Behind the Tunes: Hard Luck Duck

OK, so we Looney Tunes fans feel like we know all that there is to know about every character, so why bother watching any of these mini-documentaries about Bugs, Daffy, Porky, etc? Well, believe it or not, I had never realized why Daffy always feels so hostile towards Bugs until I watched "Behind the Tunes: Hard Luck Duck". Then again, I didn't see the cartoons back when they first appeared in theaters, so I had no frame of reference (otherwise, I would have seen Bugs replace Daffy as the Warner Bros. animation star).

Overall, I agree with the previous reviewer that these mini-documentaries improved with the Volume 2 DVDs (namely the ones about Bob Clampett and Treg Brown). OK if you want to know more about the world's craziest darn fool duck.

This short three minute and 42 second featurette, which can be found as an extra on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1. It's nothing more than a basic primer for the character of Daffy Duck made, I'm thinking, with an eye geared for newbies to the classical Looney Tunes. It details how wacky Daffy is and why he dislikes Bugs Bunny. "Duck Amuck" is also talked about. This is really REALLY basic stuff (the same can be said for pretty much all the other Behind the Toons feauterettes that are on Volume 1, fortunately the Behind the Tune features would get so much better starting with the ones found on volume 2).

My Grade: C

Daffy was the first real "Looney" character of Looney Tunes," explains film critic Leonard Maltin in this explanation of who Daffy Duck was in the world of cartoons. Other artists and directors (i.e. Chuck Jones, who did many great cartoons) give a quick comment on how crazy Daffy was.

An interesting note was an explanation of why Daffy "hated" Bugs. It's all ego, folks, about jealousy and perhaps the poor Duck not ever getting his due, especially when Bugs became "number one." I also was glad to see a plug for one of my all-time favorite cartoons: "Duck Amuck" (which Jones directed).

Although very short in length, but I found this "documentary" very interesting. It can be found on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 1.