Red Hot Riding Hood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Red Hot Riding Hood is an animated cartoon short subject, directed by Tex Avery and released on May 8, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
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[edit] Plot
The story begins with the standard version of Red Riding Hood until the characters suddenly rebel at this cliched staging and demand a fresh approach.
The annoyed narrator cedes to their demands and starts the story again in a dramatically different arrangement. Now, the story is set in a contemporary urban setting where Red is a sexy adult nightclub entertainer, the Wolf is a debonair skirt chaser, and Grandma is an oversexed man-chaser.
The most famous element is the musical scene where Red performs and the Wolf reacts in highly lustful wild takes. Those reactions were considered so energetic that the censors demanded cuts in this scene and others. The film's original conclusion, deleted for reasons of implied bestiality, had Grandma marrying the wolf at a shotgun wedding, and having the unhappy couple and their half-human half-wolf children attend Red's show. However, a military officer arranged for an uncut version for military audiences overseas.
The actual released ending is almost as scandalous by today's standards, and is usually edited on television rebroadcast today. It features the wolf getting away from Grandma and returning to the nightclub. There, disgusted with women because of the experience he had with Grandma, he proclaims that he will kill himself before he looks at another babe. When Red comes back out, the wolf, true to his word, blows his brains out. His ghost then gets back up and continues with the same catcalling as he did when he first saw Red. The character of red hot riding hood also closly resembled one of the top pin-up girls at the time, Betty Grable.
[edit] Follow-ups
Avery made several sequels to the film, including Swing Shift Cinderella (1945), The Shooting of Dan McGoo and Wild & Woolfy (both 1945 and both featuring Droopy), Uncle Tom's Cabana (1947), and Little Rural Riding Hood (1949).
"Red" would make a comeback in the hit Saturday morning cartoon series Tom and Jerry Kids, appearing in the Droopy & Dripple and Calaboose Cat cartoon shorts, including the spin-off series Droopy, Master Detective. She was given the name "Miss VaVoom" for the Droopy & Dripple shorts, and, in the Calaboose Cat shorts, "Mystery Lady". As with the MGM cartoon shorts she plays the "damsel in distress" while McWolf & Droopy compete for her affection.
[edit] Parodies
- The scene where Grandma chases The Wolf was the inspiration for the scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit where Lena Hyena chases Eddie Valiant.
- The famous scene of The Wolf reacting lustfully in the club was directly referenced in The Mask where Stanley Ipkiss goes to the Coco Bongo club as the Mask. Seated at a similar table, he reacts to his first sight of Cameron Diaz's torch-singer character by mimicking many of the same cartoonish "takes" (achieved through the use of CGI), and his head even morphs into that of a cartoon wolf when he wolf whistles. The Mask's alter-ego Stanley Ipkiss owns the cartoon on tape too.
[edit] External links
- In the early 1950's a stripper named Maxine Holman had an act that seems to have drawn direct inspiration from this Tex Avery cartoon. Follow the link & when you get there click on the link for the "larger version"
- Red Hot Riding Hood at the Internet Movie Database
- Red Hot Riding Hood at Keyframe - the Animation Resource
