Down and Outing (1961) User Reviews

Tom and Jerry dive into another Surreal Story but with a couple of bigger problems lying around

[Kalashnikovin · 5/10 · 3 June 2022]

After the previous cartoon (Switchin Kitten) here in the middle of 1961 they decided to make a short with the Typical Characteristics of a Tom and Jerry Cartoon, Tom does Something and Jerry Bothers him.

The Problem is not that, but Tom's owner who is a Bald Man in his 40s who has some very Bad Anger Problems, before any "disobedient" act before his person he responds with punishment Inhuman and Cruelly represented, Despite that GREAT DEFECT, it does not mean that the Part of the car is entertaining, especially where there is a lot of Action and many punishments from Tom's Abusive Fat owner.

The Music, besides being Strange, has a Different Tone than "Switchin Kitten" (since the Previous one was Composed by Vaclav Lidl and this one by Stepan Konicek) it feels like an Inferior Version of Lidl's Music but it is still Decent but very strange to hear.

Voice Acting Like "Switchin Kitten" is Horrible with Allen Swift as Single Actor giving heartbreaking screams and babble, the Effects are Just as Bizarre as in "Switchin Kitten" and share the Quality of being a complete auditory disgust, and it shows that they were made with Metal Tools and with a very Homemade Tone and that is not in the style of the Original Tom and Jerry which had Stupendous and very Cartoonish effects, but here are Squeaky sounds that only hurt your Ears, the Animation at this Point in the Series is Horrible but much Inferior to its already so Pronounced "Switchin Kitten" and it is not because that Cartoon is good, but it seems to me that it is better than this one in several aspects.

Here the Animations are a Little Inferior but he makes up for it with good designs, especially the one for the car and the one for Tom and Jerry, the one for Tom's owner is not so good but it looks quite passable, this one possibly has the Worst ending of a Tom and Jerry Cartoon, with Tom being Brutally Beaten and Tied to a Basket to later be hit with Fish Making Him Cry, that is not a suitable Ending for a Franchise as good as Tom and Jerry, this is the most cruel and sadistic ending I've seen in a cartoon.

What I liked about the cartoon was its subtle homage to Mammy Two Shoes in the first appearance of Tom's Owner, seen from the waist down.

This is one of the Worst Tom and Jerry Cartoons but by Tolerating Deitch and liking his Style I give it a 5.

You're gonna need a bigger boat...

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 5/10 · 9 September 2019]

'Down And Outing (1961)' is probably one of the better Deitch-directed 'Tom and Jerry' toons I've seen. That's probably mostly because it's short, simple and to-the-point. It also has a couple - and I do only mean a couple - of chuckle-some sight-gags. However, the short isn't exactly good. Unsurprisingly, it's a far cry from the Hanna-Barbera stuff we all know and love. The animation is sloppy and stiff, the concept is bare-bones at best and the characters are basically caricatures of themselves. So yes, it may be one of the better Deitch-directed 'Tom and Jerry' toons, but that's not saying much. 5/10

Disgraceful

[konover · 26 July 2003]

It's been said that the classic Tom & Jerry cartoons, the ones everyone loves by Hanna-Barbera and Fred Quimby, were violent. Sure, there was a great deal of violence but it was always done with style and an uncanny penchant for humor. Classic T&J is my all-time favorite cartoon.

But these psychedelic, early 1960s adventures are a different story. The violence turns unpleasant, and the epitome of these strange hybrid of Tom & Jerry is this episode: Down & Outing.

I hate absolutely loathed Tom's owner, who would turn beet red whenever Tom screwed up and went absolutely ballistic on Tom, smashing him over the head with a plethora of foreign objects. I'm not one of these ultra-PC types that can't stomach violence. But this version of T & J ranks up high as some of the most unnerving pieces of "entertainment" I've ever seen.

I like psychedelic media, but somehow it didn't work here. And if the violence, done in poor taste, was bad enough, wait until you hear the music. Again, it's just plain weird, like a bad hangover.

Stick to classic Tom & Jerry.

Disturbing and sickening

[rivalxl · 1/10 · 19 September 2018]

The worst Tom and Jerry episode I have ever seen. Tom is tortured by Jerry and Tom did nothing wrong and wanted to have a peaceful fishing trip. He even cries at the end of the episode and it ends like as if it's funny. It's not. Whoever made this is a psychopath.

This episode still haunts me and I can't get it out of my head. I hate it. It's garbage.

Horrible

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 14 June 2011]

This is another one of the Gene Dietch Tom and Jerry cartoons I cannot stand, which is all but three. The animation is incredibly sloppy, the facial expressions of the characters were enough to give me nightmares, the backgrounds were incredibly static and the colours are flat. The music is beyond creepy and further hampered by some awful and truly bizarre sound effects, while the violence is sickening. Of all the characters, the only character I sympathised with was Tom. Jerry I felt nothing for, and Tom's owner is one of the worst support characters in the history of Tom and Jerry. Overall, Down and Outing is horrible, perhaps not the worst Tom and Jerry but it is down there. 1/10 Bethany Cox

You really sympathize with poor Tom in these episodes

[crazydude1989 · 3/10 · 18 February 2014]

The idea of this episode is good but they made Jerry just downright EVIL in the Gene Deitch episodes. Plus the trippy sound effects and animation makes it even weirder. Tom and his master are going on a fishing trip, and Jerry tries to tag along too, but Tom tries to put a stop to it. Of course Jerry gets Tom into trouble when he didn't even really hurt Jerry. At the end when they get to the lake, Tom has finally made peace with his "master" (who should really get arrested for animal abuse) because Jerry isn't around, but of course Jerry shows up and gets Tom into bigger trouble and he even CRIES. Other episodes, Tom deserved what he got, but in this one, you really root for him because Jerry is just sadistic and mean. Or maybe it's just the owner. I try to stay away from these when they come on Cartoon Network or Boomerang.

I...... don't even know what to say.

[farhanthemovieguy · 1/10 · 4 February 2018]

Out of the three Tom and Jerry cartoons in the Gene Deitch era (this, High Steaks, and Sorry Safari) that I truly hate, this has to be clearly the worst one.

In all seriousness, you really do feel sorry and sympathise for Tom in these episodes. Let alone the fact that all he wanted to do here was to have a nice enjoyable fishing trip with his owner while trying to mind his own business throughout the entire episode without even trying to start a conflict with Jerry, when it just had to be bluntly ruined by Jerry, and on top of which, Tom's ratchet excuse of an owner.

One of the things I liked in several of the original William Hanna/Joseph Barbera Tom and Jerry cartoons was that where if Tom was getting tortured in an episode, even though he doesn't really deserve to (unless if he actually starts a conflict with Jerry), he would usually win in the end. But this on the other hand, no, Tom should have won at the end.

1/10 (BAD EPISODE)

A new low for Tom and Jerry.

[BA_Harrison · 1/10 · 8 May 2017]

Tom and his owner are going fishing; Jerry decides that he wants to tag along and hitches a ride in the car, much to the annoyance of Tom.

It's hard to believe it, but director Gene Deitch's second Tom and Jerry cartoon is even worse than the first, with terrible animation, grating sound effects, and a really horrible human character who frequently loses his temper and dishes out violence to his poor cat.

With eleven more Deitch episodes still to watch, the road ahead looks like it'll be tough going.

Road and fishing trip!

[blanbrn · 7/10 · 14 January 2021]

This "Tom and Jerry" short "Down and Outing" from 1961 is one that's full of clever twist and turns on the highway before arriving at the local fishing pond! This episode has overall scenes of animation that is not the norm still the action and clever chases entertain. As thru it all from backseat car action, to paved highway fun before the pond this episode is memorable as it does have a different feel with the music and effects still a watch if you like the series.

Pure nightmare fuel

[TheGatesOfHades · 1/10 · 13 June 2019]

I still won't forget when I was about 11 and being shocked/horrified when the last of the HB shorts played and it moved onto the Deitch ones... More so when it moved onto the Tom's monstrous owner ones. Kind of killed the innocence of the series for me, despite I still adore classic T&J.

The plot is basically a man taking his cat (Tom) along to go fishing and the mouse (Jerry) joins with them, but Jerry causes trouble for Tom as usual.

The first 30-60 seconds seem innocent at first... Jerry torments Tom throughout the cartoon but leads to Tom striking his owner accidentally or Jerry does something that gets Tom in trouble. Every time Tom does something wrong his owner thrashes him in the head with an object, chokes him, or brutally beats him off-screen (on two occasions). All in a beet-red fit of rage.

Whenever this fat man takes his anger out on Tom, Tom looks like he's in agony and clearly petrified. He seems more fragile than normal. The other two, "High Steaks" and "Sorry Safari" with this owner are just as bad, with the former being just as bad as "Down and Outing", the latter a little less so but still a very unpleasant sit through.

Of the pain gag scenes involving Tom and his owner, all awful scenes: ------------- * The owner smashes Tom on the head with a frying pan several times after Tom tried to hit Jerry with a frying pan. While doing so, the owner nearly gets into an accident and gets into some brief road rage.

* When Tom tries to grab Jerry, the owner stomps on his paw HARD which swells up red and he whimpers in pain which is followed by Jerry teasing Tom with a first aid kit and when Tom reaches and Jerry cruelly pulls away Tom hurts his injured hand again.

* Tom chases after Jerry outside of the moving car on top and gets stuck in front of the windshield which the owner turning beet-red stomps on the brake and Tom skids across the pavement with his rear catching fire and goes to a nearby puddle to put out the fire evaporating all of the water, which then the owner grabs Tom by the neck and straps him into the front seat.

* Jerry decorates the owner's shoe to make it look like a mouse which after they pull up to the lake and the owner is about to step out, Tom then sees what he thinks is Jerry and strikes the owner's foot with an oar and he yowls up in pain and bends the roof of the car from jumping up in pain. Tom then panics and runs for his life toward the lake and the owner uses the fishing line to snatch Tom which as Tom gets pulled away he looks petrified and in distress/pleading and the owner proceeds to brutally pummel Tom off-screen for a long several seconds.

* The last one shows Clobber punishing Tom by making him carry everything to the boat, as they're both fishing Jerry connects Tom's owner's line to Tom's line and Tom snags something that he thinks he caught a fish and pulls Clobber out from the other side, now hanging upside down, of course as usual he turns beet-red FURIOUS as Tom nervously tries to dry his face yielding a horrifying expression, which again, he proceeds to brutally beat Tom off-screen.

But this time it shows Jerry watching and he actually looked surprisingly shocked, the same thing happens at the end of "High Steaks" to the point of him covering his eyes. Jerry and the owner both catching fish afterward with Tom strapped to the bucket and crying, while the fish being caught slap him in the face and the cartoon ends there...

-------------

The on-screen violence Clobber inflicting on Tom was bad enough, but the off-screen violence in ways might be even worse, since it just sounds like Tom being quite literally torn to pieces or beaten within an inch of his life, all with the bizarre and awful SFX/music. Both the on and off-screen violence felt unpleasant and eerily realistic for a cartoon. Which didn't feel that way with the HB shorts, which were obviously violent, but those were done tastefully and charismatically and were very funny. At times when Spike beat up Tom off-screen it never felt unpleasant. Here, it comes all too close to child and animal abuse territory. You really feel for Tom in the Deitch shorts.

The music is creepy in itself. Kind of low key. They seem to play something similar to the familiar motif of the Tom and Jerry theme at times or whenever Tom's owner abuses him they play some happy/peaceful music right after, which adds to the nightmarish overtone. Whenever the music shifts to a more malicious tone that sounds very similar to what you'd hear in a horror film. Some of the scenes it occurs are when Tom skids along the road, again when he runs for his life before his owner pummels him, or just whenever Tom does something to enrage his owner.

"Down and Outing" and "Landing Stripling" have some music in the beginning of the episode that generates a sense of unease. Like whatever music it's trying to imitate from the HB shorts results in an uncanny, mangled, poor imitation of it.

The sound effects seem amateurish, eerie, tinny, and often have heavy reverberation, nothing that creates the same amusement that the classic HB ones do, but instead leaves a sense of nausea. Both the SFX and music seem disconnected from the visuals of the cartoon with poor timing all over the place.

The animation and art is crude and is often quite abysmal and unsettling, especially the facial expressions which are often very creepy and the stuff of nightmares.

Overall, the worst of the Deitch T&J bunch are IMO "Down and Outing", "High Steaks", and "Sorry Safari". About the only shorts that didn't leave a sense of malaise or a bad taste in my mouth afterward was "Buddies Thicker Than Water" and perhaps "The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit".

Unless you're into shock/sadism humor or pain gags, I HIGHLY recommend steering clear of the T&J Deitch shorts and sticking to the HB shorts from 1940-58 and the Chuck Jones ones.

Why did he use the fence? - A Quick Splarshy Review

[jacobstaggs · 10/10 · 2 February 2020]

This 2nd episode of the Deitch era of Tom and Jerry is infinitely better than its pilot predecessor Switchin' Kitten. There are many reasons for this. Firstly, D & O uses a tried and true story formula. This ensures all is well in the narrative department. Second, Tom reacts to almost all of the violence vocally, be it a scream or whatever. This adds a level of depth to the short. In a lot of Deitch episodes when Tom gets hurt , he doesn't make a sound. This distances us from the characters and removes their instilled humanity. Third, this episode is Stepan Konicek's music debut in Tom and Jerry and he arguably tries his hardest here to prove himself. He succeeds with a well fitting musical score. Fourth, the backgrounds are very stylized and interesting. A pattern of rectangles on the house wall says it all. Fifth, this episode is filled with good gags in the squash and stretch format. The character designs vary. Jerry and the Clint Clobber wannabe are very poorly designed while Tom is all over the place. Sometimes, his design is horrid. At other times, he looks like his Hanna Barbera counterpart. In short, this episode is great. It only has minimal flaws that barely affect its quality I give it a 10/10, albeit a low one, because scoring it a 9/10 would be an injustice worse than anything Tom's owner could throw at him.

This picture represents a clever cry for help . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 18 November 2022]

. . . on the part of a clever Oscar-winning American director forced to wed a Red Communist agent and churn out propaganda films for Kremlin KGB operatives while confined to a Cold War Russian puppet state. Gene Val Gene includes details within DOWN AND OUTING to make it clear that the action is NOT taking place in his beloved U. S. Homeland. For instance, the Balkan-looking thug supposedly taking Tom & Jerry on a fishing trip has his wooden rowboat's outboard motor and gas can slung into the back of his station wagon, as well as a pair of superfluous boat oars. No sane U. S. citizen would tote such a flammable, incongruous unwieldy combination of cargo in a passenger vehicle. Most if not all of this gear would spend each summer on the boat. However, in a Red Commie region full of poverty, envy, theft, deception and rampant crime, better off residents--usually part of the corrupt local power structure--did not trust letting anything of value out of their line of vision. Sadly, Tom Terrific never answered Gene's urgent S. O. S.

Terrible Tom & Jerry Cartoon Short

[GravityLoudHouseLover1 · 28 June 2020]

Tom & Jerry is a Cartoon Franchise I do enjoy but I do like Looney Tunes more. However The Tom & Jerry Gene Deitch Cartoons are Terrible & Mean Spirted where the Hanna Barbera Tom & Jerry Cartoons are Better & Better Written. Anyway this Tom & Jerry Short is about Tom wanting to go Fishing with his Owner but Jerry is Sadist Jerk & cause trouble for Tom where Tom bangs a frying pan what he thinks is Jerry but Owner is in Pain & beats up Tom off Camera & we see Jerry & Tom's Owner Fishing where Tom get smacked by a ton of fish. Anyway This Tom & Jerry Cartoon From Gene Deitch is Horrid. Avoid this Cartoon & Watch the Hanna Barbera Tom & Jerry Cartoons which there better then this Trash 0/10.