If I didn't know better, I'd say he was trying to cook me. But nooooo, he is no gato. He wouldn't. ...or would he?
Daffy's Diner is a 1967 Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson. It stars Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales. It was the last Looney Tunes short to be made by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, as well as the last to be scored by Walter Greene.
Daffy owns a food stand in the middle of Mexico that serves nothing except for "mouseburgers"note . Because he's running a small business on a tight budgetnote , he uses fake rubber mice with a ton of flavoring addednote . However, when a nasty bandito cat named El Supremo catches on to the ruse, he demands a real live mouse from Daffy. As Daffy ponders the tough spot he's in, such a mouse (Speedy, of course) miraculously comes to his kitchen's backdoor. Thus, starts the chase.
Tropes Associated With This Cartoon:
- Artistic License: In Real Life, Daffy would be fined and possibly have his business shut down for not mentioning on his menu that he uses substitute ingredients in his burgers. Likewise, he'd also come under fire from both law enforcement and health/sanitation departments for serving his customers inedible "food" (rubber mice).
- Aside Glance: El Supremo, after literally tossing Daffy back into the kitchen, whispers to the audience, "He is lucky I don't get mad easy."
- Bolivian Army Ending: After his attempts to catch Speedy run thin, Daffy goes to his last resort and, to the surprise of El Surpremo, out walks a king-sized mouse burger with Daffy inside disguised as a mouse.
- Break the Haughty: Daffy begins the cartoon being really cocky about his ability to use Fake Food for his mouse burgers, but makes the mistake of trying to con a bandit cat, then after Speedy is the only real mouse to show up, he fails miserably in trying to cook Speedy. By the end of the cartoon, he’s broken so badly that he actually becomes El Supremo’s lunch!
- Call-Back: Daffy's final line, "You never know what you'll do, until you've got a gun pointed at your head," was used earlier in Golden Yeggs.
- Cats Are Mean: El Supremo. Justified in that he was basically conned by Daffy.
- Disproportionate Retribution: At the climax of the cartoon, El Supremo threatens to blast Daffy with a rifle if he can't get him a mouseburger in two minutes.
- Delayed Reaction: El Supremo takes a bite of his mouseburger and complements Daffy on how tasty it is. But then...
- Fire-Breathing Diner: he has this reaction from all the crazy flavors/ingredients Daffy put into his mouseburger. He then realizes that Daffy used a rubber mouse for his burger and demands a real one.
- Driven to Madness: In the middle of the cartoon, Daffy winds up in a trashcan thanks to Speedy sneaking up behind Daffy and startling him. A garbageman comes to pick up the trash, only for Daffy to demand (from inside the trashcan) to be set back down. The garbageman psychotically believes that he has just witnessed "talking garbage" and drives home to Guadalajara "where the garbage, it don't talk." Meanwhile, Daffy apparently believes that the poor garbageman was actually in cahoots with Speedy!
- End of an Age: This was not only the last Looney Tunes entry made by De Patie Freleng Enterprises, but also Robert Mckimson's final entry using any of the classic Looney Tunes cast (though he would take part in a few revival projects afterwards). Rudy Larriva and Alex Lovy would direct the remaining Daffy and Speedy pair-ups in Warner Bros-Seven Arts Inc.
- Fake Food: The foam rubber mice Daffy uses in his burgers.
- Jerkass: Daffy, as usual in his pairings with Speedy Gonzales. Though unlike in other cartoons, he's actually a bit of a
Jerkass Woobie in that his own life is on the line thanks to El Supremo's violent nature. On the other hand, there's no way you can justify his shady (and potentially lethal) practice of using DDT-laced rubber mice in his mouseburgers. - Karma Houdini: The violent and nasty El Supremo gets no comeuppance whatsoever.
- Kitchen Chase: Daffy chases Speedy around his tiny food stand, before El Supremo stops him.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: At the end of the cartoon, after Speedy's escaped and El Supremo has basically given Daffy a death sentence, the little black duck relents and dresses as a live mouseburger for the cat.
- Limited Animation: Par for the course, being a post-1964 Looney Tunes short.
- Secret Ingredient: The basis for Daffy's whole menu: rubber mice laced with DDT.
- Stock Sound Effects: This was one of the first Warner Bros. cartoons to use sound effects from the Hanna-Barbera library, the most prominent of which being the "wind whistle scat" sound effect.
- Very False Advertising: Daffy never tells customers that his "mouseburgers" use rubber mice, rather than real ones. He only confesses after being found out by El Supremo.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: The sign for Daffy's food stand has this.
