Daffy challenges duckhunter Elmer to a boxing match, rigged in his favor with the collusion of the duck referee. In the stands, Elmer's dog Larrimore suspects that something funny is going on, but he's drowned out by Daffy's all-duck cheering section.
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Reviews
Did you people see the same film I saw?
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
Directed by Chuck Jones, "To Duck....or Not to Duck" is a Daffy Duck/Elmer Fudd cartoon that is not Warner Bros.' finest hour, but then, even the best in the business (like Chuck) have their failures now and then. The problem with this particular cartoon is that it doesn't really go anywhere. Daffy challenges Fudd to a boxing match, in which the hapless hunter is absolutely no match for the swaggering duck.Only two scenes in this short that I find funny: First, at the very opening, Daffy frolics and sings while flying, and he points out the "duck shot" that narrowly misses him. And second, after Daffy says to Elmer "A great sportsman, eh?", Daffy is hilarious as he rapidly grunts and wildly gyrates his body.I can't really recommend "To Duck....or Not to Duck" very highly, but if you wish to see it for yourselves, at least there'll be no harm done. Catch it on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6 Disc 1.
Few of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts dealt with physical activities more hilariously than "To Duck... or Not to Duck", as over-energetic Daffy challenges gullible Elmer to a boxing match weighed heavily in his own favor. If you thought that the White Sox scandal of 1919 was screwed up, then you ain't seen nothing yet! Quite simply, it's the sort of thing that only Daffy could do. I noticed in one scene that Elmer's pants fell down and it looked like you could see his butt! They actually got that on screen in 1943! Of course, these cartoons were always looking for ways to push the limits. I'd better be certain of that or my name isn't Lee Eisenberg...and it isn't! (just kidding: it is)
After Elmer declares himself to be a great sportsman, Daffy Duck challenges him to a boxing match to see if he's such a great sportsman without his rifle and hunting dog. This cartoon uses one of the most memorable gags that I can remember from any cartoon. As the boxing referee goes over the rules, he uses Elmer as a dummy on what not to do (None of this, or this, or like so). That will never leave me and I hope to use that tactic to my own advantage someday (Hee, hee, hee!) The boxing match is pretty much the only highlight of the cartoon. Everything leading up to it is so-so, but it is a very memorable sequence of comedy. I especially liked when Elmer's dog, Laramore, was pelted with garbage from the all-duck crowd when he booed what was going on in the ring. This is just a classic cartoon for the Warner Brothers team.My IMDb Rating: 9/10
While the Daffy Duck of the `50s and `60s was funny, there is no beating the Daffy from the `30s and `40s and here is proof of that and who can forget the famous Daffy laugh which inspired the Woody Woodpecker laugh? I don't know if it was because of Woody that the Daffy laugh was absent in the `50s and `60s but I don't think so because both Woody Woodpecker and Daffy Duck were performed by Mel Blanc.