Big Heel-Watha (1944) User Reviews

Screwball goes native in this short!

[Captain_Couth · 8/10 · 5 November 2004]

Big Heel-Watha a.k.a. Buck of the Month (1944) is a cartoon short that Screwball is only a secondary character to a dopey Indian named Big Heel-Watha. The tribe needs meat so the Chief offers his daughter Minnie Hotcha to whom ever gets the tribe some meat. Since Squirrels cost no meal ration points, they're fair game. All the braves run out into the woods after being motivated by seeing Minnie Hotcha. Chief Rain-in-Face makes the offer. Big Heel-Watha unfortunately runs into Screwball Squirrel and is tormented by him endlessly. Can the dopey brave get the squirel and win the "hotest' woman in the tribe?

A funny cartoon that features Screwball in only a secondary role. Tex Avery's bizarre humor and the welcomed appearance of the Squirrel make this short another classic. Not as funny as the others but it's still worth watching.

A

Recommended

[rbverhoef · 8/10 · 9 January 2007]

'Big Heel-Watha' tells the story of an Indian with only one feather, hunting down the Screwball Squirrel. The chief has ordered every Indian to try to get some food; he who succeeds can marry his daughter. After the one-feathered Indian found some animals his mind is set on the squirrel, leading us to a couple of funny surprises in the end.

This cartoon is very funny from start to finish. The Indian village is seen as some kind of modern corporation, the Indian knows he is in a cartoon and comments on it, the scene where he chases the squirrel on water is hilarious and the ending, especially the moment between the chief and his daughter, is perfect. I highly recommend this great cartoon.

Maybe there was some golden yesteryear during which . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 6/10 · 4 August 2022]

. . . astute commentators could "get away" with "calling out" a Tinsel Town film that created some aspect of moral turpitude. Apparently this is no longer the case, at least on this site. Maybe there is some obscure corner of the internet where actual people are allowed to voice their real thoughts. Possibly this Utopian Dream is attainable right now in Russia or China. However, I've never been to either area, and lack the means to do so in the foreseeable future. Here in America all it takes is a buck or a million in the right place to give any corporate entity total control, veto power and censorship rights against anything that smacks of analysis, critical thought or balanced consideration. No Common Man can possibly know how many of these Sacred Cows have been bought and paid for, or by who, when, where and how much. Most of my circle has attempted to contribute their two cents worth about this particular film offering, but all have been censored, squelched, muzzled, shut up, cut off and otherwise curtailed. Why even bother?

A Screwy Squirrel short, but he gets upstaged here

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 30 January 2002]

Although this is a Screwy Squirrel short, he is really the secondary character. The title character is front and center in this one, which is the least violent of the five Screwball Squirrel cartoons. The best scenes involve the daughter of the tribe's chief-they are hilarious! Well worth seeing. Recommended.

Screwy Squirrel goes native

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 8 September 2017]

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. Love the previous two Screwy Squirrel cartoons, loved 'Big-Heel-Watha' as well. Even if it is Screwy at his least violent. Despite being a compelling, much more anarchic than his sweet appearance and funny character, as well as being charismatic enough to carry his cartoons as a lead character (as he does here), it is somewhat easy to see why Screwy didn't click and didn't last long, being a brash character with few sympathetic qualities.

He is a secondary character here somewhat but a very good one. The Chief is even more interesting and has the funnier moments, with the even funnier ones being with the cartoon-stealing daughter.

Tex Avery does a wonderful job directing, with his unique, unlike-any-other visual and humour style all over it once again.

'Big-Wheel-Watha', like the previous two cartoons but not as violent, is wonderfully over-the-top, very creative in its violent tone and some of it is hilarious, like the chasing on the water, everything involving the daughter and the ending.

Once again, 'Big-Wheel-Watha' as always with Avery is beautifully animated. The character designs are unique, Avery always did have creative character designs, and suitably fluid. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed.

Voice acting is very good. There is nothing obviously wrong here, other than that compared to the other Screwy cartoons it's fairly tame.

In summation, another fine Screwy squirrel, though one's enjoyment is dependent on your perception of the character himself. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This film deserves high marks for being such a great example . . .

[pixrox1 · 8/10 · 4 August 2022]

. . . of director Fred Avery's insensitive, crass, racist, mercenary approach to pictures. The misspelled title character here is the Chippewa Deity for canoe paddling. If feckless Fred had picked on the Islamic Spirit of Bomb Making, he would have been blown to bits in a Mississippi minute. But fearful Fred specializes in soft targets that he knows can only fight back with Stone Age weapons such as Tomahawks. Furthermore, clueless Freddie implies that any female Native American must be a facial fright, as well as a "ho." This, of course, begs the question of which came first, the blood-curdling face or the wanton waist? Either way, Fred was wise never to stray East of Boulder Dam. If he had frequented Medicine Hat, he'd have gotten a gratuitous scalp treatment in no time flat.