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What Makes Daffy Duck is a 1948 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon, directed by the short-time director Arthur Davis, and starring Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and an unnamed fox. The film is notable as the fourth pairing of Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck, the other three being "To Duck or Not to Duck", "The Stupid Cupid", and "A Pest in the House".
Plot
Daffy sneaks across the meadow dodging hunter's bullets. He hides behind a tree, his teeth chattering and knees knocking. He is startled on seeing the audience, but calms down and explains, "You see, it's duck season, and, confidentially, I'm a duck!"
He then crawls across the meadow and takes a morning shower while singing "King For A Day". While he sings in the shower, a fox and Elmer Fudd approach the shower from opposite directions, each unaware of the other's presence. They reach into the shower to grab Daffy, but he emerges from the shower untouched. They look inside the curtain and see their literally fingers tied together, much to their annoyance.
The fox and Elmer start grabbing at Daffy, but Daffy stops them. He tells them to race to a pine tree, and the first one to reach it "gets tender, juicy me as first prize". But when he fires the starting gun, only Elmer takes off; the fox stays behind, grabs Daffy, and flees. Daffy calls to Elmer and tells him he has been swindled. Elmer starts chasing after the fox. Meanwhile, Daffy deliberately squirts oil on the hill, and the fox slides downhill. At the bottom of the hill, Elmer aims his gun at the fox and demands that he leave. The fox turns to escape, only to run smack into a tree, knocking him out cold.
Now Elmer turns his gun on Daffy. But Daffy puts Elmer on a guilt trip, melodramatically complaining about the misery of being constantly pursued by hunters. Catching Elmer off guard, he hits Elmer on the head with a mallet, knocking him out.
A little later, Daffy is admiring himself in a mirror. Elmer puts on a semi-realistic female duck disguise and calls to Daffy from a pond. Daffy begins flirting with the duck, but dives underwater, sees Elmer's boots, and sees through his game. Still, Daffy plays along, and offers to bring some art collectibles for "her" to see. He slips away and awakens the fox (who was still unconscious until now) with a duck call. The fox sees the "female duck", grabs it, and runs away, until he notices the neck stretching. Curiously, he confusedly asks "What kind of a duck is this?" as he opens the lid of the duck costume, and Elmer pops out pointing his gun in the fox's face. Elmer, still in costume, chases after the fox, but is caught by the boot with a long rope, pulling him out of the costume and getting him entirely stuck in the boot, sadly asking himself, "How am I ever gonna catch that scwewy duck?" Daffy, who lassoed him, replies, "Precisely what I was wondering, my little nimrod!"
Suddenly, the fox grabs Daffy by the throat and flees the area with him, trying to put as much distance between himself and Elmer. But just when he thought he had gotten far enough away, he turns and runs into Elmer and his gun. Elmer forces the fox to give up Daffy and sends him away. Then Elmer, by now greatly irritated, drags Daffy away to shoot him, while Daffy calls to the fox to stop Elmer. Elmer pins Daffy to a tree and squeezes the trigger, but instead of gunfire, there is a pop. The fox has returned and stuck his fingers in the gun barrel to stop Elmer. The fox and Elmer start cursing in each others' faces, and their argument turns to fisticuffs, while Daffy watches from atop the tree, cheering them on.
While the fox and Elmer are fighting, a dog in a ranger uniform appears and nails two signs to the tree: DUCK SEASON CLOSED. and FOX SEASON OPEN. He blows a whistle. The fox and Elmer read the signs, and then Elmer glares menacingly at the frightened fox, who flees for his life. The dog gives Elmer a more appropriate hunting hat and a horse to ride, and Elmer chases the fox on horseback. In the end, as the fox, Elmer and his horse run away into the distance, the dog pulls off his rubber mask to reveal Daffy in disguise, and he comments, "Obviously, I am dealing with inferior mentalities."
Censorship
When this cartoon broadcast on the former WB Network the following scene is edited: Daffy uses a duckcall to alert the Fox of the female duck (Elmer Fudd in disguise) sitting in the lake. The Fox grabs the duck/Elmer by his neck and starts running. Soon the Fox stops and asks "What kind of a duck is this?", opening up the top-half of the duck and revealing Elmer who points his rifle at the Fox's face and says "Muscling in on my territory again, eh? I'm gonna--". The Fox then slams the top of the duck costume back down on Fudd and Elmer goes after him yelling, "Come back here you, cwazy chawacter!". On the WB!, the scene jumped from Daffy with the duck call to Elmer running after the Fox and yelling, "Come back here, you cwazy chawacter!". Also cut (by the same channel) was the scene where Elmer holds the Fox at gunpoint after the Fox drowns in his boat. The cut version goes from the Fox drowning to Elmer calling the Fox a "doggone crook".
Availability
- Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 1, original opening rings but Merrie Melodies closing rings.
Trivia
- This may be concerned as the idea for the "Hunting Trilogy" as there is a conflict between two hunters or aggressors trying to catch one animal.
- This film has the 1950 Merrie Melodies closing, but for unknown reasons, the original may have been lost. In the dubbed version of this film, the 1947-48 Technicolor rings were used, the Looney Tunes rings.
Gallery
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