Duck Amuck

Duck Amuck is a 1953 American surreal animated cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. The short film was released in early 1953 by The Vitaphone Corporation, the short subject division of Warner Bros., as part of the Merrie Melodies series. It stars Daffy Duck, who is tormented by a seemingly sadistic, initially unseen animator, who constantly changes Daffy's locations, clothing, voice, physical appearance and even shape, much to Daffy's aggravation and rage. Pandemonium reigns throughout the cartoon as Daffy attempts to steer the action back to some kind of normality, only for the animator to either ignore him or, more frequently, to over-literally interpret his increasingly frantic demands. In the end, the tormenting animator is revealed to be Bugs Bunny. This cartoon was featured in The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie.

Dialogue

Daffy Duck: [sarcastically] That's dandy, ho ho, that's rich I'll say. [Turns to the animator, angrily] Now how about some color, stupid? [The animator paints him instead of the scenery.] Hey! [growls] Not me, you slop artist! [pants angrily as the animator erases his whole body except his face] Well? Where's the rest of me? [The animator draws him as a bizarre mismatched animal with a flower head and a screwball flag on its tail, instead of his usual appearance as a duck.] It isn't as though I haven't lived up to my contract. Goodness knows. And, goodness knows, it isn't like I haven't kept myself trim, goodness knows. I-I've done that. [becomes suspicious of his unusual appearance] That's strange. All of a sudden, I don't quite feel like myself. Oh, I feel all right. [The animator writes a mirror in front of him.] And yet, I... I, uh... [He looks at himself at the mirror and shrieks after seeing how bizarre he looked.] Eeeeek!!! [to animator, angrily] You know better than that! [The animator erases him and the mirror.] Well? [The animator draws him in a sea sailor uniform.] Hmm. Sea picture, eh? I always wanted to do a sea-epic. Now, Mr. Rembrandt, if you'll kindly oblige with a little appropriate scenery... [starts singing "The Song of the Marines"] Over the sea, let's go, men! We're shovin' right off, we're shovin' right off... again? [He falls into the water, then swims ashore to an island from the distance.] Hey! Come here! Come here! Gimme a close-up! A close-up! [The animator crops out everything except the island.] This is a close-up? [shouting] A CLOSE-UP, YA JERK! A CLOSE-UP!! [The animator gives him an extreme close-up, showing his angry bloodshot eyes! He then walks back away from the close-up. sarcastically] Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin. [turns around to face the animator] Now, look, buster, let's have an understanding. [A black curtain falls on him.] Now what? [The animator draws a stick for him to hold up the curtain.] Brother, what a way to run a railroad. Now then, as I was saying... [The stick breaks and the curtain falls on him again, nearly covering the entire screen. He grunts as he tries to hold up the curtain, but then pants in exhaustion as the curtain flattens him and covers the entire screen, except for him. He screams hysterically as he rips the curtain to shreds.] AAAAAHHHHH!!! [pants as he rips another part of the curtain] All right, let's get this picture started! [The animator irises out the screen and a "The End" card appears.] NO! NO! [He pushes the "The End" card away in a panic.] Listen, pal, let's discuss this thing sanely, huh? Look, I tell you what. You go your way and I'll go mine. Live and let live, right? Right. Ladies and gentlemen, there will be no more delays, so I shall attempt to entertain you in my own inimitable fashion. [He dances for a bit, but then the screen goes out of alignment by the animator, revealing another Daffy.] Now what?!

Daffy Duck Clone: What are you doing down there?

Daffy Duck: Down here? What are you doing up there? [to the audience] Down here. [The clone grabs him by the neck and pulls him up as the screen returns to its proper position.] Listen, bud, if you wasn't me, I'd smack you right in the puss!

Daffy Duck Clone: Don't let that bother ya, Jack!

[Daffy prepares to punch his doppelganger.]

Daffy Duck: Okay, buddy, you asked for it! [The animator erases the clone before he could lay a blow on him, causing him to miss and spin around. The animator then draws an airplane around him for the black duck to fly. excitedly] Oh, brother, I'm a buzz-boy! [He closes the cockpit as the animator starts the plane's thrusters and he takes off. But then, the animator draws a mountain in his path, causing him to crash off-screen. He is seen flying on his own with the windshield as the only thing ahead of him.] Uh oh. Time to hit the old silk. [He bails out of the plane.] GERONIMO!!!

Daffy Duck: [after his parachute is turned into an anvil and he crashes to the ground, he is beating on the anvil with a hammer and babbling a passage from The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow] "Under a spreading chestnut-tree, The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighta-ty man is he, With strong and sinewy..." [while he is singing, the anvil is erased and is replaced with an explosive shell pointing straight up. After a few more hits, the bomb explodes] ...H-Hands... [shakes himself off] All right. Enough is enough. This is the final, the - the very, very last straw! Who's responsible for this?! This...I demand that you show yourself! Who are you?!? Huh?!

[As he's venting, a doorway with an open door is drawn around him, then the door is pushed closed by the eraser. The camera then pans from the scene into an animation studio. As it turns out, that the animator tormenting Daffy throughout the cartoon is revealed to be Bugs Bunny, the whole time!]

Bugs Bunny: [chuckles] Ain't I a stinker?

[He ends the cartoon by winking his eyebrows.]

Voice Cast

• Mel Blanc as Daffy Duck / Bugs Bunny

See also

• Rabbit Rampage
• One Carroter in Search of an Artist

External links

• Duck Amuck quotes at the Internet Movie Database