View source for The Great Piggy Bank Robbery

{{Short description|1946 animated short film by Bob Clampett}}
{{about|a Looney Tunes cartoon|the bank robber|Piggy Bank Bandit}}
{{Infobox film
| name               = The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
| image              = The Great Piggy Bank Robbery Lobby Card.PNG
| director           = [[Bob Clampett|Robert Clampett]]
| producer           = 
| story              = [[Warren Foster]]
| animator           = [[Rod Scribner]]<br>[[Manny Gould]]<br>[[Bill Melendez|C. Melendez]]<br>[[Izzy Ellis|I. Ellis]]
| layout_artist      = [[Thomas McKimson]]
| background_artist  = Philip DeGuard
| editing            = 
| starring           = [[Mel Blanc]]
| music              = [[Carl W. Stalling]]
| studio             = [[Warner Bros. Cartoons]]
| distributor        = [[Warner Bros. Pictures|Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.]]<br>[[The Vitaphone Corporation]]
| released           = {{Film date|1946|7|20}}
| color_process      = [[Technicolor]]
| runtime            = 7:35
| language           = English
}}
'''''The Great Piggy Bank Robbery''''' is a 1946 [[Warner Bros.]] ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' theatrical cartoon directed by [[Bob Clampett]].<ref name=Beck>{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Jerry |last2=Friedwald |first2=Will |title=Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons |date=1989 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co |isbn=0-8050-0894-2 |page=169}}</ref> The cartoon was released on July 20, 1946, and stars [[Daffy Duck]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |accessdate=6 June 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/70/mode/2up |pages=70–72}}</ref> The short is Clampett's penultimate Warner cartoon, produced shortly before he left the studio.

==Plot==
On a farm, Daffy Duck eagerly awaits his new ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' comic book, rushing to read it as soon as it arrives. Knocking himself out while imagining himself as "Duck Twacy," he embarks on a comical detective adventure. Mistaking ordinary objects for criminals, like a mousehole for the hideout of "Mouse Man," Daffy finds himself pursued by a colorful array of villains, including Snake Eyes, 88 Teeth, Neon Noodle, Batman and Rubberhead.

In a chaotic showdown, Daffy manages to outwit the villains with slapstick tactics, including turning Neon Noodle into a neon sign. Finally, he recovers the stolen piggy banks, including his own, and wakes up on the farm, unwittingly kissing a real pig. Recoiling in horror, Daffy flees, leaving the enamored pig declaring her love for him in amusement.

==Allusions and influence==
* The opening where Daffy waits for the mail and gets his comic book, lies down on the ground and says, "I can't wait to see what happens to Dick Tracy!" is a reused gag from Clampett's ''[[Farm Frolics]]''.
* Daffy's early line about Dick Tracy, "I ''love'' that ''man!''" and the pig's closing line, "I ''love'' that ''duck!''" are references to a popular catch-phrase of the time, [[q:Fibber McGee and Molly|"Love dat man!"]], said by the character Beulah on ''[[Fibber McGee and Molly]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://africanamericans.com/Beulah.htm|title=The Beulah Show|author=Billy Ingram|accessdate=2006-09-15}}</ref> Clampett would use the gag again in his next and final cartoon at Warner Bros., ''[[The Big Snooze]]''.
* A sequel, ''[[The Night of the Living Duck]]'', would follow in 1988, with Daffy reading a fictional horror/science-fiction comic ''Hideous Tales'' in that film. Pumpkinhead also makes a cameo in that film.
* The gag where Duck Twacy says "I'm gonna pin it on ya," only to be revealed to be playing [[pin the tail on the donkey]], is taken from the [[Tex Avery]] cartoon ''[[Thugs with Dirty Mugs]]''.
* In the ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' episode "New Character Day", there was a segment called "The Return of Pluck Twacy" where [[Plucky Duck]] is in that homages this cartoon. Here, Pluck Twacy had to rescue [[Shirley the Loon]]'s aura (who is really Hatta Mari) from gangsters like Ticklepuss (based on Sloppy Moe from ''[[Wagon Heels]]''), Soupy Man (an anthropomorphic soup can), Jack the Zipper (an anthropomorphic [[zipper]]), Boston Dangler (an upside-down Bostonian on a trapeze), Flatbottom (a naval criminal with a miniature [[battleship]] for a butt), Boxcars (a train conductor based on the [[Peter Lorre]] scientist), the Generic Thugs, Wolvertoon (a deformed version of [[Bugs Bunny]] in a homage to [[Basil Wolverton]]'s drawings), [[Millipede]] Pete (an anthropomorphic millipede), the Chorus Line Men, and the other unnamed grotesque criminals.
* Daffy says "sufferin' succotash" while waiting for his Dick Tracy comic. This line would eventually become the catchphrase of [[Sylvester (Looney Tunes)|Sylvester]], who also speaks with a [[lisp]]. Daffy has said this line in ''[[Ain't That Ducky]]'', ''[[Baby Bottleneck]]'' and ''[[Hollywood Daffy]]'', and repeats it in seven more cartoons: ''[[The Up-Standing Sitter]]'', ''[[You Were Never Duckier]]'', ''[[Daffy Dilly]]'', ''[[His Bitter Half]]'', ''[[Fiesta Fiasco]]'' and ''[[Skyscraper Caper]]'' and in a [[Tiny Toon Adventures]] segment as [[Duck Dodgers]] called "Duck Dodgers Jr."
* In the scene in which Daffy is seen through a door in silhouette as Duck Twacy, he briefly morphs into Dick Tracy's trademark profile.
* After Daffy shoots through the door with his [[Tommy gun]] and the rogues' gallery of characters begin falling, there is a brief shot of a well-endowed woman falling among them.
* An episode of ''[[Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]'' titled "Legends of the Dark Mite" contains a sequence which heavily parodies the cartoon. Unlike when Daffy faces criminals which are parodies, here [[Bat-Mite]] faces actual [[List of Batman family enemies|Batman villains]] (namely [[Joker (character)|Joker]], [[Penguin (character)|Penguin]], [[Riddler]], [[Catwoman]], [[Two-Face]], [[Mr. Freeze]], [[Mad Hatter (DC Comics)|Mad Hatter]], [[Catman (DC Comics)|Catman]], [[Polka-Dot Man]], [[Tweedledum and Tweedledee (comics)|Tweedledum and Tweedledee]], [[Killer Moth]], [[Kite Man]], [[Zebra-Man]], and [[Tiger Shark (DC Comics)|Tiger Shark]]). As an example, miniature Kite Man figures launch off the top hat of the Mad Hatter.

==Legacy==
Animation historian Steve Schneider said of this picture:
{{cquote|...Bob Clampett's forever priceless ''The Great Piggy Bank Robbery'' is clearly a work of the highest cinematic poetry, for prompting the film's manic hilarity are a sequence of images that remain among the most indelible in cartoon history.<ref name=greatest>{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Jerry |title=The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals |date=1994 |publisher=Turner Publishing |isbn=978-1878685490}}</ref>}}

Animator [[John Kricfalusi]] (creator of [[The Ren & Stimpy Show|Ren and Stimpy]]) called ''The Great Piggy Bank Robbery'' his favorite cartoon: "I saw this thing and it completely changed my life, I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen, and I still think it is."<ref name="JohnK">{{cite video | people=Kricfalusi, John|date=2004|title=Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 DVD commentary for the short ''The Great Piggy Bank Robbery''| medium=DVD|publisher=Warner Home Video}}</ref>

''The Great Piggy Bank Robbery'' was the first of several cartoons in which Daffy Duck would do a parody of a well-known character, but the only one in which he was actually competent.  In other take-offs, such as ''[[The Scarlet Pumpernickel]]'', he was somewhat buffoonish, though still able to intimidate the villains.  But, in later stories such as ''[[Stupor Duck|Stuporduck]]'', ''[[Boston Quackie]]'', ''[[Robin Hood Daffy]]'' and ''[[Deduce, You Say!|Deduce, You Say?]]'' (in which he played "Doorlock Holmes"), Daffy was hopelessly outmatched.

In 1994, it was voted No. 16 of the [[50 Greatest Cartoons]] of all time by members of the animation field.<ref name=greatest/>

==See also==
*[[Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940–1949)]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=38576}}

{{Daffy Duck in animation}}
{{Porky Pig in animation}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Piggy Bank Robbery, The}}
[[Category:Looney Tunes shorts]]
[[Category:Films directed by Bob Clampett]]
[[Category:1946 films]]
[[Category:1940s Warner Bros. animated short films]]
[[Category:Daffy Duck films]]
[[Category:Porky Pig films]]
[[Category:1940s police comedy films]]
[[Category:1940s parody films]]
[[Category:American police detective films]]
[[Category:Dick Tracy]]
[[Category:Sherlock Holmes pastiches]]
[[Category:1940s crime comedy films]]
[[Category:1940s police procedural films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films about dreams]]
[[Category:Films about comics]]
[[Category:Animated films set on farms]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Warren Foster]]
[[Category:English-language comedy short films]]
[[Category:English-language crime comedy films]]
[[Category:1946 animated short films]]