Purely Joyful Movie!

Memorable, crazy movie

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

. . . throughout the six minute duration of "Merrie Melodies" BANTY RAIDS. The title itself of this Warner Bros. animated short refers to the quaint early 1900s custom in which Frat Boys invaded the living quarters of their Sorority Sisters and stole their underwear. In the cartoon, Banty--a pint-sized bantam rooster--behaves like a character in a Wayans live-action feature film, masquerading as a "tiny tot" in order to cuckold his would-be "Daddy" Foghorn Leghorn (to whose "McDonald's Farm" he's been literally booted by a stricter rooster). The gun-toting Banty quickly has his way with Foghorn's entire hen harem. Not satisfied to merely stab his self-proclaimed father figure in the back, Banty then conspires with Foghorn's canine antagonist for a full-frontal assault. Mr. Leghorn is shanghaied into a giant Transformer Machine, which dresses him in drag and applies the full range of feminine make-up. As soon as this Gigantic Gizmo spits him out, a protesting Foghorn is gay-married to Banty, with the devious canine officiating. Draw your own conclusions about exactly what social agenda Warner is advancing here.

While not my favourite Looney Tunes character- either Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck- Foghorn Leghorn is still an interesting and distinctive one and also one that I appreciate more as a young adult than as a child 10+ years ago(same I feel about Pepe LePew also). Banty Raids was his last cartoon, and at the same time one of his best. Okay like with most Foghorn cartoons you do know exactly how the story is going to map out. But knowing that isn't enough to ruin the enjoyment of watching them, especially when it is paced in such a jovial manner that it is impossible to be bored for one second during it. The animation makes Banty Raids one of the better-looking Looney Tunes cartoons of the 60s, while more fluid in character designs in earlier entries there is a lot of vibrant colour and detail. The music is catchy and has a great deal of energy, while the dialogue is razor sharp and extremely witty- some repetition but that is a unique part of the Foghorn cartoons' charm- and the gags imaginative and as funny as you'd expect. Barnyard Dog and the rooster(who refreshingly is a counterpoint that reflects the time in which Banty Raids was made) are vastly entertaining characters, but as usual it is Foghorn who steals the show. Mel Blanc's vocals are characteristically brilliant. Overall, a lot of fun and one of Foghorn's best despite being his last. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Foghorn Leghorn, who had been Robert McKimson's main cast member for seventeen years (along the way, McKimson had also created Hippety Hopper and the Tasmanian Devil)*, made his final appearance in 1963 with "Banty Raids". Whereas most of the cartoons have Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg engaged in an endless feud, rather detached from anything else in the world, here Foggy adopts a beatnik rooster as a son. While the little guy prefers to get slinky with the hens, FL immediately seeks to teach him how to play practical jokes on BD. But then of course BD has some tricks up his sleeve...It's worth noting that by this point, the Looney Tunes had truly passed their prime, and so it was probably good that the Termite Terrace crowd was retiring the characters. FL and Marvin the Martian both ended in 1963 (while Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd and Pepe Le Pew had already departed during the two previous years); Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Yosemite Sam and the Tasmanian Devil made their final appearances in 1964; Sylvester made his final appearance in 1965; Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales, and Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote had all departed by the end of 1968; Warner Bros. ceased cartoon production in 1969. In other words: that was all, folks (except for the compilation films).Anyway, it was great while it lasted, and this is certainly a worthwhile cartoon.

Foghorn Leghorn cartoons often feature one-off guest stars to add something to the old rooster-dog feud. In his last starring role, Foghorn is paired with a character representing the decade the film was made in. Quite a rarity on the otherwise timeless Foghorn farm.Foggy adopts a young Rooster. Of course he does not realize this is a full grown (albeit small in stature) hepcat cock who was kicked off his own farm for chasing too many chicks. Fatherly Foghorn immediately starts teaching ‘Sonny boy' the goal in life of every rooster: to inflict pain on the local watchdog. But the slick hipster is only interested in the chicks and starts moving in on Foghorns henhouse harem.After all these years the vocabulary of the Beatnik Rooster is still a gas, if you can dig it. As usual Barnyard Dog doesn't start to use his brain until the end, when he comes up with another one of his ingenious machines (only using material found on the farm) to take revenge on Foghorn. It seems he was inspired by `Some like it hot' this time. 7 out of 10