High Steaks is a 1962 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by Gene Deitch. It was the fourth of the thirteen cartoons in the series to be directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder in Czechoslovakia. The name is a pun on the term "high stakes", where a risk in a situation leads to a higher chance of either gaining or losing an advantage.
Plot[]
Tom's grumpy owner is grilling steaks in his backyard. The steak's scent reaches Jerry, who is aroused by it and is led to the steak. He then tries to eat it but is captured by Tom, who uses his grill fork to catapult him back into the house. Jerry then returns to retrieve the steak and encounters Tom once more. Tom and Jerry battle it out with steak prongs. Tom tries to charge at Jerry with the prong he had, but Jerry dodges it quickly, causing Tom to accidentally stab the owner's rear end, causing him to leap in pain. Tom nervously tips his hat to the owner as if to apologize for hurting him, but the man angrily sears Tom's head as flat as a waffle with a hot girdle. Tom looks at the audience and was flat as a waffle and straight line and blinks in embarrassment.
Jerry next hides in a shuttlecock and tries to sneak onto the table, but Tom hits him with a racket. The shuttlecock bounces off the net and rebounds into the owner's mouth. Angry and red-faced, he furiously breaks the racket over Tom's head and walks away. The racket flips over for a few seconds to hit him again. Tom then tries to stop Jerry from opening a freshly shaken bottle of kooky kola, but he is too late; the soda ruins one of the man's steaks. Assuming that Tom did it, he punishes Tom by shaking another bottle of kooky kola and forcing it in Tom's mouth, making Tom swallow and take on the shape of a bottle, much to Jerry's humor. Jerry laughs and laughs himself silly.
Once Tom recovers, chases Jerry across the yard only to lose him and turn his mind to the smell of steak cooking on the grill. While Tom is distracted, Jerry slips his tail onto the grill, trapping it in. Tom tries to pull it out but the pain causes him to screech in fear and run out with his tail hooked on the grill, knocking Clint aside along with his steak, drink and the bowl of chips flies in the air. Tom dives into the swimming pool to cool off, but when he tries to resurface he is pulled back into the water due to the grill's weight. The furious owner, already exasperated with Tom, fishes him out of the pool and thrashes him off-screen while Jerry hides under the picnic table and covered his eyes with his hat. After the clobbering is done Jerry sees the owner then tie Tom to a lounge chair so Tom stays out of trouble. Jerry hooks the chair to the rear bumper of a passing car at a stop light just before the car drives away, taking Tom and the chair with it. Finally, the owner goes back to his grilling in peace, and Jerry reaches the table and starts eating one of the steaks.
Characters[]
Starring[]
Featuring[]
- Tom's owner
- Human (seen in car)
Trivia[]
- This is the only short where the owner has no spoken lines, unless one counts his humming.
- This short seems to be similar to Barbecue Brawl.
- The intersection where Jerry hitches Tom to a car is of "Snyder" and "Deitch", a reference to the last names of producer William L. Snyder and director Gene Deitch.
- "Kooky Kola" is a parody of "Coca-Cola".
- This short has seldom aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang due to inhumanely insensitive subject matter, and references to animal cruelty.
- This is the only Gene Deitch cartoon between Switchin' Kitten through Landing Stripling to not use the usual Tom and Jerry "logo".
- This is also the first cartoon before Calypso Cat to use a creative opening sequence rather than the logo (which was retired after Landing Stripling) for the Gene Deitch era of Tom and Jerry.
- This is the only Gene Deitch cartoon to not use the Tom and Jerry theme for its "ending music".
- Tom's owner's angry grumbling after a shuttlecock gets launched in his mouth is recycled from his stressed grumbling in Down and Outing.
- This is the only short where the owner has razor sharp teeth while punishing Tom.
Gallery[]
