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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oldmanofthemountain_0.png]]
2 [[caption-width-right:350:"Whatcha gonna do now?"\
3"Gonna do the best I can!"]]
4
5->''Look out! Look out! The Old Man of the Mountain!''
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7''The Old Man of the Mountain'' is a 1933 WesternAnimation/BettyBoop short from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation. It is one of three Betty Boop shorts that Music/CabCalloway performed in, the other two being ''WesternAnimation/MinnieTheMoocher'' and ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhite1933''.
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9The short opens with a mountain lion running down from a mountain into a nearby town, warning everyone about "The Old Man of the Mountain." They all panic and begin rushing out of town. Betty asks what's wrong, and an owl (voiced by Calloway) stops to tell her through song about the Old Man of the Mountain. Betty then makes her way up the mountain and meets face to face with the Old Man (also voiced by Calloway).
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11The short is in the public domain and can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1iujW0Wz2k here]].
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13Has nothing to do with the leader of TheHashshashin nor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_Mountain the former rock formation in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire that collapsed in 2003.]]
14----
15!!This short provides examples of:
16* AdaptationalVillainy: The short is based after a pre-existing song, where the Old Man, while somewhat batty and having a bit of a trickster streak, is ultimately just a wise old hermit who lives in harmony with nature.
17* AntagonistTitle: The Old Man of the Mountain is the BigBad.
18* BigBad: The titular Old Man.
19* BigDamnHeroes: When the Old Man has Betty cornered, the townsfolk sneak up from behind and subdue him.
20* ChildByRape: When Betty asks a woman with a baby stroller why she's crying, she says "the Old Man of the Mountain", and shows Betty her baby triplets who have beards like the Old Man, implying that the Old Man raped her and fathered the triplets.
21* ConspicuouslyLightPatch: Played with. When Betty first arrives at the Old Man's cave, there's a boulder that's very obviously not painted and very prominent in the scene. She walks right up to it and then turns her back to it, making it look like the Old Man is going to come out from behind it. He then pops out of a completely normal, painted part of the background instead, surprising her. He does later destroy the light rock with a lightning bolt, however.
22* CreepyCave: The Old Man lives in one, unsurprisingly. It's full of all manner of creepy background objects, including what appears to be a giant skull with a railroad spike through it.
23* CreepyJazzMusic: The short opens with everyone in town panicking and running as jazz music plays. One townsperson, an owl, stops when Betty asks him what's wrong, and he explains through song that everyone is running from the titular Old Man. Betty goes up to the mountain to try and stop the Old Man, and when she finally meets him, he starts flirting with her through song.
24* DirtyOldMan: When the Old Man meets Betty, he starts flirting with her, and before long begins ''chasing'' her, apparently with the intent of raping her! Another woman running from the Old Man has a stroller with three babies that look just like him.
25* TheDreaded: The Old Man is evil, and everyone ''knows'' it.
26* EvilOldFolks: The Old Man is definitely a nasty fellow, and the BigBad of the short.
27* GivingThemTheStrip: Betty escapes from The Old Man by slipping out of her dress. The dress then [[LivingClothes slaps him in the face and runs off after her]].
28* HammerspaceHair: The Old Man's beard had a tankard of alcohol stored in it plus a pair of bugs to pour it into his mouth while he was running.
29* HiddenDepths: Despite what a jerk he is, the Old Man is an ''amazing'' singer and dancer. Not surprising, considering that his voice and his moves (via rotoscoping) is provided by Cab Calloway.
30* MickeyMousing: Much of the action in the short is synced up to the music provided by Music/CabCalloway and his orchestra.
31* MountainMan: This short is based on the jazz song of the same name, and the titular Old Man is once again portrayed as a hermit who lives in a cave in the mountains. However, he goes through AdaptationalVillainy in this cartoon. Rather than being a harmless, if batty, old man like he was in the original song, he's now a monstrous individual who tries to eat and/or assault anyone who enters his domain.
32* MrExposition: The Owl, who tells Betty all about the Old Man through song.
33* TheOwlKnowingOne: The Owl, who stops to give Betty a WarningSong about the Old Man of the Mountain while everyone else runs away.
34* PuddleCoveringChivalry: A bear [[FurIsClothing removes its fur]] and covers a puddle with it so Betty could cross. [[ShrunkInTheWash It promptly shrinks from the moisture,]] much to the bear's anger.
35* RapeAsDrama: It's implied that this is why the Old Man is so feared. He flirts with Betty and tries to grab her, even ripping off her clothes, and another woman running from the Old Man has a stroller with three babies that look just like him.
36* {{Rotoscoping}}: With Cab Calloway's rotoscoped moves, even a creepy old guy can dance!
37* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The ''entire town'' reacts this way when they hear the Old Man is on the move, evacuating en masse rather than risk running into him.
38* ShockAndAwe: Downplayed. The Old Man throws a lightning bolt at one point, but he only does it to destroy [[ConspicuouslyLightPatch the rock that it seemed like he was going to pop out of]]. This is more of a one-off gag as opposed to the Old Man actually having superpowers.
39* SomewhereAMammalogistIsCrying: The animal at the beginning, which is apparently a mountain lion, has a mane. Unlike lions (which are a different species), mountain lions do not have manes. This may or may not have been intended as a VisualPun.
40* StrongFamilyResemblance: As Betty climbs up the mountain, she runs into a crying woman with a baby stroller. Inside the stroller are three babies that look exactly like the Old Man, complete with long beards.
41* TailfinWalking: A male fish comes out of a puddle while walking on his tail fin to gawk at Betty's legs, until his wife comes out (also walking on her tail fin) and drags her husband back in.
42* ThrowingOffTheDisability: Played for laughs - an old man (not the title character) with bandaged feet limps around on a pair of crutches, only to get one look at Betty's curves, and immediately finds himself reinvigorated, tossing aside the crutches.
43* TitledAfterTheSong: "The Old Man of the Mountain" is titled after the Cab Calloway song that came out just one year before this short, as well as the titular villain.
44* VisualPun: When the Old Man is approaching Betty, we see him licking his thumbs. This is a visual play on the long forgotten phrase "Hot Licks", which was slang for "Catchy music."
45* WarningSong: The song that this short is named after is sung by an owl in the village to Betty, warning her that the Old Man of the Mountain is evil and will kill or eat anyone who crosses his path. Notably, the lyrics are changed from the original version of the song to give the Old Man AdaptationalVillainy.
46* WildMan: The Old Man is an evil version, living on his own in the wild, and terrorizing the inhabitants of the area whenever he feels like it.
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