Jerky Turkey (1945) User Reviews

It's a Tex Avery film during his time at MGM....'nuff said.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 27 August 2012]

Earlier in his career, Tex Avery worked for Warner Brothers at their Looney Tunes unit. However, his films from this period are only okay--mostly because the studio never let him go wild. When he left and went to MGM, he went on to make some of the craziest and funniest cartoons ever. So, even if it's an average cartoon from him during this amazingly creative period, it's still well worth your time--and that's how I would describe "Jerky Turkey".

The film is set during the Pilgrim period in New England. They plan on a celebration and a big-nosed Pilgrim man goes hunting for a turkey. The Pilgrim's voice is done by the same guy who later voiced Droopy (Bill Thompson) and the odd voice of the turkey (which sounded like Jimmy Durante) was provided by Daws Butler. The film consists of the usual hijinx--as well as a VERY strange bear wearing an Eat At Joe's sandwich-board sign. Weird and fun--and well worth your time.

By the way, in the film you hear the expression 'was this trip really necessary'. That's because it was made during WWII and this phrase was coined to discourage people from frivolous travel since most of the gas was needed for the war effort. Here, it takes on a whole new meaning! Also, the reason the town crier is crying is because he's been declared 1-A--meaning he's been ruled fit and ready for the draft (and 4-F is the opposite--unfit for the draft).

Jerky Turkey is funny cartoon from Tex Avery at MGM

[tavm · 7/10 · 6 December 2006]

An amusing Tex Avery cartoon made near the end of World War II. Basically, a pilgrim who doesn't want to wait in line goes to "Ye Black Market" building to get a live turkey. The turkey who offers himself sounds like Jimmy Durante. Various chase gags are executed like the one where the pilgrim paints on a brick wall outside scenery to fool the turkey. Turkey goes through that scenery. Pilgrim tries to chase turkey through only to smash himself. The kind of gag that would be more perfected in Chuck Jones' Road Runner cartoons. Many other gags involving modern gadgets follow. Highly worth seeing for any Tex Avery fan. Don't miss a final gag involving someone constantly carrying the sign, "Eat at Joe's"...

Plymouth Rock Would Land On Them

[boblipton · 7/10 · 1 October 2022]

It's the first Thanksgiving, as imagined by Tex Average and his screenwriter Heck Allen, as Bill Thompson voices a Puritan who hunts a Jimmy Durante-voiced bird for the feast.

I enjoy this as much as I do every Avery cartoon I see, but I wonder if it's aged out of consideration for younger people. Not only is memory of Durante fading even among older people, but there are a lot of jokes that reference World War II minutiae; Henry Kaiser's shipyards, gas-rationing stickers, and so forth.

Still, Avery fills this with his usual assortment of gags, big and little, old and new (at the time this came out; almost eighty years later, they're all old), and if one joke doesn't connect, they next thirty-five in the following minute likely will.

Pilgrims, Turks and (not so) Average Joe

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 30 November 2018]

"Jerky Turkey" is an American Tex Avery cartoon from 1945. This one runs for 7 minute like they usually did over 70 years ago. Avery is the director here and part of the voice acting cast, but not a writer this time. The title already gives away that a turkey is involved in here in one of the key roles. Not the country obviously, but the animal. He goes up against a hungry pilgrim and while there are parallels between Bugs vs Elmer for example, the turkey is not invinciblae seemingly which is shown to us when the fox chases him away or at the ending of course. He is just superior to the pilgrim you could say. There is one very brief gobbles mention and I wonder if it still has to do with the German high-profile politician back then. I doubt it though because this was 1945 already. In any case this cartoon was banned. Okay, I think it started fairly weak, the fox joke, the tooth joke and early on the running gag "Eat at Joe's" did not feel too funny. But it gets better. The painted landscape is when the film peaks (together with the end). And the falling tree moment is good as well. And yeah, then the ending which was perhaps the highlight of the entire thing and makes up for many mediocrities before that. This does not include the visual side obviously because this is from the Golden Age of Animation. I am not too big on many other Tex Avery works, but this one here I liked, especially in the second half. And there's no denying that when Avery is at his best his jokes are like fast punches that even Disney and Warner Bros will have a hard time closing the gap to. Not a must-see, but worth checking out. See it of you like old animation.

Good Short from Avery

[Michael_Elliott · 30 November 2012]

Jerky Turkey (1945)

*** (out of 4)

The pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock and soon after one wants to catch a turkey for his family's dinner. The big-nosed, large-belly Pilgrim goes out into the woods and finds a turkey but it's not going to be easy to catch him. This Tex Avery short is a pretty good one that features a couple memorable characters going through various violent things that these MGM shorts always seemed to feature. There are several funny gags to be seen here including one that has Plymouth Rock actually being a rock looking like a turkey. Another funny gag deals with a bear walking around advertising for people to "Eat at Joe's." I found both the Pilgrim and the turkey characters to be quite good and memorable. They have a good comic timing against one another and I thought they helped make the action go by at a quick pace. The animation is nice and certainly helped the film as well.

Plymouth Rock chicken

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 1 October 2022]

The Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock. One Pilgrim goes hunting for a turkey. One turkey has a fun time pranking the Pilgrim. It's a surprising takedown of the Pilgrims. It's a more adult MGM cartoon from Tex Avery in the sense that the jokes are hitting older. There are political jokes. I don't even understand how Plymouth Rock is a chicken. Is that a brand of chicken back in the day? Oh! It's a breed of chicken. How many kids would know that? How many adults would know that? I don't mind a lot of this, but it's often flying at my head if not over my head. Are they really saying that the Pilgrims are leading an invasion force to the New World? Otherwise, I do really, really like the ending. It's a fitting ending since I don't really care about either character.

Marvelous short. One of his best.

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 21 February 2002]

This short is wonderful! Take a pilgrim that sounds a lot like Droopy, add a turkey who sounds like Jimmy Durante, add a bear wearing a sandwich sign, let Tex Avery stir it all together and you have a great cartoon. Sight gags everywhere, especially the bear (typical Avery running gag) but beware ye old edited print off ye Cartoon Network-this is a classic. Most definitely worth looking for. Most recommended.

Thanksgiving with Tex Avery

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 11 November 2017]

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best cartoons ever made by anybody. 'Jerky Turkey' was made during Avery's finest period where he made some of his best ever cartoons. While it is not quite one of my favourites from him, there are cartoons of his that are a little more imaginative and took more risks, 'Jerky Turkey' is exceptionally well done. Very well made and a lot of fun and having a Jimmy Durante-sounding turkey just added to the cartoon's delicious strangeness.

It is no surprise that, as with most of Avery's cartoons regardless of the period, the animation is excellent. Very rich in colour, the backgrounds have meticulously good detail and the character designs are distinctively Avery in style and are fluid in movement. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is typically lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed, even enhancing the action.

Can't fault Avery, whose unmistakable and unlike-any-other style is all over, nor the dynamic voice acting and the very engaging characters (the turkey and the bear are hoots).

'Jerky Turkey' has a lot of gags and they are never less than very funny, a highlight being with the bear. The voice acting is very good.

Overall, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This is definitely a 'Turkey'.

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 1/10 · 18 February 2007]

I find Tex Avery's cartoons hugely variable. His Screwy Squirrel toons are hilarious, and I regret that he made only three of them. His best Warners toons ('Thugs with Dirty Mugs') are both innovative and uproariously funny. But his Droopy cartoons just stink, and far too much of his other work is quite dire.

'Jerky Turkey' just isn't funny at all. Allegedly depicting the voyage of the Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock in the year 1620-7/8 (ha bloody ha), this 1945 toon is firmly stuck in World War Two, with topical references (such as 'C cards') that will be utterly incomprehensible to modern audiences. The animation is poor to the point of neglect: one long sequence features a protracted pan across a single drawing, with no movement at all ... which would be acceptable, if something funny was happening.

The main character is voiced by Bill Thompson, using the same adenoidal whimper that he had previously used for portraying Wally Wimple in the radio programme 'Fibber McGee and Molly' and would later use for the unfunny Droopy. I wonder if Avery designed this Pilgrim, who doesn't resemble a typical Avery character. The Pilgrim has an absolutely enormous nose that looks distressing rather than funny. He stalks a turkey (definitely designed by Preston Blair) who sounds and acts like Jimmy Durante ... but who, alas, isn't remotely as funny as the genuine Schnozzola. It doesn't help that the Durante character has a SMALLER nose than the Pilgrim. There's a very weak running gag which has a very weak and obvious pay-off. (First rule of survival in the cartooniverse: Never trust a bear.)

Tex Avery, I forgive you for this 'Turkey' because you gave us so many laughs elsewhere. 'Jerky Turkey' barely merits a rating of 1 out of 10.

After his recent passing made so many headlines in our . . .

[cricket30 · 8/10 · 22 November 2018]

. . . "Lone Star State," the primary mystery that remained about the career of SCOTUS honcho "A. Scalia" concerned where and when he got the idea to expand America's Sacred Second Amendment from muskets to machine guns. I recently stumbled across the answer to this conundrum. During Justice S.'s formative years, JERKY TURKEY was a widely-seen hit. At BOTH 3:41 and 4:59, a pilgrim's musket is shown morphing into a military-style assault rifle. This is one of the few repeated bits in a fairly frenetic animated short. Certainly the director of JERKY TURKEY--tellingly, a "Tex" himself--is intentionally reaching out to malleable young minds (such as Master Scalia's), informing them of how there is NO essential difference between black powder and bump stocks. We American Patriots may soon need to defend our borders against Evil Caravans numbering up to EIGHT BILLION would-be insurgents. Does anyone imagine that we can turn away that many invaders with muskets?! Please watch JERKY TURKEY for yourself (including its call for Bazooka Rights at 6:22), and then support your local chapter of BANGS (Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps)!

Definitely one of the most hilarious ever...

[xlars · 10/10 · 20 August 2001]

Consider pilgrims standing in line waiting to be passed their weekly ration of ... cigarettes? Then consider a pilgrim not wanting to stand in line, and goes to the black market to get hold of a turkey. This one he meets after having called by a lure-whistle, that sounds: "HEY, TURKEY!!" - However, the turkey and the pilgrim are both caught up by the owner of Joe's Diner...