"I know something I won't tell, I won't tell..."
"Wagon Heels" is a 1945 Looney Tunes cartoon, starring Porky Pig and directed by Bob Clampett. It is a remake of a 1938 Porky Pig cartoon also directed by Clampett, "Injun Trouble"note .
The cartoon opens in 1849, with a map showing a sliver of land on the Eastern Seaboard labeled "USA", with all land to its west labeled "INJUN JOE'S TERRITORY". Porky is leading a wagon train to California and is warned to watch out for a Native American "Super Chief", named Injun Joe. Along the way, both Porky and Injun Joe are repeatedly interrupted by a goofy bearded hillbilly named Sloppy Moe, who keeps repeating, "I know something I won't tell, I won't tell, I won't tell!" to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down"...
"Wagon Heels" provides examples of:
- Annoying Arrows: When Sloppy Moe first appears, he shakes dozens of arrows out of his beard.
- Aside Comment: The first time Sloppy Moe starts pestering him, Injun Joe cuts the twig Moe stands on, sending him falling down a ravine. Joe then turns to the audience pointing towards where Moe disappeared:
- Bears Are Bad News: In his introduction scene, a grizzly bear attacks Injun Joe, roaring at him. The hulking native roars back, intimidating the bear into becoming a whimpering little cub.
- Bear Trap: One scene has a trap catch Injun Joe by the leg, but, being virtually invincible, he feels nothing. In response, Joe bites the trap with his just-as-sharp teeth, sending it whimpering away like a dog.
- Bowdlerise: On old Cartoon Network airings of Injun Trouble, the sequence where "Joe" chops a Statue of Liberty from a tree was deleted, only showing Porky and Injun Joe coming down the side of the statue. The Porky Pig 101 DVD set reinstates the missing footage.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Sloppy Moe, who knows Injun Joe's greatest weakness—he's ticklish.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Sloppy Moe, an eccentric but well-meaning fellow who helps Porky in the end.
- Eyes Out of Sight: Injun Joe's eyes are completely hidden by his hair in the 1945 version.
- Fisher King: In the remake, as Sloppy Moe tickles Injun Joe due to him being ticklish toward the end of the cliff, he realizes too late as he plummets downward, causing the entire land he claims to go down a hole, expanding the United States.
- Ground-Shattering Landing: When Injun Joe jumps off a cliff to attack the wagon, he lands perfectly on his feet and the entire earth beneath him bounces downward before falling back into place.
- Implacable Man: Injun Joe is almost invulnerable, shrugging off injuries as minor annoyances. His only weakness is ticklishness.
- Live Mink Coat: One of the settlers was fighting off Injun Joe with a gun and between shots his Racoon skin hat shaped back into a live raccoon and fired off a slingshot.
- Major Injury Underreaction: In the remake, Porky snatches and hits Injun Joe with the back of the axe to his foot. He only gives out a flat "ow" before chasing after Porky.
- Pun-Based Title: On "wagon wheels" and the old-fashioned slang term "heel" (i.e., an inconsiderate or untrustworthy person).
- Punny Name: Sloppy Moe, an obvious play on Sloppy Joes.
- Reused Character Design: Decades later, Sloppy Moe would be reused as Ticklepuss in a Tiny Toon Adventures episode.
- The Savage Indian: Injun Joe is a villainous Native American who robs wagon trains that pass his territory.
- Shot-for-Shot Remake: "Wagon Heels" shares many of the same story beats and gags as "Injun Trouble", but in color and with some scenes reanimated with a slightly alternate ending.
- Shout-Out: "Super Chief" Injun Joe is a play on the famous Santa Fe train run of the same name (a frequent reference in WB cartoons), and reinforced by each character spouting smoke and crying "Woo-woo!" like a steam locomotive, each time they say Injun Joe's name.
- Standard Snippet:
- The opening of "Wagon Heels" uses "Oh, Susanna!" as its theme.
- When Sloppy Moe appears in "Injun Trouble", "The Old Apple Tree in the Orchard" plays.
- The Stoic: Injun Joe isn't much expressive compare to Injun Trouble.
- Super-Strength: Injun Joe has a comically herculean build and is able to effortlessly tear through mountains like wet cardboard.
- Suddenly Shouting: In the remake, Sloppy Moe is starting to whisper into Porky's ear "It's a... SECRET!"
- Vocal Evolution: While Sloppy Moe's or Porky's voice had little changes, Injun Joe's voice is most changed one. before, he has a deep voice in the original 1938 short. in the colored remake "Wagon Heels" though, he has a raspy voice instead.
- Walk, Don't Swim: For Porky it was an impassable river, for Injun Joe it was a leisurely walk.
- Weaksauce Weakness: It's eventually revealed that Sloppy Moe's "secret" is that Injun Joe is ticklish, and the seemingly-invincible villain is finally defeated after being rendered helpless with laughter.
