A Gruesome Twosome (1945) User Reviews

Getting The 'Goil" Not So Easy, Thanks To Tweety

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 29 May 2007]

Two cats fight over a pretty female feline. That's the simple story in this Looney Tunes animated short. One of the cats is a parody of Jimmy Durante, complete with his famous "inky, dinky doo" line. He's the orange one. The yellow one, the one with the Brooklyn accent who says "goil" instead of "girl," is his competitor.

"Durante" uses all his lines and speaks in humorous rhyme while wooing the girl. The lines he uses are really dated and funny. After some fighting, the bimbo-sounding "goil" cat tells the boys, "Whoever gets me a bird can be my fella."

So, the race begins to get a bird and win the cutie.

Who's the bird? None other that the famous "Tweety!" This is "Tweety," before Sylvester came around. He is a little more sadistic than normal, but still effective

Formative Tweety cartoon which has a great many funny bits, with a dog nearly stealing the show with one very funny bit.

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 5 August 2006]

This is a very early Tweety (before he and Sylvester were paired together) and Tweety's personality and physical appearance were still in the development stage. One of the cats chasing Tweety (they are the "Gruesome Twosome" referenced in the title) is a caricature of comedian Jimmy Durante. I want to discuss certain portions of the short, so there may be spoilers from this point:

The early part of the short shows the two cats competing for the paw of a cute, though perhaps not terribly bright, female cat. At one point in this early section, when the two have temporarily taken each other out of the picture, a dog enters the frame and has a beautiful bit involving the female cat. It's the funniest gag in a fairly funny short. Eventually, the two cats are told that whichever one brings the object of their affections a bird can, in her words, "be my fella". They'd have been better advised to have attempted to defuse a land-mine, because the early Tweety was a bit less sweet and "innocent" than he became. He has a flair for mayhem and gets extremely violent and vicious, as a bee and bulldog can attest! The short closes with a very nice little turn quite fitting for the short.

This short was released on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 3 and is well worth getting. I highly recommend the Golden Collections themselves, as they are of exceptional quality and well worth the cost (at least the first three released so far have been-a fourth volume is scheduled for release in November 2006). Recommended.

Tweety's detractors need only watch his early stuff to like him

[lee_eisenberg · 8/10 · 2 October 2007]

A lot of people dislike Tweety because they consider him too cute. If only they knew about his first few appearances! In cartoons like "A Tale of Two Kitties" and "A Gruesome Twosome", the little guy was the meanest SOB (son of a bird) imaginable. In this case, two cats try to win the heart of a woman, but Tweety always interferes...in the most sadistic way possible.

Yes, Tweety did not start out as the daintily attractive character known to most people today. I believe that he started heading in that direction once they gave him feathers. You see, the studio heads alleged that he looked naked. However - as Bob Clampett pointed out in "Bugs Bunny Superstar" - in all those years, they never noticed that Porky Pig walked around with no pants.

Anyway, this is a funny one.

Everybody wants to get into the act!

[Op_Prime · 20 May 2000]

A Gruesome Twosome is a hilarious Looney Tunes short. Besides, the great animation, it has classic cartoon violence (falling from high altitude, being shot with a gun). The orange cat is a hilarious caricature of Jimmy Durante. This was an early appearance of Tweety, considering the way he was drawn. Thumbs way up.

I Tawt I Taw A Puddy-Tat!

[StrictlyConfidential · 7/10 · 28 April 2020]

(IMO) - "A Gruesome Twosome" is a real classic "Looney Tunes" gem from the glory days of pre-CGI animation.

Not only does this Technicolor cartoon-short from 1945 contain some real choice moments of wild, over-the-top violence (in order to keep you satisfactorily entertained) - But, as an added bonus - It also features the screen-debut of Tweety (the little, baby bird) who certainly turns out to be a real bad-ass in this one.

Besides being directed by Robert Clampett - "A Gruesome Twosome" also showcases the uncredited voice-talents of Mel Blanc who had convincingly voiced both the 2 leading male cats, as well as that of Tweety-bird, too.

I don't have a Dictionary of American Slang handy right now . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 21 August 2016]

. . . but apparently GRUESOME TWOSOME gave rise to the Sex Industry term "Cathouse" as a synonym for the word "bordello." TWOSOME was made at the close of the World War Two Era, when rationing was running rampant in the USA, and nylons were the Holy Grail of a certain class of Working Girl. Live action features released during this Period often had passing references to nylons, but the American War Censors would not allow any scene to stand if it implied a Quid Pro Quo (such as $400 million in cash on a plane for U.S. hostages). However, Warner Bros. slips in some Prostitutional Transactions when Captain Cat (a.k.a., the Jimmy Durante feline) offers the slinky white kitty working the Night Shift on the Backyard Fence nylons for a "kiss." Since a random dog consummates this human-like deal, the symbolism of a hot dog smooching the P-word could only be made MORE explicit if the Looney Tuners had superimposed something like "And they they F - - - - - for Cash Considerations" on the screen. When considering if your kids should be exposed to TWOSOME, just remember that I only have the space to summarize about 8% of a seven-minute-plus animated short. Naked Tweety's SadoMasochism here is a whole 'Nother story.

The last of the great Tweetys

[phantom_tollbooth · 10/10 · 4 November 2008]

Bob Clampett's 'A Gruesome Twosome' is the last of a trio of cartoons that I absolutely adore: the early Tweety shorts. Clampett invented Tweety but only directed him in three cartoons before passing the character to Friz Freleng who moulded him into an irritating, cutesy creature who starred in a series of repetitive chase films with Sylvester the cat. Clampett's Tweety was a totally different proposition. An anarchic, shrieking, featherless baby bird whose penchant for extreme violence and sudden hollering contrasts hilariously with his frail stature. 'A Gruesome Twosome' takes a long time to set up its premise of two cats (one a grotesque Jimmy Durante caricature) who are attempting to catch a bird to win favour with a lady cat. These early scenes are funny and extremely violent but things are knocked up a notch when Tweety finally appears. Tweety is in the cartoon for a relatively short amount of time but he makes the most of his brief screen time, torturing a bee and a bulldog in order to rid himself of the cats. Brightly coloured and unusually designed (Clampett's designs here are a throwback to the 30s character designs of Tex Avery, showing Clampett's own status as a cartoon fan), 'A Gruesome Twosome' is a thoroughly grotesque and utterly brilliant piece of work which always makes me sad that there were no more cartoons with Tweety as this cool character instead of the doe-eyed irritant he became.

The best Bob Clampett-directed Tweety cartoon, and one of Tweety's best overall

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 15 June 2015]

All three of Bob Clampett's Tweety cartoons are well-worth seeing, A Tale of Two Kitties is very good though with a rather still-finding-its-feet feel occasionally, and Birdy and the Beast and especially A Gruesome Twosome are great and rank among Tweety's best ever cartoons.

Tweety himself is great here. While I've always tolerated him better than most, and enjoy most of the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons, he is much funnier, better utilised and cuter in his early cartoons. By the late 50s, he'd become little more than a plot device and become useless and annoying, but here he is hilarious, and not only does he look adorable even in 'development' stage but one really wishes that Freleng kept the refreshing anarchic personality that Clampett gave him(some of the early Freleng Tweety cartoons did, but it was completely lost by the mid-50s). The feline Jimmy Durante caricature is grotesque but brilliantly inspired, and his competitor is very endearing for a character as dumb as he is in comparison. The love interest is nothing new, but brings charm to the cartoon.

In A Gruesome Twosome, there is very little if at all to complain about the writing, which is very fresh and witty with Tweety's line being some of the funniest he's ever had which is saying a lot. The gags are very sharply timed and are often hysterically funny, violent they are but in a very fun way and not in a way that's sadistic. The story has so much charm and energy that the lack of originality conceptually is completely forgivable in this case, it isn't always with me but there are reservations depending on the execution. Mel Blanc as ever does an amazing job with the three main characters, bringing so much verve and individuality to each(which always was one of Blanc's strengths as a voice actor), and Bea Benaderet does very well too though not with as much to do.

Mustn't forget the animation or the music either, because both here are outstandingly good. The animation is beautifully drawn and colourful, and does contain some of the most inventive animation of any of Tweety's cartoons. The music is vibrant and characterful, with much of the orchestration being gorgeous and rhythmically the music has so much life. As always with Carl Stalling(with Milt Franklyn as orchestrator), the music matches the action and visuals so well and often adds to them.

In summary, brilliant, the best of the three Clampett-directed Tweety cartoons and one of Tweety's overall best as well. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Two cats fight over a baby bird to win over a girl, but it's no ordinary bird, it's Tweety bird and he's nobody's push over in this classic cartoon.

[talarisw · 10/10 · 22 August 2012]

This is a great 1940's Warner Bros. cartoon starring the iconic Tweety bird, by my favorite cartoonist Bob Clampett. In today's pop culture Tweety is known for being a sweet canary who is always fighting Sylvester the cat, who wants to eat him. But big fans of "looney tunes" know that in Tweety's first three cartoon appearances, he was a lot different then he's known to be today. Bob Clampett created Tweety in 1941 after seeing a baby picture of himself and his Tweety was a featherless baby bird who fought cats who tried to eat him. But after three cartoons Bob left the studio and animator Friz Freling decided to team Tweety with his character Sylvester, he also gave Tweety yellow feathers and made him a canary(that was partly due to the censored guys saying Tweety looked to naked). But Friz made Tweety very sweet, almost innocent and oddly feminine causing for a lot of confusion of Tweety being a girl or boy. But Clampett's original take on Tweety was great and this is the best of Tweety's three original solo cartoons. But this is also one of the best of Clampett's cartoon. All the animators at Warner Bros. at this time were great and legends but Bob always amazes me with his zany cartoons. The cartoon has a great plot and a great set up to introducing Tweety. The opening is great with two alley cats fighting over a girl cat. The animation is fantastic with a lot of silly cartoon-ish violence. Bob brings so much personality to his characters, the two cats who are "the gruesome twosome" are great. One is a dumb, chubby yellow cat who influence the creator of Ren & Stimpy to create Stimpy. The other is a orange cat that's a hilarious parody of legendary comedian/actor Jimmy Durant who was popular at this time. Who ever did the voice of the Durant cat did a great job. This cartoon has a lot of great visual gags. One great gag is when a dog comes out of nowhere and says "I don't actually belong in this picture but I can't pass up this" and kisses the girl cat while the other two cats were fighting. I love Bob's silly sense of humor. The two cats go looking for a bird to win over the girl cat and they find Tweety. It'a long build up that really pays off because once Tweety shows up he steals the show. I love how small and puny Bob made Tweety, he looks defenseless against two cats but the twist is he might look small but he's much more then the cats can handle. I like his first scene the way he looks directly into the eyes of the cats and says his classic "I taught I taw a putty tat". In his first three cartoons he has a great reoccurring line saying "the poor putty tat, he fall down and go BOOM! shouting the "boom" part. I like the song Tweety sings here " I taught I taw a putty tat, a putty tat, I know I taw a putty tat looking through my window". Bob's Tweety is so cool and full of attitude. I love the Slyvester & Tweety cartoons by Friz but Bob gives Tweety a great personality, he's sassy, wild and a little mischievous. I love how Tweety defends himself against the cats, although one scene never made sense to me, the cats dress as a horse to catch Tweety, which dosen't make sense to me. How dressing like a horse is going to catch Tweety? Anyway the ending is great when Tweety tricks a dog to go after the cats. The animation of Tweety hitting the dog with a bone is hilariously great. While the dog and cats are fighting Tweety looks at the camera and says "I lose more putty tat that way" and then does a Jimmy Durant "ha cha cha". This has a hip 40's style and I like the background drawings, Mel Blanc's voice as Tweety and great music. Tweety Bird never been so cool!

A motto I recently learned - Why have it simple when you can have it complicated?

[slymusic · 21 August 2009]

"A Gruesome Twosome" is a fine Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Bob Clampett and featuring an early version of Tweety. As a naked baby bird full of mischief, Tweety is hilarious! But he isn't the only star of this cartoon. Two cats (one yellow, fat, and dopey; the other an orange caricature of Jimmy Durante) become obsessed with catching Tweety for the love of a woman. What results is some of the wildest, wackiest animation imaginable as the characters' flexible bodies distort into all kinds of weird contortions.

Highlights: During a lengthy opening shot, Durante tries to woo the lady cat with his "anything in pants" rhyming one-liners; the yellow cat turns into a car jack; and a seemingly serious dog pops up to announce that he doesn't actually belong in this picture, but he suddenly becomes quite LIVELY since he cannot pass up a chance to kiss the lady cat! Later on, the yellow cat smacks into a washtub and transforms into LIQUID! I also love how Tweety walks very briskly as he sings "I Taught I Taw a Putty Tat". Tweety whacks both cats' hands with a mallet, the cats yell, and they fall to the ground like blockbuster bombs.

I don't ever remember seeing "A Gruesome Twosome" until I obtained it on DVD (the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3 Disc 4). Boy, did I miss out on something great! If you ever feel you need a solid, hearty laugh, seek no further. Watch this cartoon!