The First Bad Man

Even in his second-echelon films, Avery can't help but astound in his genius. What he does with long-necked dinosaurs in the present cartoon has infinitely greater laughs than any other "prehistoric" animated effort.

The cartoon begins with a high angle view of modern Dallas, Texas. The streets are busy, and the buildings reach high into the air. In the middle of these giant buildings is a small, stone jail. A narrator begins to tell us the story behind it. In one million BC the state of Texas (which is somehow the only piece of land on the planet) was a prosperous place. All the primitive Texans had everything they could ever need. Banks, bars, telephone stations, hospitals, and most importantly, gentlemen clubs (wolf whistle). All the men had a wife to drag by the hair too. One hilarious scene shows a depressed man as he drags his wife who is dragging his mother in law along with them. Despite all the good life in Texas, there is something to worry about. The first bad man comes to town on the back of a brontosaurus. The man is also shooting off his guns. In addition to robbing the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth national banks, the villain also nabs the women folk of Texas. The first shoot out occurs as Texans chase after the bandit with a herd of their own brontosauruses. The bandit fires back but runs out of ammunition. So he cocks his thumb and begins firing bullets from his index finger (Tex Avery slays me). After being shot out from behind big stones, the villain and his now tiny dinosaur run to their hideout, located inside a giant boulder. The Texans can’t get in, so they chisel the boulder into Texas’ first jail. The scene fades back to modern Dallas as the narrator finishes the story. But before the cartoon ends, the narrator asks the audience one question. “When yall gone let me outta here?” What an ending! Great Tex Avery entertainment.