Bob Clampett's cartoons often were high in energy and fun and displayed a uniquely wacky visual style that one can recognise immediately. Missteps were not that many...Unfortunately, 'The Hep Cat', despite some moments is an example of a Clampett cartoon that doesn't work.There are definitely things that save it. The animation, while not as wacky as most of Clampett's other cartoons, is colourful, eye-popping, rich in detail and high in imagination. Carl Stalling's energetically high-voltage, luscious, rousing, dynamic and action-enhancing music score and inspired arrangements of pre-existing music shows off his genius.And the same applies for the voice talents with the most memorable contributions being from Bea Benaderet and Mel Blanc. The final minute and a half is entertaining and imaginative and the chase displays the most energy 'The Hep Cat' gets.However, 'The Hep Cat' is let down by a thin story, that lacks energy and makes the cartoon feel stretched and too long (and it's only 6 minutes or so), and an even thinner script that doesn't have enough laughs and what there is is not that funny with out of place and out of date hip language.Pacing is pretty limp until the last minute and a half, and much of the cartoon is high on predictability and apart from some of the animation, the music, the voice talent and the last minute a half low on energy and imagination. All the characters are forgettable and lack the likability or fun factor.Overall, disappointing though watchable. Expected much better from Clampett. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Bob Clampett's 'The Hep Cat' is a distinctly average cartoon only really notable for the fact that it was the first colour Looney Tune (previously Looney Tunes were all black and white while Merrie Melodies were in colour). The tale of a singing, dancing cat's attempts to woo a lady cat and a dog's attempts to catch the cat, 'The Hep Cat' lacks the trademark energy and pace of most Clampett shorts. To be fair, Clampett doesn't have a great deal to work with. Warren Foster's script is embarrassingly thin and, while he has spun straw into gold with other cartoons, Clampett doesn't manage it with 'The Hep Cat'. It's often said of Clampett that you can't mistake his cartoons for anyone else's and it's generally true but 'The Hep Cat' is an exception. There's flashes of Clampett genius, such as the chase scene in which the cat stops to ask the dog "Hey, are you following me". When the dog confirms that he is, the cat simply says "Oh" and the chase immediately resumes. Unfortunately, there's very little of such brilliance on show here. Knowing who directed it, 'The Hep Cat' is a bitter disappointment. We all have off days and this was clearly one of Clampett's!

I am a huge fan of this cartoon. I'll skip all the editorializing and simply list my favorite parts: the short vignette of the cold-shouldered little female kitty , with her high-heeled feet, moving in beat to a fine boogie-woogey score, and the resulting tongue-wagging suitor panting along to the beat is hilariously sexy (I can't believe the censors missed it).And the horny tomcat romances the pussycat puppet, excitedly feeling her posterior (the dog's nose)--finally receiving a kiss, springing out erect (!) and then streaming down the steps in a flaccid puddle...incredible-! The cat & dog chase scene is a little tiring, and a letdown after the hot & heavy courting. But--this is one heckuva cartoon. Eleven stars.

A swinging hep cat is trying to make it with a cute female cat but a dog is in the way at every step. When I usually think of the name Robert Clampett, the word that automatically comes to mind is "sheer greatness", which only makes this short all the more disappointing. In fact if I didn't read the title screen I would've had to no clue he even made this short. In other Clampett cartoons you can come in at any point and sit down to watch and KNOW he made that given short. His hand in it was usually that great. Sadly, this one I don't like nearly as much as it's not a good barometer of his major talents. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.My Grade: C