Trick or Tweet is a 1959 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.
Title[]
The title is a play on the phrase "trick or treat," which is often said by children on Halloween asking for candy, although the short does not take place on Halloween.
Plot[]
As Tweety is sweeping the dust around his nest high atop a wooden pole, Sylvester and Sam Cat each tiptoe up to the pole to sneak up on him. Neither cat sees the other as they both climb the pole to the nest. Sylvester peers over Tweety's nest as Tweety sweeps the dust in Sylvester's face and remark, "Ooooh! I tawt I taw a puddytat!" Ditto with Sam, and Tweety says, "I tawt I taw anudda puddytat!" Both cats grab the nest simultaneously and rush down the pole. A tussle ensues with the two felines attempting to knock each other out and playing tug-of-war until Sylvester calls time out, convincing Sam that Tweety is too small to fight over. After debating which one should put Tweety back up on the pole, they agree to put him back there together, which they do. However, it immediately becomes apparent that they still do not trust each other, as they get into a prolonged goodbye and just stand and stare at each other before finally walking away.
Sylvester sneaks up on Tweety hiding under a garbage can, but Sam has the same idea and beats him to the bird, and after both come down from the pole, Sylvester pounds Sam's can with a mallet. Sam, embarrassed at being caught in the act, tries to save face by explaining that he was "just seeing if he was okay, y'know." Sylvester yells "Put it back!" to which Sam replies "Sheesh! You think I-I was not gonna put him back or sump'm! Shoot! That would be unethical."
Tweety nails a stretch of barbed wire around the pole because "I just don't twust puddytats' honor". Sam, catnapping in his box, hears Sylvester shouting "Ow! Ooh! Ow!" and stomps over to the pole as Sylvester picks up his torn fur. Seeing Sam's dirty look, Sylvester exclaims, "Aaaaaaaah, shaddap!"
As Sylvester, patched up with tape, is resting in his box, he hears a loud "Boing...boing...boing". Surely enough, it's Sam, bouncing on a trampoline in another effort to catch Tweety. Sylvester cuts the trampoline with a pair of scissors and Sam hits the ground with a loud thud, nearly knocking Tweety off his perch.
Sam sneaks out again and looks in Sylvester's window to find him gone, then looks up to discover Sylvester walking on the wire overhead with an umbrella. Sam cuts the wire with a pair of scissors, sending Sylvester crashing through two windows in a building nearby. Sylvester closes his now bare-wire umbrella as he descends to the ground, and Sam giggles gleefully.
Next, Sylvester dons a Batman costume and soars through the air in an attempt to swoop in on Tweety, but again Sam has thought along the same lines. The two bang heads in mid-air and both plummet back to earth, landing in the garbage dump.
Sylvester paces the floor trying to think of what to do next, then peeks out the door to see Sam tiptoeing his way over. Sylvester places a coonskin cap in his box and covers it with a blanket, and when Sam sees it he "knocks him out" with a club. Sam sneaks over to the pole, not realizing that Sylvester is following right behind him. Sam has a balloon on a string held down by a rock already set. He ties the string around his waist and Sylvester's, pushes the rock away to release the balloon, and grabs Tweety on the way up, but Sylvester slaps his paw, and again Sam hands him the "just seeing if he was OK" alibi as the two continue to float upward. Sylvester stabs the balloon with a pin so that Sam can't try it again, before realizing what he just did as he and Sam plunge back to the ground together. The impact of their fall almost causes Tweety to fall off of his nest, but he manages to get back up and ends the cartoon by saying, "Y'know, I never reawized just being a wittle bird could be so compwicated."
Availability[]
Streaming[]
Notes[]
- The Sega Mega Drive game Sylvester and Tweety in Cagey Capers features some of the content of this cartoon in Level 4.
- Sam Cat would later reappear in "Mouse and Garden" as Sylvester's frenemy once again, this time fighting with him over a mouse.
- The short reuses notable jokes by other directors, including Tex Avery's "I've been sick", originally from "Wacky Wild Life", and the Bat-Man costume used in Chuck Jones' Road Runner short "Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z".
Gallery[]
TV Title Cards[]
External links[]
- "Trick or Tweet" at the SFX Resource
| Tweety Cartoons | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | A Tale of Two Kitties | |||
| 1944 | Birdy and the Beast | |||
| 1945 | A Gruesome Twosome | |||
| 1947 | Tweetie Pie | |||
| 1948 | I Taw a Putty Tat | |||
| 1949 | Bad Ol' Putty Tat | |||
| 1950 | Home, Tweet Home • All a Bir-r-r-d • Canary Row | |||
| 1951 | Putty Tat Trouble • Room and Bird • Tweety's S.O.S. • Tweet Tweet Tweety | |||
| 1952 | Gift Wrapped • Ain't She Tweet • A Bird in a Guilty Cage | |||
| 1953 | Snow Business • Fowl Weather • Tom Tom Tomcat • A Street Cat Named Sylvester • Catty Cornered | |||
| 1954 | Dog Pounded • Muzzle Tough • Satan's Waitin' | |||
| 1955 | Sandy Claws • Tweety's Circus • Red Riding Hoodwinked • Heir-Conditioned | |||
| 1956 | Tweet and Sour • Tree Cornered Tweety • Tugboat Granny | |||
| 1957 | Tweet Zoo • Tweety and the Beanstalk • Birds Anonymous • Greedy for Tweety | |||
| 1958 | A Pizza Tweety-Pie • A Bird in a Bonnet | |||
| 1959 | Trick or Tweet • Tweet and Lovely • Tweet Dreams | |||
| 1960 | Hyde and Go Tweet • Trip for Tat | |||
| 1961 | The Rebel Without Claws • The Last Hungry Cat | |||
| 1962 | The Jet Cage | |||
| 1964 | Hawaiian Aye Aye | |||
| 2011 | I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat | |||