Let’s start with the western animated films with Man
from Button Willow. Before this film, we had the Lone Rangers serial series,
most of the original western films are mostly live-action, and any westerns
that are animated were mostly spoofing popular western films. The closest was
Disney’s Pecos Bill, but that wasn’t feature length and it was a package film
to Melody Time. Same situation with Willy McBean and the Magic Machine when
they met Buffalo Bill, and it came out on the same year.
What’s the story? Good question. Justin Eagle is the
sheriff to Paramount’s Western Town…I mean who cares, it’s Button Willow. He
has his closest friend named Sorry and adopted daughter named Stormy. Justin
has a ranch of Eagle’s Ranch with a full chance his vote count than anyone else. Justin’s
horse’s wife gave birth to a baby. The rest is the life on the ranch to the
animal, until Justin leaves for a secret mission for noteworthy, it would be
spoiling to those who haven’t seen it if you watched the supercut version of
this film featuring Justin, which lacking from the film.
The obvious title character!! The Man from Button
Willow is barely the focus, and it’s mostly on the animals and his friends. If
anything, Sorry is the Man from Button Willow since he has more focus than the
other. However, he owns Button Willow, so they might as well show the life
there for 1.5/3rd of the film, but the live action opener said
specifically its Justin.
Dale Robertson: This is the story of Justin Eagle.
Wait, no, this story about his horse. Hold on, it’s about his human friends.
Now it’s to his furry friends.
Stinky Whizzleteats: This is a song
about a whale….No! This is a song about being happy!
This focus issue is right up there with The Ballad
of Smokey The Bear, Jason Take Manhattan, and most of Raja Gosnell and Richard
Rich films such as The Smurfs, Swan Princess, and the animated King and I.
Speaking of which, Stormy’s voice actress would be in the King and I TV series.
The animation is decent at most. Though get uses to
Justin riding his horse, because they reused it a lot as much as Superman
flying scene in Superman 4. I wouldn’t complain much, but this was 1965 and was
a weak point to MGM when they’re not using Chuck Jones.
The director and writer was David Detiege, the guy
who would doom the Looney Tunes but gave life to Pink Panther by using Bugs
Bunny’s body. One of the animator is Don Luske, who helped with Disney’s
Pinocchio. These explain why Jeremiah look likes Ghepetto and some connections
to get some of the Disney’s voice actors, including their next film, Shinbone
Alley aka Pinocchio directed by Gideon. This was the last time Ukulele Idle
(the voice for Jiminy Cricket) voice acted, but only for two or three lines
from two supposedly villains who disappeared in the middle of the film. Either
Idle was difficult to work with to the point they booted him out, he was
starting to lose his voice, or he needed the job to pay for retirement at the
home. I would lean more on the ladder since it was said Idle went to the
Retirement Home, but died and no one in his home town recalled him. Instead,
the villain goes to this forgettable sailor.
I swear this was originally a short film, but it was
too long for a short cartoon, or too short to be a TV series. So they padded it
with pointless scenes and bad musical number with the exception of the opening
sung by Howard Keel. This is a dull start to animated Western film as it feels
like a chore to rewatch. Here’s hoping animated Western Animated Films go
uphill from here!
