Bad Day at Cat Rock (1965)

 

Bad Day at Cat Rock marked the 136th Tom and Jerry cartoon overall and the 9th directed and produced by Chuck Jones. 

Like the previous couple of Tom and Jerry shorts, this film adheres to spot gag format similar to that of Chuck Jones' coyote and roadrunner cartoons. This time Tom is chasing Jerry on a construction site. The climax of this film features Tom using a beam on top of a rock as a see saw, planning to throw and a rock on the other end to get tossed into the air to catch Jerry, who is up high. He tries this multiple times each with varying (though equally unsuccessful) results. This climax has a similarity to how the coyote would attempt various times to use a catapult to capture the roadrunner in To Beep or Not to Beep (1963). 

This is one of Jones' best Tom and Jerry cartoons. The surreal opening gag is a bit of a misfire. That type of surreal gag may have worked in one of Chuck's one-shot cartoons for Warners but feels out of place in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Luckily everything after this works wonderfully. Even the opening credit scene is quite creative with Tom having fallen down the sewer and using a match to find his way back up. This opening credits scene has a great sense of atmosphere as well as some great background art. Once we get back to the construction site most of the gags work quite well. Though not all of them made me audibly laugh, I thought they were all clever and fun. A construction site is a great setting for a chase cartoon, and this film takes full advantage of that. The film also saves the best for last with a series of similar gags that all made me laugh. This cartoon also features one of Eugene Podday's best and memorable Tom and Jarry scores.   


The credited animators on this film are Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Don Towsley and Dick Thompson. Eugene Poddany receives a music credit. Phil DeGuard is the credited background artist. Mel Blanc receives credit for vocal effects (there is no spoken dialogue). The title of the cartoon is a reference to the movie, Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) starring Spencer Tracy and directed by John Sturges. The film is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6, Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection, Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 3 and Tom and Jerry: Mouse Trouble as well as the Laserdisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons and the VHS set, Tom and Jerry: Bad Day at Cat Rock. 

-Michael J. Ruhland