Robin Hood Daffy
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| Robin Hood Daffy Merrie Melodies (Daffy Duck/Porky Pig) series |
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 Title Card for Robin Hood Daffy |
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| Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
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| Produced by | John W. Burton |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Milt Franklyn |
| Animation by | Abe Levitow Richard Thompson Ken Harris |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date(s) | March 8, 1958 (USA premiere) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 8 min (one reel) |
| Language | English |
Robin Hood Daffy is a 1958 Warner Brothers theatrical cartoon short, part of the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese.
[edit] Synopsis
The film features Daffy Duck in the role of legendary outlaw Robin Hood, and opens to the strains of his playing an instrument similar to an archlute or bouzouki.
As he prances along singing, he trips and tumbles down a bank into a lake. Watching is Porky Pig, as a Friar Tuck figure, who laughs uproariously at Daffy's inglorious plunge. The annoyed Daffy tries to prove his skill with a quarterstaff but manages to hit himself in the face with it, bending his bill in what becomes a recurring visual gag throughout the film.
He tries again, but while he is spinning his quarterstaff, Porky stops it with a wooden dowel, resulting in Daffy spinning around and falling back into the lake.
Having given up trying to impress the friar, Daffy attempts to leave, but Porky follows and asks him if he knows the whereabouts of Robin Hood's hideout as he wants to join his band of outlaws. Daffy proudly announces that he is Robin Hood, but Porky disbelieves him.
To prove himself, Daffy informs Porky that he will attempt to rob a rich traveller on a bouncing mule (and give his money "to some poor unworthy slob").
Daffy fails in each and every attempt he makes to stop the traveler, usually injuring himself in the process, be it accidentally firing himself from his own bow, or slamming into a succession of trees while trying to swing on a rope.
Eventually the rich traveler, oblivious to Daffy's attempts to rob him, reaches his castle unharmed. The frustrated Daffy gives up, and in the final scene walks on with a shaven head and wearing a habit, having decided to become a friar himself: As the film irises out, Daffy's bill bends back up one more time.
[edit] Music
Daffy's Song
Oh, join up with me, so joyous and free
And away to old Sherwood hie,
For I'm Robin Hood, and I'm very good
At avoiding the Sheriff's eye.
So we'll trip along merrily,
O'er the greensward so gracefully,
To trip it, trip it, trip it, trip it,
Trip it up and down,
To trip it, trip it, trip it, trip it,
So trip it up and down.
The song is set to the traditional tune of a 17th-century broadside ballad, Come, Lasses and Lads, upon the first verse of which Daffy's lyrics are rather loosely based, but retaining the burden nearly unchanged:
Come, Lasses and Lads, get leave of your Dads,
And away to the Maypole hie,
For ev'ry fair has a sweetheart there,
And the fiddler's standing by.
For Willy shall dance with Jane,
And Johnny has got his Joan,
To trip it, trip it, trip it, trip it,
Trip it up and down,
To trip it, trip it, trip it, trip it,
Trip it up and down.[1]
Other notable lines:
- Daffy, fighting with his $1.25 quarter staff : "Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha - THRUST!" (quarter staff bounces off log, smacking him in the face and bending his bill. He straightens it back to normal, and starts speaking to himself) "Let's see now. Something amiss here... hmm, I'll run through it. Ho, haha, guard, turn, parry, dodge, spin, ha - thrust." (bill bends again) "Got it." (straightens bill, and starts his fighting moves again.) "Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin!" (Porky comes up and holds a wooden dowel up against the quarterstaff while Daffy is spinning it, stopping it and causing Daffy to spin around. Daffy then falls back down into the lake)
- See yon rich unwary traveller? I'll rob him of his gold, and give it to some poor unworthy slob. That'll prove that I'm Robin Hood, hmm? Prithee, hmm?
- "YOICKS . . . and away!" (Daffy swings from a treetop and hits another tree) "YOICKS . . . . and away!" (Daffy swings from the other treetop and hits another tree. This happens a few more times, slurring his speech a little more each time, until he's at ground level. Porky rolls his eyes.) "Why you...!" (Daffy gets an axe and starts chopping down the last tree he hit. Eventually, all the trees that got in his way are now out of his path, and he is back on top of the first tree.) "Now then, YOICKS . . . and awayyyyyy . . ." (Daffy swings over all the trees he's chopped down and hits a rock)
- "Ho ho, very funny; Ha ha, it is to laugh."
- "Oh, knock it off. How jolly can you get?"
[edit] Notes
- ^ Chappell, William (1859). Popular Music of the Olden Time, Volume 2, p. 532. Reprinted 2004 by Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1-4191-7336-7
