Fresh Airedale (1945)

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

. . . Warner warns America of its upcoming travails in the 2016 Presidential Election. FRESH AIREDALE stars Man's Best Friend, Old Shep, as our Heroic Leader Trump. Whether he's kissing tootsies, doling out Trump steaks, drawing record crowds, or moving up from Number Two to Number One in the National Dog Poll, FRESH AIREDALE closely dovetails with every endearing aspect of Trump's Ascendency to Universal Respect and Adoration. However, the fly in Shep's ointment is a felonious black cat that should be locked up! As Shep's Master (aka, John Q. Public) observes, "Why you contemptible sneak--just like a cat!" (If you substitute the word "woman" for "cat," you'll catch John Q.'s drift.) Jealously dogging Shep (that is, Leader Trump) at every turn, Hillary the Cat clubs poor Old Shep into a pond, nearly drowning him, in PHILADELPHIA (site of Crooked Hillary's Real Life 2016 Rigged Convention in which she stole Bernie's Nomination with her Imperial Army of "Super Delegates," of course). Fortunately for America, Leader Trump trumps all of Hillary Cat's Crooked Schemes to Triumph in the end, as Feline Felon Hillary is muddied and brained in a sure preview of Real Life Coming Attractions!

This Chuck Jones directed masterpiece is sometimes misunderstood by people who don't get the satirical message. It's about the relationship of a pet owner and his dog and cat. To his master Shep the dog appears loyal and kind, but in reality is completely amoral and conniving. He frames his crimes on the unnamed cat in the cartoon, who is actually the kind and loving pet, so that the poor cat gets the blame from their master. This is one of the darker Jones cartoons from the 40's. Jones made a series of them, when he was teamed with the writer Mike Maltese, and it is likely that Maltese provided the caustic flavor for these. ***SPOILER ARLERT***Like in the cartoon CHOW HOUND (1950), FRESH AIREDALE is about wanting to get revenge on those who are responsible for suffering, but unlike the former film, the latter has a downbeat ending. There is no justice at the end of AIREDALE, unlike the darkly satisfying revenge enacted in CHOW HOUND. This makes the cartoon a rarity in the history of American animation -- a truly ironic ending where evil triumphs. Shep gets away with it because he is able to charm and deceive people, like a consummate politician. In a way, AIREDALE reminds me of the darker films of the 70's, so it's ahead of it's time in a way. It's obvious that the cartoon was meant for adults, rather than the small tykes. It's a little too sophisticated for the wee ones.

This is a hilarious cartoon. It is an anomaly for a Chuck Jones short in that it is mean-spirited to the core...with absolutely no 'justice' served to the protagonist; but like the vast majority of his WB cartoons, the timing is to a T. And if you like the more well-known classic Warner shorts, you will most certainly relish this forgotten gem. At the same time, you'll likely understand why it vanished. This was clearly Jones finding his voice; after directing various 'Disneyish' cartoons like the Sniffles series, Tom Thumb in Trouble, etc (all great by the way), he got a little nasty. Had he not, though, he may never have found his way to the extraordinary ones that were to follow.

Don't get me wrong, I, personally, have admired Chuck Jones and his cartoons have been a major influence on me...BUT I HATED THIS ONE!!! Is it just me or was the whole message of this cartoon very negative and pessimistic. Just the fact that the one character you hate in this cartoon gets his way while the "hero" gets slapped around up until the end of the cartoon. I have to change the channel whenever this one comes on.