D' Fightin' Ones

D' Fightin' Ones
Merrie Melodies , Sylvester series
Directed by	Friz Freleng
Produced by	John Burton, Sr.
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Milt Franklyn
Animation by	Gerry Chiniquy Arthur Davis Virgil Ross
Layouts by	Hawley Pratt
Backgrounds by	Tom O'Loughlin
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	April 22, 1961
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	6 minutes
Language	English
Preceded by	Birds of a Father
Followed by	The Abominable Snow Rabbit

D' Fightin' Ones is a 1961 Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Sylvester and an unnamed bulldog. The cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng. It is a parody of The Defiant Ones, a movie about two escaped inmates—one black, one white—who are shackled to each other.

Summary

Sylvester and the unnamed bulldog (both voiced by Mel Blanc) are on a truck headed for the pound. Both are shackled to each other and hate each others' guts. When the truck hits a bumpy road, the truck's back door opens, dumping Sylvester and the bulldog out. The two quickly run for cover, which is easier said than done due to being stuck together.

After fighting over some food, Sylvester and the bulldog realize they must break the chains. However, attempting to blow up the chains with TNT and hammering it both fail. Later, while walking near railroad tracks, a train snags their chain. That night, the two sneak into the city and take brief refuge in an abandoned building when a spotlight almost catches them. They decide to disguise themselves in human clothes (with the other person hiding in a suitcase) and hop aboard a bus, but hightail it out of there when the bus is revealed to be headed for Sing Sing.

In the final set piece of the cartoon, the bulldog gets an idea to hang below a train track that goes between two mountains, with the idea that the train will cut their chains. However, both realize it's a bad idea too late when Sylvester points downward, indicating that once the chains are broken, they'll fall hundreds of feet to the ground. Sure enough, Sylvester and the bulldog fall into a junkyard after their chains are cut. At first, both continue to argue about how dumb the plan was, but are briefly joyous when they realize they aren't shackled together anymore. However, they look down and realize they're now connected by leg via a pipe. They hear police sirens and hop down the road to escape as the short ends.

See also

• List of cartoons featuring Sylvester

Censorship

The ABC version of this cartoon cut the following scenes:

• Hector punching Sylvester after the cat's attempt to "pull a switchblade claw" on the dog.
• Hector whacking Sylvester on the head with a stop sign.
• The scene where Sylvester and Hector hide in two suitcases, then run off when the bus for Sing-Sing prison pulls up next to them.

External links

• The D' Fightin' Ones at the Internet Movie Database