Saps in Chaps is a 1942 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng.
Plot[]
"Go west, young man, go west." In the 1800s, thousands of Americans have begun westward expansion. The settlers travel past the Mississippi River, the Black Hills, the Rocky Mountains, and around the Painted Desert to reach Arizona. One desperately thirsty man crawling through the desert is saved when he is served water at Custer's Last Stand, only to continue crawling in thirst after drinking. As wagon trains (on railroad tracks) bring thousands of settlers, towns spring up like mushrooms across the prairie. As civilization begins, a mouse is seen running away from a cowboy cat with a lasso. A man with the pony express begins to ride a pony across the country, trying to get on the pony all the while.
Cowboy culture begins to develop, with a lively saloon full of cowboys. However, a gun-toting outlaw enters, ready to settle a score with a typical he-man of the west, who only laughs in the outlaw's face and blows a cloud of smoke at him. He gets shot repeatedly, and is tickled by the bullets to the point of laughing to no end, exclaiming, "Stop it, stop it, you're killin' me!" Later, we again see the pony express man trying to get on his pony. He reaches an outpost, where another pony is waiting for him. He continues running with the pony and has no luck saddling up.
A rodeo is run, with events such as a champion jumping horse vaulting across a large bar. A boy rides a horse, and the narrator exclaims "Yow-whee, he'll never throw this boy!" The horse angrily throws the boy off of him and razzes the narrator. A ferocious horse bucks wildly out of his pen, but gets stage fright and walks back in. A Native child rides their mother.
As night falls, we see the pony express man still trying to get on his pony. They pass behind a large rock, and on the other side, the horse is now riding the man.
Caricatures[]
Television[]
- Sunset Productions (1955–1968)
- Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon (1988–1992)
Notes[]
- This is the last black-and-white Looney Tunes cartoon that Friz Freleng directed.
- This cartoon entered the public domain in 1970 due to Warner Bros. failing to renew the copyright.
- The MPPDA number is cut off on most prints of the cartoon available.
- This is one of two cartoons in which Dave Monahan is credited as “Sgt. Dave Monahan” as he had just been drafted into the Army. The other cartoon where he was credited as such is "Lights Fantastic".
- The title card design is very similar to that used for "Hare Trigger" three years later.
Gallery[]
References[]