Garfield's Babes and Bullets

Garfield is bored out of his mind. With nothing do to he rummages in the closet and unearths an old raincoat and fedora hat. All of a sudden he has the desire to fantasise himself as a jaded dime-novel private detective called Sam Spayed.

At this point the show turns to black and white, a bold move considering most studios only want to give kids garish loud colors. Sam Spayed is the typical 1940's private dick. He narrates with the usual cynicism and attention to obscure detail. Women and dames or broads and every scam or crime is the 'oldest trick in the book'.

A beautiful broad called Tanya enters his office asking for help. Her husband drove his car off a cliff and the police are only too eager to assume he fell asleep at the wheel. Smelling foul play she hires Spayed to find the truth. And through a series of odd clues Sam finally deduces the whos, whys and whens.

A radically different turn for Garfield sure, but still very funny, with some great dialogue and one-liners. Phil Roman directs as if he's doing a black and white dime novel story and not the usual Garfield stuff (as great as the usual is). As thin as the story may sound it actually comes across as quite clever and it is surely one of the best Garfield TV specials. And they are all great so that's pretty much saying a lot.