Honey's Money (1962)

. . . HONEY'S MONEY, which raises intriguing questions by Warner Bros. always prophetic Looney Tunes Animated Shorts Extreme Early Warning Division, ever expert at predicting 21st Century America's upcoming Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti. Though he might sport hands a tad larger than White House Resident-Elect Rump's admittedly diminutive paws, it's clear that the Looney Tuners intend the madly mercenary Sam to represent Donald J. Rump in HONEY'S MONEY. But just to whom would Sam's latest bride and her adult-sized son correspond in Real Life? The poll of polls taken among the various constituencies of Looney Tunes experts show a 98% likelihood that Mrs. Sam is none other than Melania Rump, a "love child" of Russian Strongman Vladimir "Mad Dog" Putin. Just as it's said that "the child is father to the man," Sam's scary stepson surely reeks of Vlad himself. With the Impaler's daughter calling his shots in Our Executive Mansion, Rump is merely Putin's Puppet, as prone to manipulation as is Sam at the mitts of his widow bride and her gargantuan "Son of Sam" son in HONEY'S MONEY.

It was interesting to see Yosemite Sam playing off against characters other than Bugs Bunny, even if it was also a bit odd. That said, it works great.Don't let the story similarity to the Daffy Duck cartoon 'His Bitter Half' put you off. There is a similarity, but it is not a retread and has enough originality of its own to set it apart.Milt Franklyn's music score doesn't quite enhance the action quite as much as Carl Stalling did so brilliantly, but it at least fits with the action and is also dynamic with it. What's more, it's excellent music on its own, with every bit the clever orchestration, lushness and characterful energy that Stalling's music had.'Honey's Money' is also great fun and is very funny. The best parts even, like the ball gag, Sam being reduced to a blubbering mess, the alligator gag and the touch with the bank book, are hilarious. The dialogue is as fresh and as witty as Looney Tunes at its best (it isn't quite here, but certainly much worse was to come), and the story is always entertaining and energetically paced.Sam proves that he can shine even without Bugs, not surprising seeing as he always did have a strong personality, he is true to his abrasive personality but one can't help feeling sorry for him. Especially when he has to put up with such an overbearing loudmouth such as the unnamed wealthy widow. The dynamic and personality contrasts do work well, and the same applies with Sam and the oafish Wentworth. June Foray, Billy Booth and especially Mel Blanc deliver spot-on voice work.Where 'Honey's Money' impresses least is the animation. It's not bad, especially when compared to later in the mid-late-60s but one can't help comparing to the more traditional animation seen with Looney Tunes in their prime. The colours are bright and vibrant enough and the characters are drawn appropriately, but the sketchy more stylised backgrounds and generally lack of smoothness will not work for him, personally it would have worked better with a more traditional touch but budgets and deadlines wouldn't have allowed it to.Otherwise however, 'Honey's Money' is a great cartoon. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Yosemite Sam marries a wealthy widow, despite finding her unattractive. Afterwards he realizes what a mess he's gotten into as the woman is an abusive nag who physically forces him to do housework. She also has a gigantic son named Wentworth (who Sam refers to as a "prehistoric horny toad"). In typical Looney Tunes fashion, the big bruiser likes to play rough and poor Sam becomes his personal plaything. Great voicework from Mel Blanc and June Foray. Mel was a genius and this short provides lots of proof for that. Love the bit where greedy Sam first meets the widow and is instantly turned into a blubbering mess by her homeliness. Another great scene is when Sam throws the ball into traffic hoping the giant kid will be run over, only to have the whole scheme blow back on him. Being that it's one of the later efforts from Warner Bros, you'll notice the animation isn't the greatest. Stylistically, I prefer the earlier more traditional animation over the sketchy "backgrounds look like they were drawn by a child" stuff that appeared everywhere in the '60s. But, at the end of the day, some of these later shorts were funny enough to overcome the crude animation. This is a remake of an earlier Daffy Duck short called "His Bitter Half." Both are good but Sam brings a certain something to it that I prefer. He's one of my favorite Looney Tunes characters and I like seeing him get he spotlight.

It seems like in the Looney Tunes cartoons, Daffy Duck was usually the one whose greed proved detrimental to him. But in "Honey's Money", it's none other than Yosemite Sam. When he learns of a rich widow, he decides to meet her. Then, when he meets her, he sees that she's twice his size, as is her son. But Sam has to keep remembering that there's money in the deal...even if bad things have to happen to him! I thought that it was very interesting to see Sam in a lead role, as opposed to playing second banana to Bugs Bunny. But even aside from that, this is just a really hilarious cartoon, what with some of the things happening to Sam. I also noticed that June Foray (best known as the voice of Rocky the Squirrel) got billing alongside Mel Blanc. Usually, Mel Blanc was the only one who got billing. They both did very well.