The Shooting of Dan McGoo (1945) Poster

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9/10
unusual in style but rather fun...
planktonrules11 March 2011
This is the second Droopy cartoon and its style is very unusual. Unlike the typical Droopy short, this one is, in part, narrated as if a poem (see the info from IMDb about this). However, despite this weird approach, the film is still very exciting and worth seeing.

Like the original "Dan McGrew" poem, this one is set in the wild days of the gold rush. But, unlike the poem this one features the insane stylings of Tex Avery as well as the very sexy lady character featured in several of the Avery cartoons--and Droopy is lucky enough to win her by the end of the cartoon.

Funny. Well written, great direction and it has one of the world's best cartoon characters, Droopy. Original and worth seeing.
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9/10
A hilarious spoof and gag cartoon!
OllieSuave-00718 January 2018
Droopy takes on an outlaw in a saloon, with hilarious spoofs and gags - unique even for a cartoon. The quick wit, adult-fare humor, and classic slapstick comedy that children would appreciate all blend in well in this cartoon. It's great entertainment for the entire family, even it is just under eight minutes!

Grade A-
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9/10
Red, Wolfie, Droopy & Robert Service
boblipton14 March 2020
Tex Avery and Heck Allen transform Robert W. Service's "The Shooting of Dan McGee" into one of Avery's high-speed, gag-filled cartoons.

It's the second time Avery had tackled the poem. He had directed DANGEROUS DAN MCFOO for Schlesinger in 1939. Now, at the height of his powers, with a much larger budget, and the clout of his success with his unit at MGM, he could direct this one pretty much as he wished, with much more risque gags.

Yet, despite this cartoon's brilliance, I pause to wonder why he remade it. This was the year he remade DUMB HOUNDED as NORTHWEST HOUNDED POLICE. Was he running his creative well a bit low, and so redid the movie he had been thinking about for half a dozen years? Never mind. It's a great cartoon.
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10/10
Avery Improves On His Original - This Is One Of The Best Cartoons Ever Made
ccthemovieman-112 June 2007
This is a remake from another cartoon Tex Avery had done earlier at another studio. That short was called "Dangerous Dan McFoo." Both that one and this one, as stated in the cartoon's opening, are "based upon 'The Shooting Of Dan McGrew' from 'The Spell Of the Yukon and Other Verses' by Robert W. Service."

This cartoon has an edge to it the previous didn't have, right in the opening scene were we see a sign stating the town is called "Coldernell" That that fast and you'll get my drift. Seconds later we see the gallows announcing a double-header and then a little noose for kids!

The first saloon scene where "a bunch of the boys are shooting it up" was fantastic and kudos to the restoration team to worked on this "Tex Avery's Droopy - The Complete Theatrical Collection." It was scenes like this that make you appreciate how good these cartoons look.

This was an outstanding effort and certainly better than Avery's first cartoon about this story (which also was good). Of course, he had six more years of animated experience so it is no surprise this one topped the original. I can't say enough good things about this: the dialog, the humor and the artwork are all spectacular.

I don't mean to overly gush, but this is one of the best cartoons I have ever seen - period, and I've seen hundreds of them.
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10/10
One good short deserves an even better remake.
llltdesq16 November 2002
Dangerous Dan McFoo, a short that Tex Avery directed at Warner Brothers, is re-made here some six years later, when Tex was at MGM. This cartoon is a bit crisper, with better timing, although both are quite good and both unmistakably Tex Avery cartoons. The Robert W. Service poem that serves as the starting point for both is used to much better effect here and Avery had six more years worth of practice honing his timing on his much-loved sight gags. The pacing is better here and it's just a better cartoon. Tex Avery was one of the giants of his field, working at a time when the animated short was significant, at least moreso than it is today. Many of his conventions are still used today. Too bad he didn't really seem to understand his impact while he was alive. From all reports, he felt that he'd been largely forgotten and had done little that would last. The work remains, but like most truly funny men, his personal life was a less than happy one. Excellent cartoon. Well worth seeking out. Most highly recommended.
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6/10
This entire film can be regarded as one big tease . . .
cricket3010 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
. . . and I am NOT referring to the picture of the bare human female above the Malamute Bar OR the scantily-clad saloon songstress, Lou. Because boys will be boys, maybe some of them are distracted by such peripheral bodies--then, in 1945 when THE SHOOTING OF DAN MAGOO was theatrically released--and now. However, we patriotic, Constitution-loving Americans are unlikely to lose sight of the fact that this film's title promises some gun play. True, in the opening sequence the population of COLDER THEN HELL, Alaska, swiftly drops from 324 to 305, thanks to no doubt warranted usages of Peacemakers. But all of this Rights exercising of our beloved Second is off-screen! Then, after building up to a climactic usage of Equalizers, the Malamute's lights go out. Talk about a let down!
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8/10
Perhaps no poem has inspired more cartoon versions than . . .
pixrox114 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
. . . the Robert Service doggerel behind THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGOO. This iteration certainly puts the "dog" back into "doggerel," with "Droopy" playing the lead character. As "Frankie and Johnnie" hums along in the background, "Lou" struts her stuff half in the buff. A story of lust and heat, the barroom bathos builds toward its blinding conclusion of blazing gats. But, as Barry Manilow wondered at the Copacabana, "Who shot who?" It's pretty hard to tell, given THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGOO's climactic blackout. (My money would be on Lou, because the wolf's behavior is barely a notch above a Harvey's. Just as most "Dr. Larry's" these days have reprinted their business cards with such terms as "Doc Lawrence" or "Laurence, your friendly--but not TOO friendly--physician," it remains a fact that there are few English words that rhyme with "Harvey.") Furthermore, this film's opening enticement for youngsters to snuff themselves (the local gallows sports a sign proclaiming "Kids, 15 cents") might have been appropriate when young folks had nothing to worry about except The Great Depression, Polio and World War Two. However, please do NOT screen THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGOO for anyone under 30 in These Troubled Times, with such one-time staples as Disneyland, bathroom tissue, March Madness, brick & mortar schools, the NHL, toys made in China, smart phones, cruise vacations, new TV show episodes, church, Major League Baseball, dine-in fast food restaurants, public libraries, fun runs, the Boston Marathon, televised auto races and TP all disappearing from American Life simultaneously!
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10/10
'Dan McGrew' Droopy style
TheLittleSongbird13 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. Generally like the Droopy cartoons and the character himself a lot, his best cartoons are classics and among Avery's best. Like his remarkable debut 'Dumb-Hounded', 'The Shooting of Dan McGoo', the second and the better of the two Tex Avery-directed cartoons based on Robert Service's poem, is one of Droopy's best.

For so early on, even with a different name and not quite the character design that one is more familiar with, Droopy's personality is so well established and he has everything that makes him a great character in the first place.

Luckily the Wolf is a very worthy foil, with just as interesting and funny a personality as Droopy. Lou is beautiful and very sensual. Again, 'The Shooting of Dan McGoo' is endlessly inventive and hysterically funny in typical Avery-style cartoon.

Tex Avery does a wonderful job directing, with his unique, unlike-any-other visual and characteristic and incredibly distinctive wacky humour style all over it as can be expected.

Some of 'The Shooting of Dan McGoo' is over-the-top in a delicious way, it is also incredibly clever, imaginatively creative and full of inspired visual gags, play on words and hilariously droll asides and puns. There is enough variety to stop it from being repetitious.

It's beautifully and brilliantly animated as usual. 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 from Bill Thompson, Bea Benaderet, Paul Frees and Frank Graham.

Overall, brilliant, a must for Droopy fans. 10/10 Bethany Cox
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4/10
I only liked the plays on words
Horst_In_Translation2 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"The Shooting of Dan McGoo" is an 8-minute cartoon from 1945, so this one is already over 70 years old. It is based on a poem by Robert W. Service and includes several well-known and prolific voice actors from back in the day. The director of this little MGM cartoon is the still today pretty famous Tex Avery. I may have forgotten about the film's visual side in the title of my review as that one is also easily one of the better components. However, I am not a great Droopy fan, so story-wise it was not too great a watch for me. The plays on words were really good though. "Drinks on the house" was brilliant and the undertaker's name was as good as the "one foot in grave" scene. This is a cartoon for grown-ups as Tex Avery is not scared of having supporting as well as lead characters getting shot to death. But it's a western film, so it is only accurate. If only the main character wouldn't be such a bore, a negative deal-breaker for me and crucial in my decision to give this one a thumbs-down. Don't watch.
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8/10
A Tex Avery classic, a very clever takeoff on the Robert Service poem.
mandzirm14 July 2000
This cartoon is vintage Tex Avery, including his classic barroom scene with the wolf's eyeballs bulging across the room toward the voluptuous dance hall girl. The cartoon is a clever takeoff on Robert Service's poem, "The Shooting of Dan McGrew".
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8/10
Droopy cartoon
SnoopyStyle12 February 2022
It's the murderous town of Coldernell, Alaska. It's a Tex Avery cartoon based on Robert Service's poem 'The Shooting of Dan McGrew'. It's seriously dark with the kiddie hangman's noose. Then Droopy appears. It's Droopy going against the Big Bad Wolf. This is a bit more adult but Droopy keeps it very light. He does get too energetic to close out the short but there is a good reason for that. It's a very fun short.
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9/10
Droopy Always Ends Up on Top
Hitchcoc12 October 2021
Using Robert Service's words, we go to the gold rush where people are shooting each other at an alarming pace. The worst of the bunch is Dangerous Dan McGoo. But he has a worthy adversary in Droopy, who never seems to get rattled (as a matter of fact he seems barely alive). It's quite entertaining with on of Tex Avery's beautiful women and all the slapstick one can squeeze into eight minutes.
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