Posse Cat is a 1954 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 81st Tom and Jerry short, created in 1952 and released in 1954.
Characters[]
Starring[]
Featuring[]
- The Western Cook
- Bull (cameo)
Plot[]
Deep within the rural valleys of the Wild West lies the Cook Shack. Inside, the Cook is busy flavoring a cooked turkey by pouring dabs of gravy on it, while Tom is taking a nap nearby. Far end of the room, Jerry is in his mousehole, lasso-ing some cooked sausages from the Cook, unintentionally crashing down plates on the way close to Tom. Seeing the cat nonchalantly continuing on with his nap, The Cook remarks how lazy he is, before waking him up for dinner with his triangle. Immediately, Tom wakes up and rushes to the Cook to have his supper served on his plate, consisting of a turkey leg with a side of mashed potatoes in giblet gravy. However, the Cook quickly snatches Tom's plate off from him, forbidding the cat to eat until he can stop Jerry from stealing food by getting rid of him. The Cook then sends Tom away with repeated gunshots.
Leaving the shack, Tom angrily spots Jerry. He then proceeds to paint his right index finger dark red, to fool Jerry for another sausage. Jerry, spotting the "sausage" quickly lassos it back to him, causing Tom to be dragged inside Jerry's mousehole. A chase follows, and just before Tom catches Jerry, who pushes over a rake which rings the triangle, Tom thinks the Cook is calling him and rushes back to him for this supper. However, the Cook shoots Tom away again, telling him no dinner until he catches Jerry. Tom spots Jerry again, who quickly retreats inside the shack. Tom uses a lasso to capture Jerry, but accidentally lassos the turkey next to the Cook instead. Tom drags his rope to reveal the cooked turkey held by the Cook, who promptly draws out his gun to shoot Tom away.
Later on, the Cook naps in the kitchen. Tom has prepared a trap for Jerry, with a double-barreled shotgun and cheese as bait next to his mousehole. However, Jerry approaches behind Tom from the shack entrance. Not fooled by the cat, the mouse comes up with a trick of his own by preparing a sandwich with the sleeping Cook's hand in it, before ringing the triangle. Tom falls for Jerry's trap and accidentally bites the Cook's hand, causing him to wake up, yell in pain and leap into air before shooting Tom away again. Tom escapes from the shack before blowing a raspberry on the Cook. He then picks up a nearby ladle to take a drink from a water bucket, only to notice several discrete bullet holes in his body draining the water he just drank.
Angered by this, Tom approaches Jerry, who is carrying an empty loaf of bread. Noticing Tom, Jerry flees before pulling another 'sandwich' trick with a tail of a nearby bull. Tom falls for the trap, causing the bull to run off with him in pain, before flinging his tail to yank Tom off. Tom is thrown onto a barn, with a bucket slammed top of his head, in the form of a bonnet. Still furious, Tom immediately charges toward Jerry. However Jerry halts Tom to propose a mutual solution in a form of a contract. Jerry can help Tom get his dinner, but the cat would have to equally share his meals with the mouse from now on. Tom agrees to this and decides to cooperate with Jerry.
As the Cook is peeling potatoes, gunfire can be heard, and he sees Tom chasing down Jerry with gunshots from two revolvers. As Tom goes outside, he fires a few more shots into the air to give the impression that he finished his deed on getting rid of the mouse. The Cook approaches and congratulates Tom, by providing him his dinner while giving endless praise.
As Tom sits down to eat, Jerry whistles to remind Tom about their deal. Tom fires several holes into Jerry's contract to let the mouse know that the deal is "null and void". Jerry, furious that Tom double-crossed him, approaches toward the cat to throw the dinner into his face. The chase resumes with Tom grabbing a red-hot branding iron to scorch Jerry with it. Jerry attempts to escape from the cat through a hole from the front door. Tom, confident, that he has Jerry pinned down, charges at full speed toward the mouse with the branding iron. However, in a nick of time, Jerry gets himself out of the hole, and opens the front door to reveal the Cook slicing bread. Tom, unable to stop charging, runs right into the back of the Cook, accidentally burning his rear. The Cook screams in pain as he jumps out of his boots.
Enraged by this, the Cook chases Tom down, continuously shooting the cat down further to the field while having a burnt x-circle on his trousers. Meanwhile, Jerry watches in the background, enjoying his vengeance from Tom's betrayal by tucking into a turkey leg from the cat's dinner.
Gallery[]
- Main article: Posse Cat/Gallery
Notes[]
- The title is a pun on "pussycat".
- Posse Cat is considered a successor to 1950's Texas Tom, as it shares the same Wild Western setting, with both Tom and Jerry wearing cowboy attires.
- Tom still dons the same white cowboy hat from his new duds to impress Tara. However, his hat now lacks the red band wrapped around it, and the scarf around his neck is now magenta instead of red or green.
- Jerry's attire is a lot more faithful from the original cartoon, as he still dons his black cowboy hat and yellow scarf. Like that of Tom's however, his hat no longer has the red band.
- The Bull makes a cameo in this cartoon; this time, he is wearing a nosering.
- The shot of water backing out of Tom's body is reused from Hatch Up Your Troubles.
- When Tom brands the cook with a red hot branding iron, the cook screams in pain in Tom's voice.
- The ending of the cartoon is similar to the one from Trap Happy, as both cartoons have Tom being chased off into the distance by someone as they are shooting at the titular cat while Jerry watches.
- The song that is playing at the start of the cartoon is called "Makin' Love Mountain Style", which originates from an MGM movie "Merry Go Round". Jerry would also be heard, briefly whistling to the song as he strolls by before seeing Tom.
- This song would also be playing in Cruise Cat, when Tom and Jerry watches the intro clip of Texas Tom in the ship's cinema.
Errors[]
- The MGM logo has Tanner the lion's roar muted out for unknown reasons. This would also happen with some Gene Deitch-era shorts, in which the instrumental is heard after the roar.