Edgar Allan Pooh . . . throughout the six minute duration of "Merrie Melodies" BANTY RAIDS. The title itself of this Warner Bros. animated short refers to the quaint early 1900s custom in which Frat Boys invaded the living quarters of their Sorority Sisters and stole their underwear. In the cartoon, Banty--a pint-sized bantam rooster--behaves like a character in a Wayans live-action feature film, masquerading as a "tiny tot" in order to cuckold his would-be "Daddy" Foghorn Leghorn (to whose "McDonald's Farm" he's been literally booted by a stricter rooster). The gun-toting Banty quickly has his way with Foghorn's entire hen harem. Not satisfied to merely stab his self-proclaimed father figure in the back, Banty then conspires with Foghorn's canine antagonist for a full-frontal assault. Mr. Leghorn is shanghaied into a giant Transformer Machine, which dresses him in drag and applies the full range of feminine make-up. As soon as this Gigantic Gizmo spits him out, a protesting Foghorn is gay-married to Banty, with the devious canine officiating. Draw your own conclusions about exactly what social agenda Warner is advancing here.

tavm Just watched this last Foghorn Leghorn cartoon on Daily Motion as linked from ThadBlog. In this one, a beatnik rooster-having been literally kicked out of one chicken coop-disguises himself as a baby chicken to get through Leghorn's place of residence which has lots of hens for the new guy to woo...Many amusing lines from the beatnik fowl on the order of "daddio" and the like. Also liked his familiar "Gee Whiz Willikens Golly Gee" that I originally heard Bugs do on "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour" (with the same voice!) and the way that barnyard dog got knocked to pieces! Well worth seeing for any Warner cartoon fan enthusiast.

Hugh Terry Saving the best for last, the final Foghorn short is quite simply the funniest, wittiest short cartoon in the whole Warner Brothers library. Yes, the ending even tops Some Like It Hot!There are so many memorable images - and great lines - in Banty Raids that it's hard to know what to pick. The whole script is hilarious, and while Foghorn fans will have some idea what to expect, the introduction of a new character (the beatnik rooster) gives the usual set-up an unusual, updated flavour. Finger-clickin' good!!That it still hasn't been released (along with another great Foghorn classic Fox Terror) on DVD is utterly disgraceful. But mere words in a review cannot do this little gem justice - you just gotta see it and you know, like, dig it man! Wow.

Chip_douglas Foghorn Leghorn cartoons often feature one-off guest stars to add something to the old rooster-dog feud. In his last starring role, Foghorn is paired with a character representing the decade the film was made in. Quite a rarity on the otherwise timeless Foghorn farm.Foggy adopts a young Rooster. Of course he does not realize this is a full grown (albeit small in stature) hepcat cock who was kicked off his own farm for chasing too many chicks. Fatherly Foghorn immediately starts teaching ‘Sonny boy' the goal in life of every rooster: to inflict pain on the local watchdog. But the slick hipster is only interested in the chicks and starts moving in on Foghorns henhouse harem.After all these years the vocabulary of the Beatnik Rooster is still a gas, if you can dig it. As usual Barnyard Dog doesn't start to use his brain until the end, when he comes up with another one of his ingenious machines (only using material found on the farm) to take revenge on Foghorn. It seems he was inspired by `Some like it hot' this time. 7 out of 10