Thugs with Dirty Mugs (1939)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Must See Movie...

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Tex Avery was one also talented animator/director, with a style unlike any other and one that is immediately distinctive. He has also been responsible for some classic cartoons and also some memorable characters. 'Thugs with Dirty Mugs', a brilliant gangster spoof (one of the best and funniest ones in animation) is up there with his best.In terms of animation quality, the cartoon is quite beautifully done, with lovingly detailed backgrounds and vibrant colours, Avery's unique style all over it with all his trademarks present. The music brims with lively energy and luscious orchestration, not only being dynamic to the action and adding to it but enhancing it as well.The writing in 'Thugs with Dirty Mugs' is witty, wonderfully silly and never less than amusing (a vast majority of it is hilarious in fact), and there are some fantastic moments in terms of humour, especially the priceless ending and an inspired imitation of Edward G. Robinson. "Take that you rat" is immensely quotable as well, somewhat iconic too.Characters are a lot of fun, as is the voice acting from the likes of the incomparable Mel Blanc and Avery himself.In summary, brilliant and an example of a master at his best. 10/10 Bethany Cox

. . . out to China, Warner Bros. warns us with the "Easter Eggs" hidden amid THUGS WITH DIRTY MUGS, a 77-year-old Looney Tune. It is well known that President-Elect Trump fancies himself a reincarnation of U.S. WWII Gen. Patton, who viewed HIMSELF as Roman Emperor Caligula (or "Little Boots") come back in the flesh. Just as THUGS WITH DIRTY MUGS reincarnates ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, Emporer-for-Life Trump is currently working on a deal to unload U.S. debt--including trillions of dollars owed to China--by making America a wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary. China, in turn, will complete its transition to a Market Economy by replacing Mao's Little Red Book with the Common Cortex of Trump University. Plagiarism runs rampant throughout THUGS, portending that Trump will fire his third spouse for committing that offense, clearing his decks to take on an Empress of Chinese extraction. THUGS does a spot-on Caricaturization of "The Donald" as "Ed. G. Rob-Em-Some" (or "Killer Diller" to family and friends). Since it's Cagney who gets fried in ANGELS for offing Bogart and NOT Robinson, clearly THUGS has more to say about Trump than Little Boots.

Directed by Tex Avery, "Thugs with Dirty Mugs" is an excellent cartoon parody of film noir. Plenty of sight gags and laughter abound as the vicious gangster "Killer Diller" (a bulldog caricature of Edward G. Robinson) and his mob become involved in a bank crime wave. Only the meekest little character can assist police dog "Flat-Foot Flanigan with a Floy Floy" (the name being a takeoff of a popular song) in cracking the case.Here are my favorite sequences from "Thugs with Dirty Mugs" (don't read on if you haven't yet seen this cartoon). Characteristic of director Tex Avery, Killer Diller and his gang angrily acknowledge a meek little man (wonderfully voiced by Mel Blanc) in the "theatre" audience, and Flanigan literally breaks through the split line separating himself and a secret agent while they converse by telephone. I also love how Killer sticks up a telephone and utilizes the Worst National Bank as a pinball machine. Not to mention the hilarious "Take that, you rat!" scene, as well as the scoring of the popular song "Jeepers Creepers" in a minor key while the gang robs the Worst National Bank and then rubs out the numerical figure on the bank assets sign."Thugs with Dirty Mugs" is a terrific cartoon that can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3 Disc 2, with an insightful commentary by contemporary animation director Greg Ford.

I don't think Tex Avery directed a bad cartoon. While this one isn't one of my absolute favorites, it's still a very good cartoon (which basically makes it a cartoon that a lot of directors would be pleased to have considered as one of their best). I want to discuss some of the specific details here, so here there be spoilers: The title strikes me as a play on the movie title Angels With Dirty Faces, the main caricature is one of Edward G. Robinson and the short is a very good send-up of the gangster movies that were popular in the 1930s. But it's clearly a Tex Avery short first and foremost. When a police officer is shown in silhouette appearing to strike someone and saying, "Take that you rat! And that! And that!" and the picture becomes clear that he's actually throwing cheese to a rat sitting on a stool, that's an Avery moment. Then the officer says, "That's all you get-I need the rest for my lunch!" and the rat begins to throw a tantrum and cry! This short is full of those types of gags, from beginning to end, though they don't quite come quite as fast and furious as they would later on in his career. Call it a formative Avery-he was beginning to find his style a bit more around this time. Throughout the cartoon, he takes various conventions of film in general and the gangster genre in particular and turns them on their ear. Newspaper headlines spin in with headlines which are usually funny while ostensibly advancing the "plot", a movie theater patron who came in in the middle of the picture tries to get up and leave, only to be ordered back to his seat by "Killer" and then informs the police what the "Killer" has planned because he's already seen the ending! The final newspaper headline and closing gags are priceless! This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 3 and is well worth getting. Recommended.