#45 -- Much Ado About Nutting


Title - Much Ado About Nutting
Director - Chuck Jones
Released - 1953

Reason for Placement --

A squirrel living in a downtown park heads to an nearby outdoor stand selling nuts.  He first helps himself first to a bag of peanuts, but then he trades up for walnuts, and then again for brazil nuts... and once more when he sees a towering display of coconuts (yes, we all know coconuts aren't actually nuts, but it makes for a pretty funny gag)!  However, the squirrel quickly realizes he cannot bite into the shell of the coconut, and now must try everything he can think of to break it open.

Much Ado About Nutting has no dialogue whatsoever, so it has to rely entirely on the squirrel's expressions and visual gags.  And thankfully, Jones is able to truly convey just how frustrated this squirrel gets without a single word, no doubt a trick he picked up after years of directing Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner shorts.  As we watch the squirrel try multiple tricks to open the coconut (using an axe, jackhammer, dynamite, even pushing it off the top of the Empire State Building), he never says a word, but we are fully able to see just how upset he is getting.  

2 comments:

  1. This is my all-time favorite cartoon. I haven't seen it since I was a kid though! Does anyone know if it's for sale on a compilation, or on iTunes or anywhere?

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    Replies
    1. You probably have it by now, but it's on Volume 6, Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection.

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