960's Ready, Woolen and Able comes very very close)

The cartoon starts with Sam punching in for work ( Ralph appears as a colleague from 1954's Sheep Ahoy onwards) and beginning to watch the sheep. Ralph enters the scene and begins to steal Sam's protoge's Like the Wil E. Coyote films im going to list down the various ploys.

1. First Ralph messes with Sam's punch clock
2. Ralph hides under a bush and steals a sheep. Sam hides under a tree and whacks him until he replaces the sheep.
3. Ralph tries to play the pan flute in order to lull Sam. Ralph just gets punched in the face.
4. Ralph digs a whole underground and starts to steal sheep. He accidentally grabs Sam, gets punched and replaces the sheep.
5. Ralph tries to set a wildcat loose on Sam. The wildcat takes a detour and attacks Ralph instead.
6. Ralph swings from a tree in order to swipe a sheep. He gets Sam instead. Luckily Ralph escapes and goes on a tree branch and saws it off. He then finds Sam behind him sawing off the branch, Sam then finds ralph behind him sawing another portion of the branch. Ralph then finds Sam chopping the tree down. Ralph then uses a pickaxe to loosen the cliff edge where Sam is sitting but Ralph's portion of the cliff falls instead. Sam shrugs.
7. Ralph tries to steal sheep while underwater, using a reed as a breathing apparatus. Sam drops a stick of dynamite down the reed. The water bubbles and burbles. Ralph rises to the surface and sinks like a ship.

Sam punches out for the day while his replacement comes over. Sam takes a club and starts beating him. We actually find out it is the wolf in disguise. Sam starts to club the wolf on the behind while Sam's real replacement arrives.Sam hands him the club and he starts his day by beating Ralph on the behind.

It's 7 mins of pure visual gags but it's mesmirising. Like the rooadrunner cartoon we know that the wolf will lose but it's interesting to see how the plans will backfire. In the case of Ralph and Sam it's a three way relationship which gives the chase a bit more of a dimension ( although the sheep are passive) Either way the stalker is the true victim.