The Rebel Without Claws is a 1961 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng.
Title[]
The title is a play on the 1955 movie Rebel Without a Cause.
Plot[]
A Confederate sergeant at the Signal Corps is commanded by his officer to send an "important message" to General Robert E. Lee from the enemy lines, which can only be done by carrier pigeon. However, the sergeant states they're unable to, because all their carrier pigeons have been shot down, and they're down to their last bird, Tweety. Despite being forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel, Tweety is sent to deliver the message as the officer curses the Yankees.
Tweety is thrown into the battlefield, but the Union soldiers see the bird and sends their "Messenger Destroyer," Sylvester, to get rid of the bird. Quickly attempting to flee from the cat, Tweety runs under a no man's land, which Sylvester tries to pass through but gets repeatedly shot in the process. Tweety hides in several holes that Sylvester pursues, but Tweety tricks him off a cliff and into a cannon that fires him back to the bottom of the cliff edge. Tweety momentarily tricks Sylvester into thinking Union soldiers are marching to battle using a wooden panel with bayonets attached to it. When Sylvester realizes the bird, he tries to confront the canary but is blown away by Confederate soldiers.
Sylvester tries to ship down a barrel of dynamite down at a passing Tweety, but he only sends the cart down but leaves the dynamite barrel behind. Tweety hides behind cannons on a Confederate fighter ship. As Tweety hides within, Sylvester takes several cannonball shots while trying to peer in the cannons. Wise to the blasts, Sylvester uses a long stick to ease open one of the hatches, but one opens behind him and blasts him.
Tweety makes it to General Lee's office, but General Lee happens to be Sylvester in disguise. Sylvester takes the bird and sends him to the firing line for execution. Tweety states that his only regret is that he has "but one wife to give foh my countwy", to which Sylvester says that he has nine lives. However, the commander and his soldiers happen to shoot Sylvester instead, much to Tweety's surprise. Sylvester states, "It's a good thing I have got nine lives! With this kind of an army, I'll need 'em," before dropping dead.
Caricatures[]
Availability[]
Looney Tunes Presents Tweety: Tweet and Lovely
I Love Tweety: Volume 3 (restored with DVNR)
Looney Tunes Collector's Choice: Volume 2 (restored without DVNR)
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
- The former WB Channel cuts out the "damn" in the Confederate Officer's line "Damn Yankees!" and deletes Tweety's line "I tawt I taw a damn Yankee Tat!" after the Union officer releases Sylvester.[1]
- Cartoon Network and Boomerang, much like The WB's version, also removes the two uses of the word "damn". Unlike The WB, Cartoon Network and Boomerang (American feed only) ended the scene of the Confederate Officer giving his sidekick the letter to deliver to General Lee early to remove the officer's line "Damn Yankees!" and shortened Tweety's line "I tawt I taw a damn Yankee tat!" to "I tawt I taw a Yankee tat!" with a somewhat obvious audio cut.[1][2] International versions of Cartoon Network and Boomerang air these scenes uncut.
- The version shown on Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny & Friends (syndicated version) left in both uses of the word "damn", but cut a scene in the middle of the cartoon where Sylvester pursues Tweety on a ship and gets blasted by cannons (although this cut scene was shown in a "Hip Clip" on another episode of Merrie Melodies).[1]
- The version currently shown on MeTV is uncut, leaving in both uses of the word "damn" and the cannon scene.
Notes[]
- When shown on television anthology programs like The Merrie Melodies Show, the title was changed to Rebel Without Claws. The short also went by this title on Warner Bros. Discovery RIDE.
- Most of the scenes from this cartoon were used for the TV special Bugs Bunny: All American Hero.
- The cannon scene is similar to the one in "Buccaneer Bunny".
- MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of this short on Saturday Morning Cartoons in 2021.
Gallery[]
TV Title Cards[]
References[]
- Friedwald, Will and Jerry Beck. "The Warner Brothers Cartoons." Scarecrow Press Inc., Metuchen, N.J., 1981. ISBN 0-8108-1396-3.