. . . (in this specific case, their crack team of Animated Shorts Seers, aka, The Looney Tuners) use THE DIXIE FRYER as a vehicle to warn We Americans of (The Then) Far Future of our upcoming Rigged Election, and the consequences of this Rampant Collusion with the Russian KGB. During THE DIXIE FRYER, the Fifth Columnist bozos intent on picking America's carcass clean are represented by "Pappy" and "Elvis Buzzard." The third character here--"Foghorn Leghorn" stands in for the KGB's White House "asset," aka The Kitty-Grabber-in-Chief. Though Foghorn seems to be working at cross purposes with his vulture-like core supporters throughout this brief cartoon, this should come at no surprise: his deplorable model from the future is taking marching orders from Moscow. Warner's Cassandras of Gloom depict the USA's upcoming shooting war with Canada by showing Elvis blasting his Pappy with a shotgun. Coverage of the upcoming ruinous trade wars is followed by North Korea's sneak nuclear attack on all of America's "Red States" (most of which lack the NBA teams that "Little Rocket Man" would hate to vaporize). Lots more in the way of clairvoyant visions of catastrophe is packed into THE DIXIE FRYER by Warner's Savants of the Future, but this guide should be enough to get you hunkering down.

It's very refreshing to see a 1960 Bob McKimson cartoon that's on a par with the concurrent work of his directing colleagues. The generally average-quality artwork takes nothing away from the great comedy in this short.Elvis and Pappy make far better adversaries for Foghorn Leghorn (that foolhardy ignoramus) than they did for sly ol' Bugs in "Backwoods Bunny." Here they're chicken hawks, rather than buzzards, and as birds of prey they are quite formidable adversaries for the rooster. As characters, Elvis and Pappy make superior chemistry as their losses are shared (somewhat) equally with Foggy. The greatest moment is when Foggy (almost) tricks them into a duel, but they turn around and blast his beak off, prompting him to exclaim, "First time somebody shot MY mouth off!"

I must say I am quite a fan of the Foghorn, but sadly in this 6-minute cartoon from 55 years ago, he did not impress me too much. Or maybe he did impress me too much and that was the problem. He is more fun to watch when he is the one losing to a small chicken hawk for example, but here he has pretty much no problems dealing with two fairly incompetent grown chicken-hawks who want the rooster for dinner. Some running away, some mind games, an explosion and that is basically it in this little movie. McKimson, Pierce, Blanc and Butler made this one, but something's missing for me to recommend it. Maybe it's Foghorn getting his ass kicked. Not a bad watch by any means, but among the weakest Foghorn Leghorn cartoons in my opinion.

When it comes to Foghorn Leghorn cartoons, The Dixie Fryer in my opinion is towards the top end. I had seen Youtube comments pulling the PC card, so I wasn't sure whether that would affect my adult perspective viewing in any way. But it didn't, and I'm glad it didn't. True, it does "poke fun" at southerners, and doesn't do it in the most subtle of ways, but I personally saw nothing insensitive or racist about how they were depicted or about the chicken hawks' final lines. If there is anything that is as much as a nit-pick about The Dixie Fryer it's that as with most Foghorn Leghorn cartoons the story is somewhat routine and predictable and the ending also isn't much of a surprise. At the same time on the other hand, there is much to enjoy about The Dixie Fryer.For one thing, it is very Foghorn Leghorn, meaning that what is a Foghorn cartoon feels like one too with all the components that make his cartoons work. For those that don't like Foghorn- I've not met that many actually but I'm sure there are some out there- this mayn't seem like a good thing. For those who like him, The Dixie Fryer will be a treat. I myself am in the latter camp, and actually appreciate him more now as I did as a child. The animation is very good, there is lots of vibrant colour and detail with Robert McKimson's style all over it. As I've said many times before, the music with Looney Tunes has always been a major part of why they're so appealing, and the upbeat catchiness and beautiful orchestration in The Dixie Fryer is no exception to that.No matter how unsurprising Foghorn's cartoons may be, they are still very fun and entertaining. Seeing as that's what you'd expect from any cartoon(and not just Looney Tunes)that makes them winners, if not quite among my favourites, in my book. There is plenty of fun and entertainment in The Dixie Fryer. The dialogue has the usual sharp wit and freshness with nothing coming across as corny, Foghorn has a tendency to repeat himself but that has always been part of his appeal. The gags are similarly clever and imaginatively timed, and the lively pace helps things too. The characters instantly engage. Pappy and Elvis are good foils for Foghorn. But as always it is Foghorn who steals the show. He may not be my favourite Looney Tunes character, either Bugs or Daffy, but he is one of the most distinctive ones(with Pepe LePew perhaps being the most unique) and is always interesting and funny while managing to command everything easily.Last but not least, Mel Blanc's voice work. Aside from the music and humour, Blanc's vocals are the life and soul of the Looney Tunes cartoons. He was one of few to be able to voice three or more characters in the same cartoon and make them completely different, and brilliantly. Yet at the same time you could tell it was him without it being too obvious. The voice-work of the popular recurring characters has always been remarkably consistent. In The Dixie Fryer he voices all three characters and does the above attributes, that made him as great a voice actor he was, without any flaws at all. All in all, entertaining and one of Foghorn's better outings despite the racism claims. 8/10 Bethany Cox