talarisw Tex Avery is probably the best and most influence cartoon director of his time. He was truly the anti-Disney, and this cartoon is one of the best examples of that. I love his style, it was so unique and really ahead of it's time. My favorite character of his is Screwy Squirrel,he clearly was created as an anti-mickey mouse and this cartoon has very much an anti-Disney or anti-early MGM attitude. I love how he constantly breaks the fourth wall and how there is no plot, it's just screwy showing the audience that a manic chase is more entertaining then a sweet cartoon. My favorite gag is when the film start skipping and screwy simply walks over and fixes the record. I understand that some thought he was too violent and mean, but he's funny and unique! I like how for some reason he sounds like he has a cold and often sniffs, weird, but I like it. His laugh is great, Wally Mahar did his voice, and screwy reminds me of bratty kid who likes to cause mayham for his own pleasure. Mayabe movie goes at the time didn't get such a wacky character who constantly talks directly to them, but he has a cult following. I love that screwy squirrel!

Seamus2829 This was the first appearance of Screwy Squirrel, and like most of Tex Avery's animated shorts for Fred Quimby at M-G-M, filled with sight gags aplenty,along with the usual kinetic pacing that put Avery on the map. Screwy wasn't as popular as some of the other cartoon characters of the period (let's face it---Screwy is little more than Avery's answer to Bugs Bunny,like Woody Woodpecker was Walter Lanz's answer to Bugs). This short begins looking like it's going to be yet another 'Happy Harmony' short (M-G-M's answer to Disney's 'Silly Symphony' shorts,complete with cutsy woodland creatures & plots that can bring on diabetic shock),but this is flushed down the crapper fast, once Screwy makes his debut. Screwy manages to taunt a bloodhound (known as Meathead)for almost all of the short (with some pretty sadistic,but funny results). Toss in a sprinkle of Avery's use of surrealism, and you have yourself a laugh fest. Aired at various times on Cartoon Network's sister station, Boomerang, or on one of several early M-G-M Avery DVD's.

Joseph P. Ulibas Screwball Squirrel (1944) has to be the greatest single cartoon character ever created. If Tex Avery is forever to be remembered for one thing, it's this creation. He stretched the bounds of decency (and sanity) with this cartoon. No matter what came beforehand or afterwards, animation was never the same again.This was the first in several animated shorts based upon Screwy a.k.a. Screwball Squirrel. The cartoon opens up with a thumper like character frolicking through the woods. He happens to come across the title character. He takes the rabbit by the hand and cold cocks him offscreen and hijacks the show. A collection of sight gags, pratfalls and a lot of physical abuse takes place during the rest of the show. A real funny short that has to be seen to be believed. Take note that the show was created during the height of World War II so a lot of humor from that era is worked into the short. But besides the nitpicking it's truly a classic character and an extremely funny one at that. Watch Tex Avery change the face of animation forever.Highly recommended!A+It's going to be real hard to find an unedited copy of this short. Just keep your eyes open and you'll find it!

Michael Daly MGM asked Tex Avery to develop a running character to rival Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera's Tom & Jerry, and Avery, who was gag-oriented as a director, developed a character suited to his style of animated comedy, Screwy Squirrel.The cartoon features Avery's brand of superbly-timed and edited gags revolving around the chase theme universal to cartoons, but two gags display Avery's aversion to running characters and also hurt the cartoon's quality. Both involve a saccharine-sweet squirrel straight out of Disney central casting who is viciously pummeled to death, first by Screwy, later by both Screwy and the dog who's been chasing him throughout the short. The gratuitous nature of these assaults is repellent and unfortunately common to cartoons of the 1940s; unlike the physical gags elsewhere in the cartoon, these scenes are not done for laughs, but for sadistic joy and as such are unnecessary and ugly. This is not the best entry in the five-short series for Screwy Squirrel, but it is a good start.