The Truce Hurts

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = The Truce Hurts
series = Tom and Jerry

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caption = The title card of "The Truce Hurts"
director = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
animator = Kenneth Muse Ed Barge Ray Patterson Irven Spence
story_artist = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
voice_actor = Billy Bletcher
musician = Scott Bradley
producer = Fred Quimby
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
release_date = flagicon|US July 17, 1948
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7' 59"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0040907
preceded_by = "Kitty Foiled"
followed_by = "Old Rockin' Chair Tom"

"The Truce Hurts " is a 1948 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 35th "Tom and Jerry" short. It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on July 17, 1948 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

Plot

The cartoon opens with sounds of a fight breaking out from a house. Jerry is thrown from the house with Tom following who has also been thrown from the house. Tom is followed by Spike. Jerry stops by the garage who grabs a pipe. Tom has grabbed a frying pan and Spike has a baseball bat. They start swinging at each other but Spike stops the fight. Spike looks at them and says, “"What's all this fighting about, huh? Dogs can get along with cats, can’t they?"” Tom nods his head. He looks at Jerry and says, “"And cats can get along with mice, can’t they?” " Jerry shakes his head, but then nods. They then make a truce, sign a peace treaty, and become friends.

The next scene shows all three of them asleep. Tom wakes up to cover up Jerry, and Jerry closes Spike’s mouth to stop him from snoring. Then the alarm clock goes off but Spike quickly turns it off. He then props up Tom’s head with a pipe and goes into the kitchen to make breakfast. He pours three glasses of milk and Tom helps Jerry brush his teeth. Then Tom helps Jerry sit at the table, Spike helps Tom sit at the table, at they help Spike sit at the table. They drink their milk and each take turns with a toothpick. Jerry then goes outside where a black alley cat, is making a meal for himself out of the garbage cans. He sees Jerry and decides to place Jerry on the plate. Tom walks outside and makes the save by slamming the garbage can lid in his face. Tom then kisses Jerry and sends him on his way. The alley cat can’t believe what he has seen and knocks himself silly with a brick.

Tom is then walking along the sidewalk where a dog is eating a bone. He decides to make a meal out of Tom and Spike makes the save by punching him and knocking out all his teeth. The three friends then walk along the sidewalk where a mud puddle is and Spike takes off his skin to help his friends walk across. But then a meat truck drives by and spills a giant steak onto the street. They take it home and cook it, but each in turn greedily proposes an unfair division that would allocate much the largest share for himself. A three-way struggle for the steak ensues, during which it slips and twangs elastically, flying out the window, into the gutter, and down the drain to be lost forever. The three look at each other, realize they can no longer be friends, Spike tears up the treaty, and they continue their original fight of beating each other up.

Notes

*Spike signs the truce with the name "Butch."
*While Tom, Jerry, and Spike are walking down the sidewalk, "We're Off to See the Wizard" from "The Wizard of Oz" is played. This is also used in 1948's "Professor Tom".
*The fight from this short was used in "Matinee Mouse".

Censorship

*On Cartoon Network showings, the scene where the meat truck splashes mud on Tom, Jerry, and Spike cuts before the viewer can see all three of them in blackface.