Duck Amuck

This article is about the Merrie Melodies cartoon. For the video game, see Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck.
Duck Amuck
Title card
Directed byCharles M. Jones
Story byMichael Maltese
StarringMel Blanc
Music byCarl Stalling
Animation by
Layouts byMaurice Noble
Backgrounds byPhilip DeGuard
Color processTechnicolor[1]
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • February 28, 1953 (1953-02-28) (United States)
Running time
6:53
LanguageEnglish

Duck Amuck is an American animated surreal comedy short film directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese.[2] The short was released on January 17, 1953, as part of the Merrie Melodies series, and stars Daffy Duck.[3][4]

In the cartoon, Daffy Duck is tormented by an unseen, mischievous animator, who constantly changes Daffy's locations, clothing, voice, physical appearance, and even shape, much to Daffy's aggravation, embarrassment, and finally rage. Pandemonium reigns throughout the cartoon as Daffy attempts to steer the action back to some kind of normality, only for the animator to either ignore him or, more frequently, to over-literally interpret his increasingly frantic demands. In the end, the tormenting animator is revealed to be Bugs Bunny.

In 1994, it was voted #2 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field, behind only What's Opera, Doc?, also directed by Jones and written by Maltese.[5] In 1999, Duck Amuck was added to the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[6][7]

The short was included on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 DVD box set (with optional audio commentary by historian Michael Barrier), The Essential Daffy Duck DVD box set, and the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray box set. The short inspired the 2007 Nintendo DS game Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck.

  1. ^ a b Webb, Graham (2011). The Animated Film Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to American Shorts, Features and Sequences (1900-1999) (Second ed.). McFarland & Company Inc. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-7864-4985-9.
  2. ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 245. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  3. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 70–72. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Looney Tunes short "Duck Amuck" being advertised". The Vermont Sunday News. January 18, 1953. p. 18. Retrieved August 18, 2021. Open access icon
  5. ^ Beck, Jerry (1994). The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals. Turner Publishing. ISBN 978-1878685490.
  6. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  7. ^ "Preserving the Silver Screen (December 1999) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-09.