Bad Day at Cat Rock
| A Bad Day at Cat Rock | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry series | |
Title Card
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| Directed by |
Chuck Jones Co-director: Maurice Noble |
| Produced by | Chuck Jones |
| Story by | Chuck Jones |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Eugene Poddany |
| Animation by |
Ben Washam Ken Harris Don Towsley Dick Thompson |
| Layouts by | Ernie Nordli |
| Backgrounds by | Philip DeGuard |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) |
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| Color process | Metrocolor |
| Running time | 6:15 |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Tom-ic Energy |
| Followed by | The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off |
A 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 with no resemblance.
On a high rise 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 Tom to fall into a manhole. The title cards are then shown while Tom lights multiple matches (Tom even burns his hand on one!).
Tom walks to a room while the title card he walked under read "Produced and Directed by Chuck Jones" and eventually, 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 pops it out again.
Tom and Jerry are now chasing each other across high-rise beams, and Jerry discovers a yellow glove and gets in it. Tom is so far behind that Jerry has a plan. He "whistles" like a police officer and holds out his hand, and then points into the distance. Tom looks over Jerry's shoulder and gets punched. Jerry/glove counts "1, 2, 3" and then Tom gets up and throws punches at him. 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.
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Wikipedia