Who is the best LT-MM director?

[Emmanuel Cruz]

Vote!

[Sveven Dvorking]

Chuck Jones is the most overrated, not the best.

[Emmanuel Cruz]

Sveven Dvorking has a point. Chuck Jones is overrated just because he is the only living great director of the LT and MM cartoons. Friz Freleng is indeed better than Chuck Jones.

By the way, I voted for Bob Clampett.

[The Dork Knight]

Clampett, Clampett, he's our man, if he can't do it, no one can! YAY CLAMPETT!

[Emmanuel Cruz]

hey gotlucky, isnt bob clampett the best in the west,east...
ok so the gag is lame.

Bricka-Bracka Firecracker, Sis-Boom-Bah, Bob Clampett, Bob Clampett, Rah Rah Rah!!!

[The Dork Knight]

how did you get such a big avatar? I want the "Mark, Tom and Travis Show" cover as my avatar.

[Emmanuel Cruz]

hey gotlucky. i uploaded the avatar from my computer. i doubted if it was too big. i guess it was the right size

[The Dork Knight]

My mentors are, Bob Clampett, Frank Tashlin, Jim Henson, George Lucas and the Banana Guy from the "What's My Age Again?" music video.
- Peter "I GOT A GAME BOY ADVANCE WITH SUPER MARIO ADVANCE! I THINK I'M GONNA HAVE A HEARTATTACK!ELIZABETH!I'M COMMIN' TO JOIN YA HONEY! *thump * Fooled ya! :P" Melnick

[PorkyandDaffy]

BOB CLAMPETT'S definitely my fave at WB. His cartoons were all so zany, hilarious, and just careless fun. I also think that his cartoons from 1942-1946 had incredible, bouncy and cartoony animation that obviously inspired John K. (from Spumco).

TEX AVERY - Although I love his work and he's also my favoirte cartoonist along with Clampett, I really don't care much for his WB stuff. His cartoons at WB just weren't there yet - and didn't match the fast-paced, non-stop hilarity of his MGM cartoons. Imagine my shock to even find out he was the man who directed some (if not all) of those "Nice Mice" cartoons.

FRIZ FRELENG - Pretty good, although I don't think he's great. His cartoons are funny, but I don't think they're anything all that special.

ROBERT McKIMSON - If not for his post-55 decline, he would probably me my favorite cartoonist along with Clampett and Avery. His work from 1946-1954 was excellent. All those cartoons were hilarious, and I especially love his Porky&Daffy pair-up cartoons. I also liked the way he handled the "looney" Daffy. But his post-55 cartoons are nothing to smile at, but neither are the post-55's of Freleng, Jones, etc.

CHUCK JONES - I think he's highly overrated. Although he had a good run of fast-paced, funny cartoons from 1946-1954, his cartoons before and after rely way too much on cuteness and formula instead of just simply being funny and working with fast, funny gags. And don't forget those awful T&J's he made. Yet the man still gets praise for his work outside of 46-54, and many would even call him 'the best cartoonist ever', which I think is far from true, and an insult to many other better directors. And let's not talk about all his extrremely overplayed "classics".

FRANK TASHLIN - I don't see what the big deal with his cartoons are. I saw plenty of them, and his later ones are pretty good, but I don't think they're that great. I think he's a little overrated, but nowhere as much as Chuck "Ego" Jones.

ARTHUR DAVIS - He's okay, but his directing technique was strange, and I feel at times, he didn't handle gags and timing that well. But he at least deserves a little praise from me for directing one of my favorite cartoons, DOUGH RAY ME-OW.

I don't care much for the others.

[Matt Yorston]

I voted for Chuck Jones. Chuck has long been a mentor of mine ever since childhood. I own both of his books and have many of his cartoons on tape. My favorites of his include "Often an Orphan", "Duck Amuck" (and, believe it or not, its follow-up, "Rabbit Rampage"), "A Feather in His Hare", "Martian Through Georgia", and a lot of the Coyote/Road Runner stuff especially "Guided Muscle", "Hopalong Casualty", and others. I am somewhat inclined to agree that some of his classics are rather overplayed and overrated (call me crazy but I don't care much for "One Froggy Evening" and "Robin Hood Daffy" as much as other people do) but the man is still great in my book.

Friz Freleng is a good director. I think he did a lot of his best stuff in the 1940's. In that era, we got "Hollywood Daffy", "Hare Force", "Back Alley Oproar", "A Hare Grows in Manhattan", "Mouse Mazurka", and many other classics of his. I feel that his work wasn't as great in the 1950's (I know I'm definitely in the minority here) but in that period, we still got some good cartoons like "Southern Fried Rabbit", "Pizzicato Pussycat", "Hare-Less Wolf", and "Tweet and Lovely". I like a lot of his DePatie-Freleng stuff (Pink Panther especially) but, of course, he wasn't as directly involved with that.

I think Robert McKimson is one of the most underrated directors of all time. I think Leonard Maltin in particular was way too harsh in judging his work. I mean, the man gave us classics like "Rebel Rabbit", "Fox-Terror", "Fool Coverage", "Quack Shot", "The Unexpected Pest", and (his auteur film) "The Hole Idea". A man of that kind shouldn't be completely ignored.

Robert Clampett is good, although I must confess I don't think of highly of him as certain other people do. But this is not to say he didn't do stuff that I liked. In particular, I love his "Draftee Daffy", "Wabbit Twouble" (an instant classic), "Falling Hare", and "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery". I'm sorry to say I also haven't seen many of his but I would most like to see "Tick Tock Tuckered" and "The Big Snooze".

Arthur Davis was great! He only directed 21 cartoons in the 1940's (22 counting 1962's "Quackodile Tears") but many of those cartoons make me laugh out loud with the best of Freleng and Jones. "Mouse Menace", "Two Gophers From Texas", "A Hick, A Slick, and a Chick", "Dough Ray Me-ow", and "The Stupor Salesman" are fantastic cartoons! The man was robbed when his unit was forced to close. I often wonder what would have happened had his unit been allowed to stay during the 1950's.

And I guess I'll wrap things up here before my post gets waaaay too long. Besides, I haven't seen many from Tashlin, Avery, Harman/Ising, etc. well enough to comment.

[Matthew Hunter]

I voted for Chuck Jones too. I'll agree, a few of his cartoons are overrated, but how can you hate a man that created the Roadrunner? I have seen every single Road Runner directed by Chuck Jones, and not one is a bad cartoon. Plus, he came up with Pepe Le Pew, Marvin Martian, the modern Daffy and Porky, Charlie Dog, and the list goes on. He is a bit egotistical, in interviews I've seen done with him he seems to be a little cranky, but hey, he's 89 years old and has directed over 300 cartoons. Jones haters, please watch "Feed the Kitty", "Rabbit Seasoning", "Fast and Furryous", 'Beep Beep", Hopalong Casualty', "Guided Muscle", "Zipping Along", "Beep Prepared", "A Scent of the Matterhorn", "Louvre Come Back to Me", "Hasty Hare", "Hound for trouble", "Robin Hood Daffy", "The draft horse", "Hush My Mouse", "Scaredy Cat", "Dripalong Daffy", or "Duck Amuck". Or better yet, try one of the greatest cartoons ever: "FELINE FRAMEUP." He is the best.
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My critique of the others:

Friz Freleng: Also great. He was probably the best adaptor of all the directors, and he had the best comedic timing of all the directors. His musical toons are his best, (see "Hittin' the Trail For Hallelujia Land", "Mouse Mazurka", "Rhapsody in Rivets", "Rhapsody Rabbit", "Stage Door Cartoon", etc.) but he also was the most consistent and long-lasting director, and I applaud him for that. He created and became the only director of Yosemite Sam, and he came up with the definitive Speedy Gonzales, created Sylvester (one of the greatest cartoon characters ever, bar none), did great cartoons with Daffy Duck, and ended up defining the Bugs and Daffy relationship with "Show Biz Bugs".

Robert McKimson: Hey, why do people pick on poor Bob so much? He was GREAT. Nobody did Bugs Bunny quite like him, he created Foghorn Leghorn, and his Daffy Duck cartoons were some of the best. He was probably equal to Chuck Jones in sheer drawing talent, I've heard he animated some of the Sylvester/Junior outings in some scenes himself,quite well, and besides, he handles Sylvester brilliantly. Who could forget "A Fractured Leghorn", "Cats Aweigh', "The Hole Idea","Bell Hoppy", "Boobs in the Woods", "Quack Shot", "Too Hop To Hanle", "Birds Of a Father", "Claws in the Lease", "Hare We Go", "Rabbit's Kin", "Oily Hare", "Hillbilly Hare", "False Hare", "Walky Talky Hawky", "Weasel While You Work", "Plop Goes the Weasel",and the list goes on. He also did 2 of my favorites, and both are some of the most underrated films in cartoon history. Check out "Crowing Pains" and "The Surprise Pest", And true, he did decline a little in the 1960's,(1960-64, roughly) but I'd call that a slump. Heck, he did some wonderful post-1964 stuff for DePatie/Freleng and Hendricks, some of you may scoff at that stuff, but the best Daffy/Speedy cartoons were done by him. Plus, he made great characters out of the once-mediocre Cool Cat and Merlin.

Bob Clampett : He was the spirit of the 1940's, I wish he would have stayed. He didn't ever do a lousy picture, stupid sometimes yes, (Some of the Porky is too cutesy) but if a director could survive on sheer spirit and sense of humor, this is it. He had a great style of animation, the way his characters seemed so flexible. Plus, while his Bugs cartoons tend to be a little wild, he came up with "Buckaroo Bugs", I love this cartoon. Plus, 'Porky in Wackyland', 'Tin Pan Alley Cats", "Great Piggybank Robbery', "The Daffy Doc", "The Hep Cat", and many more. He tends to get overrated, but like Chuck Jones, he kind of deserves the recognition. He was just plain good.

Frank Tashlin: Tashlin was fine, he just wasn't around long enough to make much of a difference. I will say that he did great Porky cartoons, stuff like "Double Trouble", "Porky's Romance", "Porky's Building", and lots more. His "Scrap Happy Daffy" is a cool cartoon, and who could forget his best, "Porky's Poultry Plant" or "Porky Pig's Feat"?

Tex Avery, :
While I enjoy his MGM stuff from the late 40's better, he did a great job at WB. Come on, he created the style, for cryin' out loud. Tex Avery practically founded the Warner cartoon studio. And he even created Bugs and Daffy! 'Nuff said!
-Matthew

[don Jaime]

Clampett's funniest, so he wins.

[Jaime_Weinman]

I'd consider Clampett the most overrated -- there's a sameness and sloppiness to his cartoons that gets me down, and with a lot of cartoons I find that the "zaniness" covers a lack of good gags. And at a time when Freleng and Jones were finding new and interesting settings Bugs Bunny, Clampett's Bugs cartoons remained mostly tied to the "Wild Hare" formula of some hunter confronting Bugs in a woodland setting. Clampett made some great cartoons -- my favorites include "A Gruesome Twosome," "Porky In Wackyland," "The Old Grey Hare" and "An Itch In Time" -- but a lot of not-so-great ones too, and I think his reputation would be much lower if he'd stayed at Warners longer than he did.

Jones is overrated too, of course, but he made a higher proportion of my favorite cartoons than Clampett. Jones' batting average in the 1946-1954 period was extraordinarily good, and that's almost as long as Clampett's entire career as a WB director. However, Jones did decline quite a bit after 1954 and even more after he was no longer working with Mike Maltese. Still, this is the man who made "Hair-Raising Hare," "Cheese Chasers," "Little Orphan Airedale," "Bewitched Bunny," etc. He also gets points for keeping some variety in his Bugs Bunny cartoons in the mid to late '50s; at a time when Freleng and McKimson were mainly doing Road-Runner-style blackout gags with Bugs (see the second half of "Sahara Hare"), Jones' Bugs cartoons still had interesting storylines and imaginative endings (see "Broomstick Bunny" or even "What's Opera Doc?").

McKimson made some of the best Bugs Bunny cartoons ever between 1946 and 1954, and some fine Daffy and Porky cartoons as well, plus some great one-shots like "It's Hummer Time" and "A Fox In a Fix." His reputation would be higher if he hadn't been hit so hard by the 1954 layoff, losing all his animators and winding up stuck with the castoffs from other units. Also, Tedd Pierce's story work was very inconsistent after he started working with McKimson (due to his drinking, perhaps?).

Tashlin is one of my favorites; the animation in his cartoons isn't as brilliant as in Clampett's, but unlike Clampett, Tashlin serves up wackiness with discipline and really strong gags. However, he didn't make enough cartoons to be considered for the #1 spot.

So my #1 spot goes to Freleng. He may be less distinctive than the others, but his way of timing a gag was incomparable. In a theatre, with an audience, no one's cartoons get more laughs than Freleng's. And laughter is what it's all about, really. Also, Freleng was perhaps the greatest Bugs Bunny director ever: "Little Red Riding Rabbit," "Rhapsody Rabbit," "Racketeer Rabbit," "Ballot Box Bunny," "High Diving Hare," "A Hare Grows In Manhattan," "Sahara Hare," "Stage Door Cartoon," "Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk," and many others.

[lislebartman]

My vote is for Mr. Isadore (Friz) Freleng. This man's work is awesome!! It wasn't as frantic as Clampett's, earthbound as Bob McKimson's or cerebral as Jones's, They were just plain funny. My favorite part of a Friz Freleng cartoon is the music (thank you, Carl W. Stalling), and the timing of gags to the music was teriffic!!


My favorite Friz cartoons:

10) Three Little Bops
9) Canned Fued
8) Buccaneer Bunny
7) Lights Fantastic (unedited version)
6) Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (that's a given!)
5) Muzzle Tough
4) Rabbitson Crusoe
3) Tweety Pie
2) Which is Witch
1) Pigs in A Polka

[PorkyandDaffy]

I'd consider Clampett the most overrated -- there's a sameness and sloppiness to his cartoons that gets me down, and with a lot of cartoons I find that the "zaniness" covers a lack of good gags. And at a time when Freleng and Jones were finding new and interesting settings Bugs Bunny, Clampett's Bugs cartoons remained mostly tied to the "Wild Hare" formula of some hunter confronting Bugs in a woodland setting. Clampett made some great cartoons -- my favorites include "A Gruesome Twosome," "Porky In Wackyland," "The Old Grey Hare" and "An Itch In Time" -- but a lot of not-so-great ones too, and I think his reputation would be much lower if he'd stayed at Warners longer than he did.

You're entitled to your own opinions, but I absolutely don't agree.

[Jaime_Weinman]

You're entitled to your own opinions, but I absolutely don't agree.

Well, I didn't post it to be agreed with! :>

I understand why Clampett is so admired; I just think his cartoons aren't as consistently funny as the prime work of Freleng, Jones, Tashlin, even the early McKimson. I've seen "The Big Snooze" twice on a big screen with an audience, and both times it just sort of lay there and died, the very definition of "more frantic than funny."

I also wonder, would Clampett's reputation be different if he'd stayed at WB longer? Remember that when Clampett left, he was preparing to launch some "series" characters who could provide some successful chase cartoons a la Tom and Jerry (Tweety and Sylvester, for one; the Goofy Gophers for another). Look at "Tweetie Pie" and "Goofy Gophers," both of which were originally Clampett ideas (and indeed "Goofy Gophers" was mostly directed by Clampett, though completed by Davis), and I think it's clear that his work was starting to become a lot more conventional.

[PorkyandDaffy]

Okay, I understand. But as for THE BIG SNOOZE, I also don't think that's some of Clampett's best work. Maybe it's because of all the strange cuts that look like something was edited out in every scene, and the whole thing looks too damn choppy. I'm not saying it's Clampett's fault, though. Warner's probably tampered with this cartoon, since Clampett was gone from WB when this was released.

[J Lee]

Freleng and Clampett have conflicting stories about the pre-history of "Tweety Pie." Apparently what is known is that Clampett did change Tweety's feathers to yellow for an unnamed cartoon before he left the studio and Freleng was working with Maltese and Pierce on a Sylvester cartoon that would have featured the woodpecker from "Peck Up Your Troubles."

Everything else is a gray area -- Clampett had used Sylvester once already, but he never worked with Pierce or Maltese on stories; Warren Foster was his story man, and Friz was pretty adimant about his fight with Eddie Selzer over putting Tweety into his cartoon instead of the woodpecker. That makes it sound like the story concept for "Tweety Pie" was pretty far along in the Freleng unit when Clampett left. (Interstingly, Freleng's second cartoon with Tweety and Sylvester was a reworking of a Foster story from Frank Tashlin's "Puss and Booty." It's possible that Clampett and Foster were preparing to remake and update that B&W cartoon for Tweety and Sylvester when Clampett left studio, and it was put on the back burner until after "Tweety Pie" won its Academy Award, and was then picked up by the Freleng unit)

[Nelson]

I had to go with TEX AVERY, and in my opinion I think Avery was the one animator that put the Warner Bros. cartoons on the map back in 1936 with his weird style of humor.He also brought "Bugs Bunny" to life, Created "Daffy Duck" and made some of the funniest LT/MM cartoons in the late 30s and early 40s, before he went to MGM in 1942.Avery was a genius in the field of animated cartoons and did a lot for that studio.

[Emmanuel Cruz]

keep on voting!

[Crazy Tom]

You may think I'm screwy enough, but my vote is for Fred (Tex) Avery, all because (in my view) he brought out the nuttiest gags.

But here is a question for all of you: imagine if Tex Avery did not leave Warner Bros. after The Heckling Hare (1941). As you know, Tex left after arguing about how that cartoon should have ended. What would cartoons be like if Tex stayed at WB?:confused:

[Crazy Tom]

Originally posted by PorkyandDaffy
...as for THE BIG SNOOZE...maybe it's because of all the strange cuts that look like something was edited out in every scene, and the whole thing looks too choppy...Warner's probably tampered with this cartoon, since Clampett was gone from WB when this was released.

Something else to note: the original idea for the beginning gags of The Big Snooze was taken from the now "banned" All This And Rabbit Stew (1941), where Bugs and the Afr.-Am. boy were involved in the log-and-cliff scene. Of course no contract was involved in the original. That might be why the scenes in The Big Snooze were very choppy; but nothing was edited as far as I know.

[Mibbitmaker]

Well, my favorite cartoon directors in general are, in no particular order, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and Chuck Jones. Tex does deserve a nod for WB in creating the house style, but I still rate him for the MGM stuff, mainly. His 1940s stuff especially. Jones was best, imo, from 1942-1954 or so. He did do a few good ones after that. I especially like Martian Through Georgia. But some of his '60s stuff is pretentious. Clampett's stuff from 1942-1946 is just incredible. I also wish he'd stayed, if anything, to KEEP the WB cartoons from getting too conventional.

[Patrick McCart]

Tie between Bob Clampett and Fred Avery.

Whenever a Clampett or Avery cartoon comes on, I know it's going to be funny and/or enjoyable to watch...

Favorite Clampett cartoons:

Tick Tock Tuckered
Book Revue
Russian Rhapsody
Buckaroo Bugs
Tortaise Wins By A Hare
The Daffy Doc
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
Wabbit Twouble
A Corny Concerto

Favorite Avery cartoons:

Miss Glory
The Blow Out
Porky's Duck Hunt
Daffy Duck and Egghead
Daffy Duck in Hollywood
Porky's Preview
Tortoise Beats Hare
A Wild Hare

[Emmanuel Cruz]

by the way tex avery is my 2nd favorite director.

[Larry T]

This is REALLY a tough question for someone that loves cartoons, period, like myself. It's also tougher if you've ever seen works of these said directors from the other studios they directed at.

I can respect the opinions of my fellow posters in the group, but I had to vote for Frank Tashlin. Sure, the Clampett cartoons are frenetic and violent, the Jones are artsy and stylized, the McKimsons are solid and well-written, etc. etc. etc.

However, considering that he had an on-and-off career at Warner's, I think the one with the most enjoyable cartoons was definitely Tash. He seemed to really want to expand the cartoon as an entertainment medium and wasn't afraid to try to break the cartoon mould. Two of my favourite cartoons from the 30s are "Wholly Smoke" and "Porky's Romance", both of which are pretty artistic, and incidently cast Porky as a little boy in one, and a married adult in the other- no formula typecasting here- both of which really concentrate on story plot and character. Plus, he had moved to this nice angular character style by the mid-40s which even jumped past the non-Disney stuff the other directors were putting out (check out "Nasty Quacks").

I'd have really liked to have seen an early Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Tashlin sometime in 1940 to see where he'd have tried to take the character. Even later on there were still some pretty avant-garde cartoons from him- he's got a few of the best WW2 cartoons out there: "Scrap Happy Daffy", "Brother Brat", and "Plane Daffy".

But I must add in here that the runners up for a close second are Bob Clampett and Tex Avery...... Besides, a good way to parse your opinion is to think that if you had to sit through a Warner director's cartoon marathon, the easiest for me to watch one right after the other would be Frank's....;)

[Sveven Dvorking]

Frank Tashlin wasn't a real solid director for WB, so I think voting for him is not quite right.

I have never even seen Brother Brat or Plane Daffy , but I know I would have liked them.