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Who is the Greatest Looney Tunes Director?

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DrDepo Since: Jul, 2010
#1: Oct 7th 2010 at 2:13:50 PM

Who, in your opinion, is the greatest Looney Tunes director?

Here they are in a convenient list, alphabetized from their surnames (at least, the ones I can think of from the top of my head):

Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Ub Iwerks, Chuck Jones, Robert Mc-Kimson, Frank Tashlin.

In my opinion, it's Bob Clampett. Not just because the animation is wacky and deranged (although that is a large part), but because the pacing, characters and stories are just so emotion-driven that they stand out from all the other directors' cartoons - although, don't get me wrong, I pretty much love them all.

edited 7th Oct '10 2:15:09 PM by DrDepo

EddieValiant,Jr. Not Quite Batman from under your bed. Since: Jan, 2010
Not Quite Batman
#2: Oct 7th 2010 at 2:51:33 PM

Tex Avery, hands down.

"Religion isn't the cause of wars, it's the excuse." —Mycroft Next
ManwiththePlan Since: Dec, 2009
Ronnie Respect the Red Right Hand from Surrounded by Idiots Since: Jan, 2001
Respect the Red Right Hand
#4: Oct 7th 2010 at 3:17:48 PM

Chuck Jones, if for no other reason that birthing One Froggy Evening, Duck Amuck, and DUCK DODGERS, IN THE TWENTY FOURTH AND A HALFTH CENTURYYYYY!

Those three alone is enough to put him a cut above and beyond any Looney Tunes director to me.

DrDepo Since: Jul, 2010
#5: Oct 7th 2010 at 3:30:40 PM

I'll always like Bob Clampett best, but both of you guys are right - Tex Avery and Chuck Jones are both geniuses.

EddieValiant,Jr. Not Quite Batman from under your bed. Since: Jan, 2010
Not Quite Batman
#6: Oct 7th 2010 at 3:50:59 PM

I haven't much cared for Chuck Jones since he ruined Tom and Jerry.

"Religion isn't the cause of wars, it's the excuse." —Mycroft Next
Shadowtext Trickster God from the noosphere Since: Jan, 2001
Trickster God
#7: Oct 7th 2010 at 3:52:08 PM

Chuck Jones, easily. When I think of Looney Tunes, I always think of Chuck Jones cartoons first.

DrDepo Since: Jul, 2010
#8: Oct 7th 2010 at 4:04:00 PM

He did ruin Tom and Jerry, yeah, but that was during the slump towards the end of his career - I think we should ignore the few bad cartoons he did, and look at the awesome cartoons he did (The Dover Boysof Pimento University immediately springs to mind).

I do think Bob Clampett is by far the best, but I don't follow him devotedly or anything. Chuck Jones did AMAZING cartoons at Warner Bros. - Tex Avery did less good cartoons at Warner Bros., but look at the stuff he did at MGM, man... I can see why a lot of people consider him the greatest cartoonist who ever lived.

EddieValiant,Jr. Not Quite Batman from under your bed. Since: Jan, 2010
Not Quite Batman
#9: Oct 7th 2010 at 4:06:10 PM

Oh, my bad. I had Tex's MGM cartoons in mind.

"Religion isn't the cause of wars, it's the excuse." —Mycroft Next
DrDepo Since: Jul, 2010
#10: Oct 7th 2010 at 4:09:01 PM

Well, I did say "Looney Tunes director" in the topic title. =P

It's Tex's MGM cartoons that make him an awesome cartoonist, not his Looney Tunes ones (although his Looney Tunes cartoons are good by any other standard).

Prinzenick Since: Sep, 2009
#11: Oct 7th 2010 at 4:13:01 PM

I like Bob Clampett's cartoons the best for their great direction, slick animation, and very creative use of expressions and music, although i love Mc Kimson's brutal comedy second. Ol' Foghorn Leghorn is the perfect cartoon for Dads and Grandpas. I like Chuck Jones third best, although i'll admit he's much more inventive than Mc Kimson. Tex Avery didn't get much of a chance to show his full talent until MGM, but i remember showing one of his last cartoons there, 'All This and Rabbit Stew' to my classroom, and it BROUGHT THE HOUSE DOWN. I had never seen people laugh so hard at a cartoon like that—and i even showed them Clampett's "Falling Hare" afterwards!

edited 13th Jun '11 10:41:17 PM by Prinzenick

Surenity Since: Aug, 2009
#12: Oct 7th 2010 at 9:24:08 PM

I'd say Tex Avery because he is my favorite, but he did his best stuff at MGM, so I'd probably have to go with Bob Clampett. I loved the early Bugs Bunny shorts Tex did though.

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Tannhaeuser Since: Apr, 2009
#13: Oct 8th 2010 at 6:05:21 PM

Wow. I really do feel like the odd man out, because I have always been a big Robert McKimson fan. I just like his look: the nice solid figures of the characters. Besides, he came up with the Tasmanian Devil and Foghorn Leghorn — that's got to count for something.

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#14: Jun 13th 2011 at 8:34:12 PM

My favorite is probably a tie between Clampett and Mc Kimson, but for greatest I must... begrudgingly... say Chuck Jones. I really don't like what he did with Daffy, but I have to admit most of the stuff he touched was golden and he really went a long way towards Codifying the field of Animation.

edited 13th Jun '11 8:34:37 PM by KnownUnknown

NapoleonDeCheese Since: Oct, 2010
#15: Jun 13th 2011 at 9:00:24 PM

Clampett and Jones in a draw. I love Avery, but I think his best work was done at MGM. Still great at Looney Tunes, however, but not as good as the other two.

And oddly, I like Jones' Tom And Jerry. Compared to the Deitch stuff before him, and anything else done with the characters after him, and even the latest parts of the MGM era (basically everything since the duckling's first appearance), I think it was solid, competent and nice looking material.

edited 13th Jun '11 9:01:43 PM by NapoleonDeCheese

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#16: Jun 13th 2011 at 9:05:19 PM

That's one thing about Jones, though - he wasn't very good at seeing outside his own fool/outwitter scenario. His Tom And Jerry cartoons played a lot like Roadrunner cartoons in the way Tom was more clearly the aggressor and the fool - he resembles Wile E. Coyote more than himself. Granted, it worked with the characters, but his approach played them differently enough than they were played to be noticeable.

And look at his crack at doing Foghorn Leghorn which, while really good and ridiculously hilarious, you have to admit was definitely using the character in a way Jones was used to.

edited 13th Jun '11 11:08:01 PM by KnownUnknown

Gray64 Since: Dec, 1969
#17: Jun 13th 2011 at 10:24:36 PM

I'd have to say Jones overall. His consistently produced excellent, quality, polished work. I actually like Tex Avery better, but I think his best work was non-Looney Tunes. I always likes Jones' Tom and Jerry, but I understand why people don't like his work there. He completely made it over in his own image. Bob Clampett was wild and brilliant. Mc Kimson was the best artist, even the other Termite Terrace directors admitted that. I like Freleng the least, which isn't to say I DIS-liked him. I think he did better on his own Pink Panther cartoons. What Looney Tunes did Ub Iwerks work on? I thought he worked for Disney, and briefely for...someone else who wasn't WB...

TacoWiz title from location Since: Jul, 2009
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#18: Jun 13th 2011 at 11:13:27 PM

I watch the cartoons for Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones. I don't watch them for anypony else.

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Shota Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Dancing with myself
cartoon_central Since: Oct, 2010
#20: Jul 23rd 2011 at 8:37:27 AM

Bob Clampett he had that extra edge to his cartoons he wasn't afraid of going into darker territory with things like depression and onscreen suicide, his were also very energetic, fast paced, and wacky and he had a great use of music and timing to his gags, second would either be Jones or Avery.

Theoriginalblader Sloving cases one by one from Downtown Since: Feb, 2011
Sloving cases one by one
#21: Jul 25th 2011 at 12:10:47 PM

I would say the best director would have to be Bob Clampett. Hands down on that one.

Psi001 Since: Oct, 2010
#22: Oct 10th 2011 at 5:25:18 AM

I admit Jones had a more consistant quality to his shorts, both in animation and wit (par maybe his very late cartoons such as Superior Duck, likely because great writers like Mike Maltese were no longer around with him). As said though, a lot of his cartoons were very formulaic and he was the key player in the main cast's Flanderization (Daffy for example was an extremely versatile and spontanious character in the 40s, by the late 50s he was a perpetual Butt-Monkey for Bugs Bunny or some movie scenario). They were still funny, but when you've seen one you've more or less seen them all.

Freleng did some truly noteworthy shorts as well, and I kinda liked his character designs, but similarly he got attached to formulas a bit too much. By the end of his run, he hardly did anything that didn't feature either Bugs or Sylvester.

Mc Kimson, while a bit of hit and miss, I could appreciate for trying to maintain a more versatile filmography than the other two. The only recurring formulas he made were Hippity Hopper and Foghorn Leghorn, and the majority of the latter were still rather diverse in scenarios and gags. He also didn't seem to limit the main cast as much, eg. his Daffy, though developed in a similar vien to Jones', was still a rather spontanious and fairly likeable character.

Clampett I like for his sheer bizarreness and fluid animation, though he admitedly didn't last as long as the rest of the team so it's hard to judge him in an equal manner. It would have been interesting to see how he evolved according to the changes made to the shorts in the 50s. Tex Avery and Art Davis are similar (though Davis did work on a handful of later stories which were somewhat decent).

Sorry for the bump, this just seemed like a thread worth discussing.

edited 10th Oct '11 5:56:35 AM by Psi001

kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#23: Oct 10th 2011 at 6:56:55 AM

Thanks to TVTropes for making me realize the "modern" versions of the characters set by Jones and used by studios again and again are actually the cause of a Broken Base online for those who love Clampett!

edited 10th Oct '11 6:57:07 AM by kyun

RTaco Since: Jul, 2009
#24: Oct 10th 2011 at 8:32:38 AM

Jones. His art just had a lot more style and polish than the others.

Psi001 Since: Oct, 2010
#25: Oct 10th 2011 at 4:39:51 PM

Again I don't think Jones' shorts or interpretations are bad at all, it's just when they restricted them to be the definitive enterpretations of the franchise and ignored the majority of work other directors and staff put into it that it became a problem. Daffy and Bugs and the likes were the creation of many different people. Even if they did refer to Clampett instead of Jones, or any other sole director's work, it would be just as limited, because they only made certain depths for the characters and universe.

It's not as if the current acknowledgement is a big compliment to Jones' work anyway. They refer to the same four or five of his shorts over and over (mostly the ones that won awards), in comparison to many other more obscure works of art Jones made throughout his duration at Termite Terrace.

edited 10th Oct '11 4:42:37 PM by Psi001

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