Banty Raids

Banty Raids
Directed by	Robert McKimson
Produced by	David H. DePatie (unc.)
Animation by	George Grandpré Keith Darling Ted Bonnicksen Warren Batchelder
Layouts by	Robert Gribbroek
Backgrounds by	Robert Gribbroek
Color process	Technicolor
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Running time	6'

Banty Raids is a "Merrie Melodies" cartoon animated short starring Foghorn Leghorn and the Barnyard Dawg, and features the only appearance of the "Banty Rooster" character. Released June 29, 1963, the cartoon is directed by Robert McKimson. The voices were performed by Mel Blanc and Stan Freberg.

This cartoon marked the last "classic-era" cartoon starring Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg. Foghorn would make a cameo appearance in False Hare in 1964, but his next appearance after that was in 1980's The Yolk's on You.

Plot

A curmudgeon old rooster expels a young, pint-sized (bantam, aka "banty") rooster — who fancies himself as a hip beatnik and ladies' man — from the barnyard after repeatedly disturbing the peace with rock music. The beatnik, after regaining his senses (and shooting his guitar), sees the neighboring barnyard is full of hens and is immediately overcome with lust.

But to gain access to the barnyard, he needs to get past its superintendent, Foghorn Leghorn. The young rooster disguises himself as a baby and Foghorn takes the bait. Adopting him as his "son," Foghorn immediately shows the beatnik how to keep Barnyard Dawg in his place, using a rubber band contraption to punch the dog square in the head before tossing him in a garbage can.

The beatnik rooster constantly sneaks away to dance with the hens and kiss them. Foghorn eventually catches on that his young visitor is attracted to the "fairer sex" ("Hah, just like I thought! He's wacky over females!"). So does Barnyard Dawg, who offers to aid the hip rooster. After the hen obsessed rooster agrees, the dog sends a toy tank to seek out Foghorn ("Uh oh. Looks like one of that silly dawg's booby traps."). After Foghorn lands in a thresher retooled for the sole purpose of dressing him in drag (he was launched towards it by a horse, the real target of the toy tank), he offers a sheepish grin, disappears from view as a rope laden spindle revolves at high speed, ensnaring Foghorn within an undetermined length of rope. Once Foghorn pops out of the thresher landing on a conveyor belt, its obvious his arms were bound to his sides giving Foghorn a bustline, and his beak was also tied to prevent clear speech, and to alter said beak into a fluted shape, adding to his new henlike appearance. While Foghorn rides the conveyor belt, he is subjected to a "makeover" which begins when eyelids with blue eyeshadow and long thick eyelashes are literally glued on, continues when a plunger with red lipstick smacks into Foghorn's beak, coating said beak with the lipstick, a blue bonnet with a blonde wig is added, and ends when Foghorn drops headfirst into a blue dress, bounces off a makeshift trampoline (a girdle), gently floating down to earth as the dress functions like an umbrella a minute later, landing between Barnyard Dawg, the banty rooster, as his feet slide into a pair of blue heels.

The beatnik rooster goes wild and demands an impromptu marriage ceremony and Barnyard Dawg readily obliges, donning a preachers hat. Foghorn tries to protest ("but I'm a rooster!", which the beatnik rooster didn't understand), the beatnik rooster however, is willing to accept his shortcomings: ("Don't let it bug ya ma'am, like, we can't all be perfect!").

References

• Friedwald, Will and Jerry Beck. "The Warner Brothers Cartoons." Scarecrow Press Inc., Metuchen, N.J., 1981. ISBN 0-8108-1396-3.

External links

• Banty Raids at IMDb