Chuck Jones: Memories of a Childhood
8pm, Turner Classic Movies
I have always preferred Looney Tunes to Disney. Give me the smart-alecky Bugs Bunny over that sugary little mouse any day of the week.
If we're on the same page here, you'll love tonight's half-hour film on TCM which explores the childhood influences of Chuck Jones -- one of the geniuses behind many of those twisted Looney Tunes creations.
Jones directed some of Warner Brothers' greatest animated classics -- The Rabbit of Seville, Duck Amuck, What's Opera, Doc? just to name a few. He also created the characters Pepe Le Pew, Wile E. Coyote, and Road Runner.
These Warner Brothers films featured cartoon characters with real personalities and real flaws - they were sometimes sarcastic, often vain, usually petty, and occasionally devious. But always, they were hilarious.
(Seriously, what's funnier than one of Bugs Bunny's dramatically spectactular death scenes, usually at the hands of nemesis Elmer Fudd? And then, when Elmer sobs over Bugs's limp, gray body, Bugs sits up, kisses him on the head, and takes off running again. In one cartoon -- I'm not sure which -- Bugs even pauses in the middle of the scene to accept an Oscar for his performance.)
So, miss a chance to peek inside the brain that helped bring us all that? As Bugs might say, don't be a maroon!
For more information or other air dates, check here.
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Comments
If you haven't seen it yet,
Tue, 03/24/2009 - 09:31 — RonMexicoIf you haven't seen it yet, you should catch the South Park "Jonas Brothers" episode from a couple of weeks ago. It reveals Mickey Mouse for what we all suspected him to be.
As for Chuck Jones' characters, my favorite was Wile E. Coyote. As Woody Boyd said on an episode of Cheers, "If he had all that money to buy that equipment, why didn't he just buy some food?"
Great point
Tue, 03/24/2009 - 10:07 — brookecain (author)I never thought of that! Maybe Wile was stealing that stuff from Acme... But no, now that I think of it, the stuff seemed to be delivered to Wile E.
I just love love love Bugs Bunny. I know Jones didn't create him, but he directed some of my favorite Bugs 'toons.
The shipping costs on all
Tue, 03/24/2009 - 11:04 — RonMexicoThe shipping costs on all of that ACME stuff probably cost him a fortune. Hopefully his lawsuit against them for faulty products won him a large settlement.
As for Bugs, my all time favorite would be "The Rabbit of Seville."
Shipping
Tue, 03/24/2009 - 12:35 — brookecain (author)Do you have any idea how much it costs to ship an ANVIL? The cost is prohibitive. Wile E. was apparently sitting on some kind of Coyote family fortune.
I love the Rabbit of Seville.
This one is good too, but I will warn you that once you start watching these, you can't stop:
A Hare Grows in Manhattan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLuTzURVkpY
You know, I still say "Bon Voy-ah-gee," and "maroon" for moron. And most of my friends would confirm I'm a total smart-aleck. Wow, the more I think about it, the more I think Bugs was a major influence in my life.