Duck Amuck

Duck Amuck
Lobby card.
Production company	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	Feburary 28, 1953
Run time	7:03
Starring	Mel Blanc
Music composed by	Carl Stalling
Story by	Mike Maltese
Animation	Ken Harris Ben Washam Lloyd Vaughan Abe Levitow (uncredited) Richard Thompson (uncredited)
Director(s)	Chuck Jones
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Title card

Duck Amuck is the two hundred and sixty-first short in the Merrie Melodies theatrical series. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on February 28, 1953. It was written by Michael Maltese, and directed by Chuck Jones.

An unseen animator endlessly frustrates Daffy by constantly changing both him and his environment.

Memorable quotes

Daffy: Hey! Psst! Whoever's in charge here! The scenery. Where's the scenery?

Daffy: And I've never been so humiliated in all my life!

Daffy: It isn't as though I've lived up to my contract, goodness knows. And goodness knows that it isn't as though I've kept myself trimmed, goodness knows. I-I've done that… That's strange… All of the sudden I don't quite feel like myself… Well, I feel alright, and yet I, uh… I, uhh… EEK! You know better than that!

Daffy: Hey, come here! Come here! Give me a close-up! A close-up!
(screen contracts to Daffy from far away)
Daffy: This is a close-up? A CLOSE-UP, YOU JERK! A CLOSE-UP!!
(screen does an actual close-up, but only up close to his eyes)
Daffy: Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin...

Daffy: Alright, let's get this picture started!
(screen irises out to a "The End" card)
Daffy: No, NO!!!

Daffy: Who is responsible for this!? I demand that you show yourself!! WHO ARE YOU!? HMM!?
(a pencil closes the painted door around Daffy before he gets to know the animator's identity)
Bugs Bunny: (to audience) Heh, heh, heh! Ain't I a stinker?

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Daffy Duck	Mel Blanc
Bugs Bunny	Mel Blanc

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • Animation desk

Objects

• Anvil
• Artillery shell

Production

Filming

The short was copyrighted in 1951 (MCMLI).

Music

The score was composed by Carl W. Stalling. The main title and closing themes are a rendition of "Merrily We Roll Along," which are arranged by Stalling.

Crew credits

• Layouts: Maurice Noble
• Backgrounds: Phillip DeGuard
• Dialogue: Ben Washam (uncredited)
• Orchestration: Milt Franklyn (uncredited)
• Film editor: Treg Brown (uncredited)

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: February 28, 1953

Behind the scenes

• The title is a rhyming of the words "duck," referring to Daffy Duck as the main character, and "amuck" — in reference to the constant torture he receives throughout the short.
• The MPAA certificate number is 15191.

Connections

• This short would later get a sequel in 1955, Rabbit Rampage, where Bugs Bunny faces an unseen animator.
• The 1966 Looney Tunes short A-Haunting We Will Go contains some reused gags from Duck Amuck, including Daffy as a flower-headed creature.
• The short was included as a segment in The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie.
• The in-between segments in Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-citement were inspired by this short.
• The 1993 Super Nintendo game Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage merges both plots from Duck Amuck and the aforementioned Rabbit Rampage short, with Bugs suddenly being portrayed as Daffy's victim.
• The Baby Looney Tunes episode "Duck's Reflucks" uses a similar plot, with Daffy becoming a computer animator to sabotage Bugs Bunny.
• In 2007, the short would inspire a Nintendo DS game titled Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck.
• Daffy's flower-headed creature form, called "Duck Amuck," would be used as an unlockable character in the 2018 video game Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem.

Critical reception

In 1994, Duck Amuck was voted #2 of the 50 greatest cartoons of all time by professionals of the animation field. It was ranked behind What's Opera Doc?, also directed by Jones and written by Maltese.

The short was inducted in 1999 to the National Film Registry, for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." This was the second of three animated films by Jones to recieve this honor; the others being What's Opera Doc? and One Froggy Evening.

In The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons, producer and animation historian Greg Ford wrote, "The duck glowers directly at the camera, the eye contact always implicating us, the viewers, in the cartoon's gleeful sadism. While Mel Blanc's voice acting is masterful, writer Michael Maltese's gags are great, Maurice Noble's mismatched backgrounds are hilarious, and the Disney-derived yet highly defined 'stop and start' animation executed by Ken Harris is extra crispy here, the film belongs to Chuck Jones. It's as if the misadventures that Jones customarily plunged Daffy into throughout the decade have all converged in Duck Amuck."

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • 1985: Warner Home Video releases Daffy Duck: The Nuttiness Continues... on VHS and Betamax.
  • March 10, 1993: Warner Home Video releases Daffy Duck's Screen Classics: Duck Victory on LaserDisc.
  • November 1999: Warner Home Video releases Looney Tunes The Collector's Edition: Running Amuck on VHS.
  • October 28, 2003: Warner Home Video releases Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 on DVD.
  • November 1, 2011: Warner Home Video releases The Essential Daffy Duck on DVD.
  • November 15, 2011: Warner Home Video releases Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 on Blu-ray Disc.
  • June 25, 2013: Warner Home Video releases Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes on DVD.