"A Gruesome Twosome" is a 1945 Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Bob Clampett and starring Tweety.
Two alley cats vie for the affection of a female cat, who tells them she'll date the one who brings her back a bird. Unfortunately, the bird they end up going after is Tweety.
The cartoon is notable for being the final cartoon to depict Tweety without feathers.
"A Gruesome Twosome" provides examples of:
- All Men Are Perverts: The two alley cats are fighting for the affection of a female cat. After some sweet talking, she puckers up for a kiss, but the orange cat gets dragged away by his rival for a fight. Immediately afterwards, a dog pops up and addresses the audience.Dog: Ladies and gentlemen, I don't actually belong in this picture, BUT I CAN'T PASS UP A CHANCE LIKE THIS! [kisses the cat] YEE-HEE! WAHOO! [leaves]
Orange cat: [getting back up] Everybody wants to get into the act! - Batman Gambit: To get rid of the two cats for good, Tweety provokes an angry bulldog by hitting it with its own bone and stealing it. He then throws the bone into the horse costume that the two cats are still in and lets the resulting chaos play out.
- Bee Afraid: Tweety picks up a bumblebee, slaps it around to make it good and mad, and puts it inside the horse costume to sting the cats.
- Blatant Lies: When the female cat questions them fighting, the two alley cats balk at the suggestion, while clearly locked in combat and holding assorted weapons.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The brief scene where a dog randomly pops up to address the audience that he doesn't belong in the cartoon.
- Deranged Animation: The whole cartoon has wild animation, but one standout is the scene where a dog randomly pops up to tell the audience he isn't part of the cartoon — the previous part of the scene was done by Robert McKimson, but when the dog shows up, it instantly switches to animator Rod Scribner, who starts by having the dog animated in an imitation of Robert's less wild style — until he breaks out into joy at the chance of kissing a cat, where Scribner suddenly goes wild with his animation.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This is the final short to depict Tweety with pink feathers. He was changed to yellow in his subsequent appearances to avoid making him look like he was nude. Indeed, the red cat says, "Here comes da naked genius now."
- Enemy Mine: After their ongoing feud prevents either of them from getting Tweety, the orange cat suggests he and the yellow cat team up. It naturally doesn't make a difference.
- Fur Is Clothing: When the red cat blasts his rival with a gun, his fur briefly flies off to reveal he's wearing long underwear.
- Gag Nose: The red cat has a ridiculously large nose.
- Implausible Deniability: When the girl cat accuses the yellow and red cat of fighting, they deny it while freezing in the middle of their Big Ball of Violence and having a weapon in each hand.
- Larynx Dissonance: Tweety voice suddenly becomes very loud at the end of his "They fall down and go BOOM!" line. A Call-Back to the previous short Birdy and the Beast.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The red cat is a caricature of Jimmy Durante. (Ha-cha-cha-cha!)
- No Name Given: None of the cats are given names.
- Pantomime Animal: Later in the cartoon, the cats disguise themselves in a cheap horse costume to try and catch Tweety.
- Simpleton Voice: The yellow cat speaks like this.
- Shout-Out:
- When the female cat accuses her two beaus of fighting, the red cat says "Well, now, I wouldn't say that," which was the catchphrase of Mr. Peavey from The Great Gildersleeve.
- While riding the "horse", Tweety is dressed like The Lone Ranger and shouts "Hi-ho, Silver, away!"
- Suddenly Shouting:
- The scene where a dog randomly pops up, calmly explaining to the audience that he isn't supposed to be in the picture, but suddenly breaks out into maniacal joy at the chance of getting to make out with an unsuspecting cat.
- "Aw, da poor puddytats. They faw down an' go... BOOM!"
- Inverted when the cats in the horse costume are about to crash into a tree. Tweety motions to shout "Timber!" as loud as he can, but then says it in a calm, disinterested tone.
- Silent Whisper: Two different times, the red cat whispers his plan to the yellow cat, adding a loud "AND FURTHERMORE" in the middle.
- Standard Snippet:
- The opening music is set to a 1909 pop tune, Me-Ow.
- When the cats first appear in their unconvincing horse costume, "The Old Gray Mare" can be heard.
- While the bee was attacking the cats in their horse costume and Tweety does a Shout-Out to The Lone Ranger, The William Tell Overture plays.
- Watch Out for That Tree!: The two cats crash into a tree while wearing the horse costume, which gets wrapped around the trunk.
- Waxing Lyrical: While wooing the female cat, the red cat quotes the lyrics of "You Ought to Be in Pictures".
