| The Great Piggy Bank Robbery | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Robert Clampett |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Starring | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by | Rod Scribner Manny Gould C. Melendez I. Ellis |
| Layouts by | Thomas McKimson |
| Backgrounds by | Philip DeGuard |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 7:35 |
| Language | English |
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery is a 1946Warner Bros.Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon directed byBob Clampett.[1] The cartoon was released on July 20, 1946, and starsDaffy Duck.[2] The short is Clampett's penultimate Warner cartoon, produced shortly before he left the studio.
On a farm, Daffy Duck eagerly awaits his newDick Tracy comic book, rushing to read it as soon as it arrives. Knocking himself out while imagining himself as "Duck Twacy", he embarks on a comical detective adventure. Mistaking ordinary objects for criminals, like a mousehole for the hideout of "Mouse Man," Daffy finds himself pursued by a colorful array of villains, including Snake Eyes, 88 Teeth, Hammerhead, Pussycat Puss, Bat Man, Double Header, Pickle Puss, Pumpkin Head, Neon Noodle, Jukebox Jaw, Wolfman and Rubber Head.
In a chaotic showdown, Daffy manages to outwit the villains with slapstick tactics, including turning Neon Noodle into a neon sign. Finally, he recovers the stolen piggy banks, including his own, and wakes up on the farm, unwittingly kissing a real pig. Recoiling in horror, Daffy flees, leaving the enamored pig declaring her love for him in amusement.
Animation historian Steve Schneider said of this picture:
...Bob Clampett's forever pricelessThe Great Piggy Bank Robbery is clearly a work of the highest cinematic poetry, for prompting the film's manic hilarity are a sequence of images that remain among the most indelible in cartoon history.[3]
AnimatorJohn Kricfalusi (creator ofRen and Stimpy) calledThe Great Piggy Bank Robbery his favorite cartoon: "I saw this thing and it completely changed my life, I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen, and I still think it is."[4]
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery was the first of several cartoons in which Daffy Duck would do a parody of a well-known character, but the only one in which he was actually competent. In other take-offs, such asThe Scarlet Pumpernickel, he was somewhat buffoonish, though still able to intimidate the villains. But, in later stories such asStuporduck,Boston Quackie,Robin Hood Daffy andDeduce, You Say? (in which he played "Doorlock Holmes"), Daffy was hopelessly outmatched.
In 1994, it was voted No. 16 of the50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.[3]