Northwest Hounded Police
Voted #28 on The 50 Greatest Cartoons list, "Northwest Hounded Police" is a 1946 MGM Tex Avery short, starring Droopy, or Sgt. McPoodle, as he's called here.
The plot of the short is centered on Tex's recurring Wolf character, who has escaped from Alka-Fizz Prison and into the Canadian wilderness. Droopy of the North West Mounted Police is the only volunteer who will track him down. The rest of the short is spent on the wolf trying to escape Droopy, but to no avail. Because it's a Tex Avery short, Hilarity Ensues.
It's essentially a Denser and Wackier remake of the first Droopy cartoon, "Dumb Hounded".
- Bedsheet Ladder: Used by the wolf to scale the prison walls.
- Behind a Stick: Parodied. After one of the Wolf's escape montages ends with him on a tiny island large enough for him, a rock and a pebble:
Wolf: (snarkily) Yeah, I know. (points to the rock) He'll probably be right under that rock.
Droopy: (emerging from beneath the pebble that's smaller than his hat) Nope, under this one.
Wolf: (has nervous breakdown.)
- Born in the Theatre: Wolfie nearly runs off the very film on which the short was printed. Then he runs into a movie theater and watches the beginning of an MGM animated short, which turns out to be Droopy stalking him again.
- Canada, Eh?: Where most of the short takes place.
- The Cat Came Back: When Droopy isn't doing flat-out Offscreen Teleportation.
- Crazy Prepared: Droopy has to be a master of psychology to be able to figure out where Wolfie's gone to next.
- Driven to Suicide: "That's the last straw. I give up — I'm gonna throw myself to the lions!" And the wolf jumps into a lion's stomach.
Droopy: Crowded, isn't it?
- Exaggerated Trope: At the end of the short, the Twin Switch rationalization for Offscreen Teleportation is expanded to a whole platoon of Droopys.
- Got Volunteered: How Droopy is selected for the mission.
- Institutional Apparel: The Wolf's old-school black-and-white striped uniform.
- Jaw Drop: One of Wolfie's wild takes has his lower jaw hit the ground.
- Magic Plastic Surgery: Wolfie goes to a plastic surgeon to get a new face. After a few seconds of surgery (which involved hammering and sawing), the convict has a new face —that of Droopy. He asks the doctor to change it back and he does. He thanks the doctor--who turns out to be Droopy.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Averted. Those are all just Droopy's lookalike comrades helping him out to catch the wolf.
- Remake: This short is a remake of Droopy's debut, "Dumb-Hounded."
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Wolfie at a few points.
- Travel Montage: The old 'traveling dot on the map' variation.
- Twist Ending: Droopy wasn't offscreen teleporting—those were all his identical comrades helping him out.
- Wild Take: Pretty much half the cartoon. Some of the most over-the-top wild takes in any Avery cartoon.
- X Meets Y: It's "Dumb-Hounded" mixed with Tex's earlier Warner Bros. cartoon "Tortoise Beats Hare".