by Tessa Swehla, Associate Editor

To estimate the impact that Looney Tunes and its spin-off series Merrie Melodies have had on American cinema and pop culture would be a feat too difficult for even a book length work of film history. Inspired by Disney’s Silly Symphonies, Looney Tunes was originally created to showcase Warner Bros.’ large musical library by creating animated shorts that would precede full length feature films in the theater: the first Looney Tunes film—Sinkin’ in the Bathtub—premiered in 1930 with the now lost Song of the Flame and is the first non-Disney cartoon with a pre-recorded sound track. I can’t recommend it except for historical research reasons: as with many films of its time, the comedy derives from what is essentially an animated Blackface performance.

But as these shorts evolved and were updated into color, they focused more on the “looney” elements, the witty wordplay, subversive joke structure, and playful slapstick. Certain characters emerged as icons of animated cinema: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, etc, and these characters often played the role of the viewers’ id, transgressing the lines of traditional narrative structure, appropriate behavior, and even social norms. They allow the audience to embrace their inner silliness and sense of the absurd. We can see the effects of these shorts—especially those of the Golden Age of animation from 1930 to the 1960s—in almost every branch of cinema from farcical comedies to biting satires to action films to metacinema.

A new Looney Tunes film, this one a full length feature, is arriving in theaters this Friday, The Day the Earth Blew Up. Since this film focuses on the characters of Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, I have put together this list of shorts and one feature film that I believe provide a good introduction to the characters for the uninitiated or a guide for those wanting to revisit these characters to prepare for the new film.

In the interest of transparency, I must disclose that many of the shorts below are difficult to find: in their unending disdain for art and its fans, Warner Bros. has not deigned to make any of these films available on their streaming service Max, even though many are considered cultural classics–my roommate informed me that the inability to stream Duck Amuck (1953) readily is a violation of our rights as Americans.

I sorted through streaming services, YouTube compilations, and finally found most of the shorts I wanted through my local library, which had a copy of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 DVDs (2011). I later discovered that many are available on the Internet Archive, and Apple has some available for purchase. I do not suggest watching any of the shorts on YouTube as many of the videos are edited down to a couple of minutes. All of this is to say, I plan on buying these on physical media as soon as possible for preservation purposes.

Keeping all that mind, here are some of the best Daffy and Porky films.

Space Jam (dir. Joe Pytka, 1996)

If you are a Looney Tunes newbie, I suggest you start with the 1996 live action and animated film Space Jam starring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny (really, he’s in the opening credits). The film is a farcical sports comedy in which Jordan (playing a fictional version of himself) is enlisted by Bugs to help the Tunes win a basketball game against aliens from Moron Mountain amusement park. The stakes? The very freedom of the Tunes themselves.

Despite its later release date (over sixty years after the release of first Merrie Melody), Space Jam is an excellent entry point: while some of the nuances of the gags may escape first time viewers, the film reintroduces the most popular characters–Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Elmer Fudd, Tweety Bird, etc–and the wacky vibes of the earlier shorts without overburdening the audience with any exposition (does Looney Tunes really have lore, anyway?). The animation is almost as well integrated with the live action as classics like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and the penguin scene in Mary Poppins.

Robin Hood Daffy (dir. Chuck Jones, 1958)

Next, I suggest a short that more clearly focuses on the Daffy/Porky dynamic: legendary Looney Tunes animator and director Chuck Jones’ Robin Hood Daffy. The short is not Daffy and Porky’s first appearance together (that honor belongs to the next film on the list), but it is representative of peak Looney Tunes excellence that creators such as Jones achieved in the early 1950s. Daffy and Porky are well-established characters, and while Looney Tunes character dynamics often change based on the central premise of the short, the combination of a serene Porky with an increasingly manic Daffy is a classic of the duo’s collaborations (yes, I have started talking about the Tunes as if they are actors).

In Robin Hood Daffy, Daffy plays Robin Hood, complete with green and red outfit and bycocket–the style of hat commonly associated with Robin Hood. Porky plays Friar Tuck, who is seeking to join Robin Hood’s band of merry men but does not believe Daffy’s claim to be the famous hero during their meet cute quarterstaff brawl (“actually, it’s a buck and a quarterstaff”). What ensues is a Wile E. Coyote level of stunts gone wrong as Daffy tries to prove himself to Porky, including the memorable Daffy line “I’ll rob him of his gold and give it to some unworthy slob” and a surprise twist ending.

Available currently on the Internet Archive.

Porky’s Duck Hunt (dir. Tex Avery, 1937)

After an introduction to Daffy and Porky in Space Jam and Robin Hood Daffy, let’s rewind to the beginning of their (lengthy) relationship for the short film Porky’s Duck Hunt. Although not named, Daffy makes his first appearance in this film as a “crazy, darned fool duck” who Porky attempts to hunt along with his trusty hound. While the gags in this short are comparatively simplistic and neither Porky nor Daffy look exactly as they do in future shorts, the film is worth watching in order to understand the development of the two characters.

This short also marks Mel Blanc entry into the Looney Tunes roster. Known now as “The Man of a Thousand Voices,” Blanc was originally slated to play only Daffy in Porky’s Duck Hunt, but Warner was looking for a new actor for Porky, originally voiced by make-up assistant Joe Dougherty. Dougherty had originated the voice of the character as he had a real life stammer which, when sped up, provided what the studio heads thought was a cute, cartoony quality. However, the studio didn’t think that Dougherty had the comic chops to meet the demand for Porky as a character, so when dialect specialist and minor radio personality Blanc joined the studio in 1936, they were happy to replace Dougherty with someone with more experience. Porky’s Duck Hunt thus earns a place in cartoon history.

As a note, I obviously admire Blanc’s talent and contributions to voice acting as a field, but it leaves a bitter taste that he basically became successful initially because of his ability to imitate a disabled man’s performance.

Available currently on the Internet Archive.

Porky in Wackyland (dir. Bob Clampett, 1938)

In order to fully appreciate Daffy and Porky as a duo, one cannot neglect their most iconic solo outings, starting with 1938’s Porky in Wackyland. Another black and white production, Porky in Wackyland is one of animator and director Bob Clampett’s most famous films, invoking a surrealistic quality that is out there even for a Looney Tune production. The premise is simple: Porky–wearing an adorable pilot onesie–embarks on a world-wide search for a presumably extinct species, the dodo, finding it in Wackyland–a country inhabited by all sorts of strange, Cronenberg-like creatures.

Unfortunately, Wackyland is located in “darkest Africa,” a choice that furthers the othering of the continent as a strange and exotic location, but other than the initial geographic location tag, Wackyland function more like a riff on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, almost a decade before Disney would release their adaptation of that text. As an audience stand-in, Porky interacts with the Wackyland inhabitants–including a fun three-headed guy inspired by The Three Stooges–with curiosity, fear, and wonder in turns, until he meets the dodo, who is understandably reluctant to be captured.

Available currently on the Internet Archive.

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (dir. Bob Clampett, 1946)

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery sounds like it should star both Daffy and Porky, but it’s actually a Daffy solo feature. Also directed by Clampett–who was the first animator to draw Daffy in Porky’s Duck Hunt–the film is most notable for its framing device and unconventional–even for Looney Tunes–character designs for the short’s villains.

At the beginning of the short, Daffy eagerly awaits the arrival of the latest Dick Tracy comic, devouring it as soon as it arrives. In his excitement, he knocks himself out accidentally (haven’t we all been there?), dreaming that he is Duck Twacy on a noir adventure investigating a crime wave of stolen piggy banks. The film parodies Dick Tracy comics, of course, but it also takes a friendly swipe at superhero comics, featuring villains named Snake Eyes, 88 Teeth, Hammerhead, Pussycat Puss, Batman (not that Batman), Double Header, Pickle Puss, Pumpkin Head, Neon Noodle, Jukebox Jaw, Wolfman, and Rubber Head, all of whom look as intriguing as their names imply. Daffy, I mean, Duck Twacy must use a combination of slapstick gags, detective intuition, and witty puns to defeat them. This film is a love letter to that decade’s signature pulp that feels nostalgic even to viewers who were born many years later.

Available currently on the Internet Archive.

Scaredy Cat (dir. Chuck Jones, 1948)

One of the delights of watching many Looney Tunes shorts is discovering all the different character combinations and how different characters will bring out different aspects of each other. In many Daffy and Porky team ups, for example, Porky is the more thoughtful and deliberate one to Daffy’s unbalanced enthusiasm, but in Scaredy Cat, Porky is teamed up with Sylvester the Cat, which brings out his more absentminded qualities, while Sylvester–who normally terrorizes Tweety Bird in their cartoons–is timid and has no speaking lines. In Jones’ short, Porky and Sylvester, as Porky’s cat, move into a creepy mansion. Sylvester is immediately fearful while Porky is charmed by the old-fashioned house. Porky tries to send Sylvester to sleep in the kitchen, but one glimpse of the current inhabitants of the house–a band of murderous mice–has Sylvester doing everything he can to sleep with Porky upstairs. It’s a hilarious battle of wills that can only be topped by anyone who has actual experience trying to deny a cat something that it wants.

It’s rare that Looney Tunes descends completely into horror-comedy, but when it does, the results are often quite excellent–see also Hair-Raising Hare (dir. Chuck Jones, 1946) and Transylvania 6-5000 (dir. Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble, 1963).

Available currently on the Internet Archive.

Duck Amuck (dir. Chuck Jones, 1953)

In Duck Amuck, Jones created perhaps the postmodern masterwork of the 20th century in another Daffy solo adventure. In this short film, Daffy fully realizes his potential for a comedic existential breakdown. The title sequence indicates that this will, once again, be a Daffy Duck historical adventure, but when Daffy appears in full musketeer costume and foil, ready to swashbuckle, the animated background disappears, leaving Daffy alone in an empty, white space. Daffy appeals to the animators, asking them to give him scenery to work in. They comply, but the new background is that of a modern farmhouse and barn. Daffy changes his costume and mannerisms to match, only for this sequence to repeat several times over. The film spins out of control, driving Daffy to incoherent madness.

Duck Amuck is certainly not the first film to break the fourth wall, but it is one of the most successful to do so. There is something oddly relatable to Daffy’s pleas to the creators of his universe for coherence. As Joseph Campbell noted, humans—and apparently ducks—use narrative to make sense out of the chaos of reality, and Duck Amuck reminds us of the fragility of those narratives, how quickly they can dissolve into incomprehensibility. The only responses to this absurdity are either an existential crisis, a la Daffy, or laughter.

Available currently on the Internet Archive.

The Scarlet Pumpernickel (dir. Chuck Jones, 1950)

Daffy and Porky reunite in The Scarlet Pumpernickel, a straight up satire of the swashbuckling genre. The frame narrative features an enthusiastic Daffy Dumas Duck pitching his new idea for a movie to an unseen studio executive. The lead is, of course, played by Daffy, with Porky, in a rare turn, playing the villainous Lord High Chamberlain who seeks to keep his ward Melissa away from Daffy aka The Scarlet Pumpernickel. The film also features Elmer Fudd as an innkeeper and Sylvester as a duke who Melissa is supposed to marry instead of her true love. Hijinks ensue, including a failed window entry attempt prompting the hilarious line, “That never happens to Errol Flynn.”

Viewers familiar with the swashbuckling films of Flynn and legendary director Michael Curtiz will enjoy this short the most, but even viewers with the barest knowledge of the genre–or at least a passing familiarity with Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)–will chuckle at the dashing but inept Daffy and the self-defeating villainy of Porky. Watching Daffy Dumas Duck slowly unravel in the frame narrative provides an extra layer of satire, poking fun at film writers and executives.

Available currently on the Internet Archive.

Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½th Century (dir. Chuck Jones, 1952)

George Lucas is such a fan of this next short that he reportedly wanted it to play before Star Wars (1977) in its initial run in theaters, which confirms a suspicion of mine that both Lucas and Spielberg are heavily influenced by Jones’ work in animation in general and Looney Tunes in particular–Duck Dodgers can also briefly be seen on TV in the background of a scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Unfortunately, Lucas never was able to work out the rights in time for Star Wars’ release, but the short is available courtesy of The Internet Archive as of the writing of this article.

While The Scarlet Pumpernickel is a play on the swashbuckler, Duck Dodgers is a satire of the ‘30s sci-fi comics Buck Rogers, the 25th Century AD. Of course, Daffy brings that classic Daffy grandiosity and aggression to the role, but Porky joins him this time as his sidekick, the less confident but more competent Eager Young Space Cadet. Marvin the Martian plays the villain in what is essentially a colonization dispute between Earth and Mars. It’s a great dynamic because Marvin and Daffy match each other in intensity while Porky brings a sweet resignation to the situation.

Available currently on the Internet Archive.

Special Mention:

Rabbit Fire (dir. Chuck Jones, 1951) / Rabbit Seasoning (dir. Chuck Jones, 1952) / Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (dir. Chuck Jones, 1953)

I didn’t include this trilogy of shorts in the list proper because they focus more on the relationship between Daffy, Bugs Bunny, and Elmer Fudd, but I couldn’t have a list without mentioning these masterpieces. One of the fun aspects of watching Looney Tunes is to see how the roles of the characters change when they are paired up in different ways. While Daffy might play pranks on Porky, Marvin, or one of the more traditionally villainous Tunes, his manic aggression is no match for the suave trickster archetype that is Bugs. His ire at Bugs, played out over these three shorts, manifests in an uneasy alliance with Elmer Fudd as Daffy tries to reveal Bugs’ ruses to the hunter, only to be caught up himself.

The struggle between Daffy and Bugs is epic–linguistic sparring, spite, seductive disguises, and defiance of the laws of physics all have a part to play in their duel. Blanc’s prodigious voice talent is also on display as he is able to imitate one of his characters voices (Bugs) in the style of another of his characters (Daffy), a feat that many other voice actors claim is impossible.

Rabbit Fire is currently available on the Internet Archive.
Rabbit Seasoning is currently available on the Internet Archive.
Duck! Rabbit! Duck! is currently available on the Internet Archive.

If you are interested in exploring more Looney Tunes films, there is also a project on the Internet Archive to preserve access to all of the Looney Tunes shorts.

Support MovieJawn Staff

〰️

Support MovieJawn Staff 〰️

Support Tessa Swehla

With the death of so much print media and meaningful journalism, it is important now more than ever to support the writers and outlets you love.
If you enjoyed this article, show your support by donating to our writer. All proceeds go directly to the writer. Recommended donation is $5.