42. Ride Him, Bosko! (1932)

Warner cartoon no: 41.
Release date: September 17, 1932.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Directed by: Hugh Harman.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko) and Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising (Cartoonists - live action)
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Norm Blackburn.
Musical Score: Frank Marsales.

The short starts off with a wolf that howls as there is a full moon. We then see Bosko riding on his horse (that is rather tired and lazy) playing the guitar to the song When the Bloom is on the Sage. He pushes the donkey over a giant rock as it's in his way because the donkey is that lazy to do so. I must say that the singing is quite bad here. It's not very appealing than when Bosko sings (well, to be honest - none of the voices are appealing anyway).

We then see a title card on the screen reading Red Gulch - where men are men, nine times out of ten. It appears to be that "Red Gulch" is the name of a one-horse town that Bosko is going to. We see a long-shot of the town rather quiet, with a barn dance inside a saloon (silhouettes dancing), but we see a western outlaw running around shooting his pistols. There is a pig that walks past the saloon doors, but a arm comes out with a bottle that hits the pig that turns all weary and drunk after "hitting the bottle". There is even a very tall dog that walks past with bullets being shot at his body, in which he shrinks to normal size. Those gags were reused before, and it's just showing us how quiet this town is but yet so many things happen.

Bosko arrives at the saloon, in which he ties his horse stands outside the salloon rather exhausted and worn-out. Bosko walks right to the saloon (it appears to be that there are two saloons opposite each other). Bosko enters the saloon chanting "Howdy fellas" to his cowboy friends, they respond by shooting bullets at his hat, with the repsonse "Howdy Bosko!". Bosko, rather embarrassed says hello to them again, and picks up his hat. Hang on a minute, Bosko's hat just had bullets over it, but as he picks it up - the bullet marks are gone! Did they get the hat back to normal because of production time, as if the animators haven't got time to draw those bullet marks on his hat throughout the rest of the picture?

There is music being played inside the saloon, with Bosko doing some type of tap-dancing in there, and for some reason there are crowds in the background dancing that look rather ghostly to me. The tune being played on the piano is She'll Be Coming Around the Mountains - a traditional yokel song.

As the pianoman is playing the piano, he pucnhes the keyboards with his fist so that liquid of beer would fly and land into his mouth. He suddenly burns in flames, and acts rather gay and then walks off. Bosko then steps in taking over the spot, as he plays his usual tunes on the piano. Bosko then grabs out a pair of cards, with the King of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds, and Queen of Spades dancing and singing, but the Goopy Geer looking Joker starts to dance, but Bosko shoots Goopy right in the stomach, as he falls down flat in the card. Thank you Bosko, for killing Goopy Geer for me!

Another title card comes at the screen says The Deadwood Stage - (free wheeling) and we see a long-shot of a wagon rolling down a path, it's a rather wonky wagon, as the wheels keep spinning and changing postitions. Inside the wagon we see Honey dressed as some Texas women back in the folklore days. It's a rather bumpy trip for her which worries her, she asks the wagon rider "Please, be careful!" But the wagon moving doesn't make any difference after her response.

Meanwhile there are a group of outlaws riding in their horses, and they appear to be making a lot of dust while riding. One of the outlaws halts, but the horse does the sneaky tip-toe movements as the outlaw looks over the mountain. He finds a wagon coming round his way, but he hides behind a rock, as he plans to rob the wagon (with the treasure chest on top) and everyone in it, including Honey. The outlaw draws out his pistols, but the wagon rolls past, which leaves himself and the horse all braided and then looses itself out.

The outlaws start to chase after the wagon, when an old-timer riding it hears the gunshots coming directly at him, he starts to trying to escape as the wagon, himself and Honey are at risk. His sombrero keeps on getting shot as it blows away, but he catches his hat on time. The treasure chest falls off the wagon, as their are gunshots being fired. All the clothes come to life as they start to run out of the treasure chest and run for their lives.

There is now a action sequence going on, as the old-timer is riding as fast as he can. The ride makes it even bumpier for Honey. As the old-timer is trying to ride for his live, he bumps onto a rock in which he starts to fly out of the wagon. He skids on a cactus which makes it very painful for him. It means that Honey is in incredible danger as there is nobody riding the wagon. The old timer starts to ride on a fossiled-horse as it rides to town.

The old man runs into the saloon shouting that his stagecoach is robbed. He suddenly sinks and his whole body sinks in which only his trousers show. Bosko runs out of the scene to rescue his stagecoach and Honey. The man's arm comes out by grabbing a glass of beer and drinks it. Bosko runs outside and accidentally runs out on a stable to park horses, but then it starts riding like a horse, in which Bosko jumps out and rides on his actual horse.

Bosko starts to ride like mad as he's trying his real best to rescue Honey. He is now jumping over rocks to avoid himself from any further delays. Honey pops her head out of the stagecoach by shouting "Bosko, save me!".

Bosko cotinues to ride, as then we zoom back, and find Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising in a room working on the film, with Rudolf Ising (I think) slapping his laps for the sound effects. They then start slacking by saying "How's Bosko going to save the girl", and then one of them shouts "I dunno", but then they decide to go home, as they can't be bothered to finish the cartoon anymore, with Bosko hacing no actions on the screen - and that's all folks!

This part with the live-action and the cartoonists is probably the only part that was really good with the cartoon. It shows Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and other unknown cartoonist - and they are showing different personalities as if they can't be bothered to finish the cartoon and think it's lousy anyway, which it is. The carton was very bland, the animation was sloppy at times - and I quite like the idea for Bosko as a parody in Western films, but it wasn't until years later when they brought in excellent western characters like Yosemite Sam. A western parody at Warners, wasn't perfected until 1951's Drip-Along Daffy.

(NOTE: I'm actually staying a school weekend, and I've got Blogger and YouTube unblocked for my reviews, so that's why this blog's been pretty quiet - I will return more within next week with more reviews).