Bad Day at Cat Rock
Encyclopedia
Bad Day at Cat Rock is a 1965 Tom and Jerry
cartoon produced and directed by Chuck Jones
as essentially a remake of his 1963 Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
cartoon To Beep or Not to Beep
. Maurice Noble was the cartoon's co-director, the animation was credited to Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Don Towsley and Dick Thompson. The music was scored by Eugene Poddany, and backgrounds by Phil DeGuard. Mel Blanc
was on hand to supply the screams, yells, and other vocal effects. The cartoon's title is a pun on the MGM film Bad Day at Black Rock
, though the cartoon's plot bears no resemblance.
.
Tom walks across a beam and stops in order to stare into the air. A black dotted line is formed in the air, and Tom walks across it. Jerry then creates one himself in the shape of stairs, and then drops the stairs while Tom is on them, causing the cat to fall into a manhole. The title cards are then shown while Tom lights multiple matches (Tom even burns his hand on one!).
One of Tom's matches eventually ignites a stash of dynamite, which throws him out of the manhole and into the beam that Jerry is standing on. Jerry hits a second beam and then grabs onto Tom's fur and uses it as a parachute down to a safe wood outcropping. Tom turns up, brimming with rage, and takes his fur back and puts it back on. Tom only runs a few paces before realizing that his tail is still crunched up. He undoes his tail and causes his fur to pop out again, to the cat's dismay.
Tom and Jerry are now chasing across high-rise beams, and Jerry discovers a yellow glove and gets inside it. Tom is so far behind that Jerry has a plan. He "whistles" akin to a police officer and holds out his hand, and then points into the distance. Tom looks over Jerry's shoulder and Jerry punches him. Jerry/glove counts "1, 2, 3" and then Tom gets up and throws punches at the glove. Jerry shakes Tom's hand and then throws him on top of the beam he is standing on, then retrieves a cutting torch which cuts through the beam. Tom falls to earth with a section of the beam on top of his head and hits the ground with no visible damage, until his body weight starts collapsing towards the lower part of his body.
Jerry slides down to the ground and Tom chases him behind some pillars. Both cat and mouse start to poke their heads out from different pillars until Tom sees Jerry's back and tries to poke him with a tack, but only hurts himself. Tom hits the top of the beam and falls to the ground. Jerry waves and whistles at the cat.
The remainder of the cartoon features Tom using a large rock and a see-saw, which consists of a beam balanced by a rock, to attempt to reach Jerry. Each rock has a different form after each unsuccessful attempt.
ATTEMPT 1: Tom throws the rock onto the other side of the see-saw, but it is slanted too much to the right and Tom is launched sideways into another network of beams.
ATTEMPT 2: Tom throws the rock straight up and squashes himself. Jerry's ears rattle from the recoil.
ATTEMPT 3: Tom pitches the rock onto the other end, but it lands on its point and tips over several times, smashing the cat again. Jerry begins to look worried.
ATTEMPT 4: Tom throws the rock to the other side, but it squashes the beam into a 90-degree angle and causes Tom to be shifted right and then fall on top of the rock. Jerry starts walking dejectedly across the beam he is on.
ATTEMPT 5: Tom throws the rock up and it falls dead center, squeezing the beam and Tom around itself. Jerry kicks a pebble and it falls into a paint can. Jerry sees it next to a bunch of boards and prepares to write.
ATTEMPT 6: Tom throws the rock up and dashes away to a safe bunker. When he sees that the rock has landed perfectly, he jumps onto the other end and it catapults him up, but into another beam and back down to the same end of the see-saw, and the rock is thrown up and onto the cat. Jerry writes "The End" on one of the boards, and then it zooms to the camera.
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
cartoon produced and directed by Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
as essentially a remake of his 1963 Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...
cartoon To Beep or Not to Beep
To Beep or Not to Beep
To Beep or Not to Beep is a Merrie Melodies animated short starring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. Released December 28, 1963, the cartoon was written by Chuck Jones and John Dunn, and directed by Jones ....
. Maurice Noble was the cartoon's co-director, the animation was credited to Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Don Towsley and Dick Thompson. The music was scored by Eugene Poddany, and backgrounds by Phil DeGuard. Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
was on hand to supply the screams, yells, and other vocal effects. The cartoon's title is a pun on the MGM film Bad Day at Black Rock
Bad Day at Black Rock
Bad Day at Black Rock is a 1955 thriller film directed by John Sturges that combines elements of Westerns and film noir. It tells the story of a mysterious stranger who arrives at a tiny isolated town in a desert of the southwest United States in search of a man...
, though the cartoon's plot bears no resemblance.
Plot
The entire cartoon takes place on a construction siteConstruction Site
Construction Site is a television series created by The Jim Henson Company in 1999, and consists of 7 construction vehicles. The show was broadcast on ABC Kids for a while, and had a range of videos. It was originally produced for and shown on CITV starting in 1999. In 2000 it was nominated for a...
.
Tom walks across a beam and stops in order to stare into the air. A black dotted line is formed in the air, and Tom walks across it. Jerry then creates one himself in the shape of stairs, and then drops the stairs while Tom is on them, causing the cat to fall into a manhole. The title cards are then shown while Tom lights multiple matches (Tom even burns his hand on one!).
One of Tom's matches eventually ignites a stash of dynamite, which throws him out of the manhole and into the beam that Jerry is standing on. Jerry hits a second beam and then grabs onto Tom's fur and uses it as a parachute down to a safe wood outcropping. Tom turns up, brimming with rage, and takes his fur back and puts it back on. Tom only runs a few paces before realizing that his tail is still crunched up. He undoes his tail and causes his fur to pop out again, to the cat's dismay.
Tom and Jerry are now chasing across high-rise beams, and Jerry discovers a yellow glove and gets inside it. Tom is so far behind that Jerry has a plan. He "whistles" akin to a police officer and holds out his hand, and then points into the distance. Tom looks over Jerry's shoulder and Jerry punches him. Jerry/glove counts "1, 2, 3" and then Tom gets up and throws punches at the glove. Jerry shakes Tom's hand and then throws him on top of the beam he is standing on, then retrieves a cutting torch which cuts through the beam. Tom falls to earth with a section of the beam on top of his head and hits the ground with no visible damage, until his body weight starts collapsing towards the lower part of his body.
Jerry slides down to the ground and Tom chases him behind some pillars. Both cat and mouse start to poke their heads out from different pillars until Tom sees Jerry's back and tries to poke him with a tack, but only hurts himself. Tom hits the top of the beam and falls to the ground. Jerry waves and whistles at the cat.
The remainder of the cartoon features Tom using a large rock and a see-saw, which consists of a beam balanced by a rock, to attempt to reach Jerry. Each rock has a different form after each unsuccessful attempt.
ATTEMPT 1: Tom throws the rock onto the other side of the see-saw, but it is slanted too much to the right and Tom is launched sideways into another network of beams.
ATTEMPT 2: Tom throws the rock straight up and squashes himself. Jerry's ears rattle from the recoil.
ATTEMPT 3: Tom pitches the rock onto the other end, but it lands on its point and tips over several times, smashing the cat again. Jerry begins to look worried.
ATTEMPT 4: Tom throws the rock to the other side, but it squashes the beam into a 90-degree angle and causes Tom to be shifted right and then fall on top of the rock. Jerry starts walking dejectedly across the beam he is on.
ATTEMPT 5: Tom throws the rock up and it falls dead center, squeezing the beam and Tom around itself. Jerry kicks a pebble and it falls into a paint can. Jerry sees it next to a bunch of boards and prepares to write.
ATTEMPT 6: Tom throws the rock up and dashes away to a safe bunker. When he sees that the rock has landed perfectly, he jumps onto the other end and it catapults him up, but into another beam and back down to the same end of the see-saw, and the rock is thrown up and onto the cat. Jerry writes "The End" on one of the boards, and then it zooms to the camera.