Daffy could use a couple TUMS right about now.
"Muscle Tussle" is a 1953 Looney Tunes short, starring Daffy Duck. It was directed by Robert McKimson.
Released as Daffy was right in the middle of his transition from manic/crazy to scheming/greedy, the cartoon sees him with an unusually calm disposition. It also stands as a rare example of Daffy being given somewhat of an underdog role without him trying to play the hero. In it, he's at the beach taking photos with his girlfriend. Suddenly, a large muscly duck (named "Hunky Duck" on the cartoon's IMDB page) comes and woos his girlfriend. After she leaves Daffy for Hunky due to the former's inability to stand up to the latter, Daffy is conned by a W.C. Fields-like salesman into taking a muscle-building tonic called "Atomcol." The drug is clearly useless, but it does give Daffy the confidence to partake in a number of strength challenges with Hunky to prove himself to his girlfriend.
"Muscle Tussle" provides examples of:
- Balloonacy: To "prove" the effectiveness of his product, the salesman constructs a fake 5,000 pound barbell by tying two blown-up balloons to a metal bar. When Daffy brings over the barbell to prove himself to Hunky and his girlfriend (after being spectacularly outdone in the preceding strength challenges), he challenges Hunky to lift it. Hunky does this, but he overestimates the weight and lifts too hard, shooting him up into the air. The balloons suddenly pop, and he drops back to the ground with his body disfigured from the impact. Humiliated, he walks off, and Daffy now has his girlfriend back.
- Bowdlerization: The ABC version of this cartoon cuts the part where Hunky Duck pounds Daffy's head into his shirt.
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: "Listen, friend, if y'all don't stop flapping that big yap of yours, I'm gonna have to knock your head so far down between your lil' old shoulders, you'll have to unbutton your vest to eat." And after Daffy scoffs at this, Hunky does just that. Daffy then opens his vest to utter the Non Sequitur, *Thud* below.
- Dumb Blonde: Daffy's fickle girlfriend has shoulder-length blonde hair and a high-pitched voice as par for this stereotype.
- Fire-Breathing Diner: Daffy has this reaction after downing a spoonful of Atomcol.
- Hunk: Hunky Duck, duh.
- Insistent Terminology: After his girlfriend calls him a "scrawny little nine pound weakling," Daffy retaliates by calling himself a "scrawny little ten pound weakling."
- Literally Shattered Lives: One of the challenges is breaking a boulder with a sledgehammer. When Daffy tries it, he shatters instead. Only his beak is left intact to say "You're despicable!"
- Muscle Beach Bum: Hunky fits the description to a tee.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: After being clocked in the head by Hunky:Daffy: One cheeseburger. Hold the onions.
- Outclassed at the Gym: A bodybuilder runs away with Daffy Duck's girlfriend, and a Snake Oil Salesman fools him into taking a concoction named Atomcol (10% pure tap water, 90% hot mustard) that supposedly gives him super strength. Filled with fake confidence, Daffy dares the bodybuilder to a series of strength demonstrations, such as bending a pipe around a pole, smashing a rock with a hammer, or chewing an iron chain, all of which Daffy fails spectacularly. Daffy (in an odd way) gets his revenge, however, when he lifts the fake 5,000-pound weight (actually painted balloons) the salesman tricked him with. The bodybuilder tries to lift them, but lifts so hard he launches himself up in the air, landing so hard he ends up squashed down to half his height. ("Y'all can call me Shorty.")
- Packed Hero: Daffy tries to balance himself on a bottle with one finger, but ends up falling inside, with his feet sticking out.
- Pyrrhic Victory: In the first challenge, Daffy successfully manages to tie a metal fishing pole to a wooden pillar... only to accidentally trap himself in the loop he tied.Daffy: Huh. Didn’t think I could do it, did you?
- Read the Fine Print: The Atomcol bottle’s label (which Daffy never reads) says that the product is made with 10% tap water and 90% hot mustard, making it clear that the formula does nothing other than burn the inside of your mouth.
- Smug Snake: Hunky, who's quick to dismiss Daffy and show off his muscles the second he sees Daffy's girlfriend.
- Snake Oil Salesman: The Atomcol salesman, who not only sells Daffy a bogus muscle building tonic but blatantly contradicts himself by charging Daffy five bucks to try his formula for free.
- Southern Gentleman: Hunky speaks with a thick southern accent and is quite the gentleman when seducing Daffy's girlfriend.
- Teeth Flying: One of the challenges involves chewing a metal chain and spitting out nails. Unfortunately, when Daffy chews his chain, he spits out his own teeth instead (he's even revealed to have a gold tooth).
- Throw the Dog a Bone: One of the few 1950's shorts where Daffy gets the best of his foe in the end (even though it was mostly through dumb luck).
