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.
Plot
Tom's grumpy owner is grilling steaks outside in his backyard. The steak's scent reaches Jerry, who is aroused by it. Hungry for some steaks, he runs out of the basement to get to them, but Tom manages to stop him by trapping him with a fork. Tom then flings Jerry back into the basement, which makes him angry, and Jerry brings out his own fork to stab Tom with. The two engage in a fencing match with their forks; Tom misses every time, and accidentally stabs his owner in the butt with it, causing him to leap and yell in pain. After Tom nervously greets him, the owner angrily sears Tom's head with a hot griddle, turning his head into a flat waffle. Then, he goes back to grilling his steak in fury.
Later, Jerry next hides in a shuttlecock, trying to sneak onto the table, but Tom catches him and hits him with a racket. The shuttlecock bounces against the net and ricochets into his owner's mouth. Thinking that Tom threw the shuttlecock at him, the angry owner grabs the racket and breaks it apart over Tom's head.
Afterwards, Jerry shakes up a bottle of Kooky Kola (which is a pun on the soda, Coca-Cola) and sprays it on one of the owner's steaks, ruining it completely and angering him further. Thinking that Tom is responsible for the damage, the irate owner shakes up another bottle of Kooky Kola and force-feeds it to him as Tom gulps it, which turns his body into a shape of bottle. Jerry laughs at Tom's predicament, and the Tom once again chases Jerry.
While Tom is searching for Jerry, Tom gets enamored with the aroma of the steam and goes up to the grill. Jerry, who was hiding behind the grill, places Tom's tail into the grill, causing Tom to scream in pain and run around wildly with the grill in tow. In the process, he smashes the table where his owner was about to eat steak, ruining his lunch and causing him to throw an extreme temper tantrum. Tom ends up in the swimming pool with the heavy grill to cool off, but is unable to get out of the water due to the grill's weight and nearly drowns. The owner, finally having enough of Tom's antics, pulls Tom from the water and thrashes him mercilessly for ruining his lunch. All the while Jerry hides under the picnic table covering his eyes with his hat.
After the beatings are done, the owner ties Tom to a lawn chair to keep him out of trouble before storming off to cook some more steaks. Jerry then wheels the chair with Tom's hands tied to a wooden post out of the yard and attaches it to a car's taxi bumper of the "stop to for the red light," and the car taxi drives away with the chair, carrying the throbbing and unconscious Tom with it.
After that, Tom’s owner returns to grilling his steaks in peace, while Jerry climbs up onto the table to eat one of his cooked steaks.
Characters
Starring
Featuring
- Tom's owner
- Human (seen in car)
Notes
- This is the first cartoon in which the MGM logo features the roar from the Rembrandt Films sound library. It would become standard from Landing Stripling onward, before being replaced by the standard MGM roar in the Chuck Jones era with Pent-House Mouse.
- 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.
- 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.
Availability
.jpg "Tom And Jerry Classic Collection Vol 5 (UK cover).jpg (248 KB)")
.png "Tom and Jerry's Food Fight (DVD).png (368 KB)")
Gallery
- Main Article: High Steaks/Gallery