Tall in the Trap is a 1962 Tom and Jerry short that serves as one of 13 theatrical shorts featuring the characters to be directed by Gene Deitch. It was written by Deitch, Tedd Pierce (who had previously written numerous Looney Tunes shorts), and Bill Danch.
In the Western town of Dry Gulp, Jerry is wanted for "cheese rustlin'". Hoping to find a way to rid the town of their problem, Sheriff Mutt Dillin hires “The Fastest Trap in the West”, who is none other than Tom.
Tropes Saloon: Come in and get Examples
- All Crimes Are Equal: Jerry is a notorious wanted outlaw... for rustling cheese.
- Ash Face: What happens to Tom after Jerry shoots him with the rifle at the end of the basement sequence. Happens again at the end to Tom and Mutt when the sheriff’s office gets blown up.
- Cartoon Cheese: Not only is the cheese yellow like many other Tom and Jerry shorts before and after this, but once a wheel of cheese gets riddled with bullet holes, the label gets changed from "Cheddar" to "Swiss".
- Cigar-Fuse Lighting: Tom uses a cigar to light up the powder keg to try and blow up Jerry. After he drops the cigar, it ends up rolling into the gunpowder trail created by the hole Jerry made in the barrel.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: Tom’s initial duel with Jerry ends up him getting his boxers exposed, resulting in Jerry laughing at him before getting chased.
- Duck Season, Rabbit Season: One sequence has Tom with a rifle trying to reach a basement where Jerry is at, only for the mouse to turn off the lights and Tom turning them back on. Jerry tricks Tom into turning off the lights, resulting in the cat tumbling down the stairs and when the lights come back on, Jerry shoots at Tom with the rifle.
- Logo Joke: The lion that appears in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer logo appears as a wanted poster that gets shot at in the beginning of this short.
- Mouse Hole: While they were a regular part of the franchise, one of Jerry’s mouseholes here is classified as his own saloon. While there, he distracts Tom with a bag of flour and while the cat is busy trying to get it out thinking he’s caught the mouse, Jerry conks him with a hammer from on top of the saloon sign.
- Mouse Trap: Appears frequently throughout the short, with Tom being armed with them (and getting his finger caught in one of them during his demonstration) while introducing himself to the sheriff to be tasked with getting rid of Jerry. Jerry even has one in his mouse hole that is used to cut the cheese he steals into slices.
- My Card: Tom gives one to the sheriff reading “Have Trap, Will Travel” after crashing into Mutt’s office. The second time he tries this after unwittingly blowing up the sheriff’s office (and the first card is burned in the process), he is chased out with gunfire.
- Oh, Crap!: Jerry, who is overhearing the conversation between the shopkeeper and Mutt Dillin, shudders in fear after hearing that they are hiring The Fastest Trap in the West (aka Tom) to get rid of him. Tom himself has his fair share of these during the short, especially after the powder keg is leaving behind a gunpowder trail that’s about to blow up the barrel.
- Parody: The short is one for the Western series Have Gun – Will Travel and Gunsmoke.
- Powder Trail: Tom’s final attempt to drive Jerry out of town in this short involves a powder keg. After Tom lights the fuse, Jerry makes a hole in the barrel, resulting in a trail of gunpowder that Tom has to outrun when he notices. Despite defusing that trail in a body of water, he realizes too late that he already lit the fuse from the barrel earlier, resulting in the sheriff’s office getting blown up.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: After his tail gets stuck in a Mouse Trap, Tom lets out a high-pitched (particularly when compared to many of his other screams) scream.
- "Wanted!" Poster: Besides the aforementioned Logo Joke, there’s one for Jerry at the beginning of the short that specifies him as being "Wanted: For Cheese Rustlin' ".
- We Are Not Going Through That Again: When Tom tries to convince the sheriff with another card in an attempt to try and continue to get rid of Jerry despite having blown up the office earlier, Mutt responds by shooting at Tom with a gun and chasing the cat out of Dry Gulp.
