Walky Talky Hawky (1946)

Good idea lost in the noise

Excellent, a Must See

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

. . . for the first time in their local Chinese eatery remark, "It tastes like chicken." After gnawing off Evander Holyfield's ear in their heavyweight boxing bout, Michael Tyson observed, "It tasted like chicken." Asked what kind of taste eating crow left in his mouth as he watched Middle Tennessee cut down the nets after triumphing over his Michigan State Spartan Hoopsters, a squad he was touting as the sure national champs in the run-up to March Madness 2016, MSU star Denzel Valentine croaked, "Sort of like chicken." Whenever humans bite into fowl-tasting things, their initial thought is that "This tastes just like chicken!" That's why Col. Sanders' 57 secret ingredients are carefully selected to insure that KFC's namesake dish NEVER tastes like chicken! WALKY TALKY HAWKY's title character, Henery Hawk, decides that the tail of the dog that bit him--or even horse meat--are more desirable fates than tasting chicken. It's small wonder that the term "chicken" is one of Western Civilization's most derisive insults, as it originated as an epithet directed at folks afraid to taste chicken!

This is the first appearance of Foghorn Leghorn and the dog as well as the second appearance of Henery Hawk (but the first voiced by Mel Blanc). As far as the dog and chicken are concerned, they related to each other exactly as they did in subsequent films--and seeing them tormenting each other was, as always, a pleasure. In the midst of this fighting arrives Henery who is used by both Foghorn and the dog to fight their battle. Quite a few later films featured similar scenarios, but this was the first.This film was nominated for Best Animated Short but ultimately lost to "Cat Concerto"--which was an intellectual Tom & Jerry outing which critics apparently loved but which was short on laughs. If I had been alive and a member of AMPAS (the Oscar folks) back then, I certainly would have voted for "Walky Talky Hawky", as it was the funniest of the nominees.

Listen when I'm talking to you boy! This is Foghorn Leghorn's first short. And he got an Oscar-Nomination! WOW! I SAY, I SAY OSCAR NOMINATION! HAHA! You're a good reader but you ain't paying attention to a thing I say!3(***)out of 4(****)stars

This Foghorn Leghorn short offers a twist on the usual Tom and Jerry/Sylvester and Tweety/Roadrunner and Wil E. Coyote model. Like those classics, we are offered a conflict between scavenger and prey. Unlike them, the scavenger is a sweet little cutie, while his victim is a bloated, blustery sneak. The film begins with lachrymose melodrama, as the hero's father tragically tells toddler Henery Hawk that he is a chicken hawk, that he must hunt chickens. With innocent bravado, he sets out to fulfil his duty, but his ominous first act is to fail to fly, falling and thudding from a great height.Meanwhile Foghorn Leghorn is having his usual self-imposed troubles with Barnyard Dog, taunting the latter because safe in the knowledge of his being tied up. Foghorn is lovably unsympathetic, a windy, Burl Ives-type, full of cod-military guff; he'll turn any trick to save his own hide. This mixture of malice and cowardice makes him a true cousin of Bugs.He sees in the chickenhawk an opportunity to further exasperate Barnyard, and, persuading the little fellow that he is a horse, and Barnyard a chicken, urges Henery to root out his meal. Much sadistic lunacy ensues, wonderfully brutal, with the scheming Foghorn not always coming out best.This energetic short plays havoc with sentimental ideals of the pastoral, especially prominent just after the war - its celebration of metamorphosis, duplicity and cunning is heartening in that oppressive All American social atmosphere. There is also some bracing philosophy about the struggle between free-will and genetic destiny. A Tex Avery would have made this a classic, but a funny script and peerlessly protean Mel Blanc voicing make this a rare treat.