Ah, the Old West! The last frontier for Americans to discover their new country and own the territories once inhabited by noble natives. Its here where David de Rooij and Jelle Brunt decided to set their animated short, SLIM PICKINGS FAT CHANCES, a clear homage to a more Tex Avery-esque era of humor and cartooning where characters are more disproportioned and the slapstick violence pushes the boundaries of “acceptable behavior.”
The cartoon begins in a classic 40’s introduction to a one road western town where we are introduced to Slim’s Saloon; the most diminutive, gloomy, overcrowded, nasty and hands down insalubrious tavern in the entire animated wild west. Slim runs a prosperous business as the owner of the only dump/saloon in town, and probably in a state wide range too, when suddenly competition clashes in. In a matter of seconds a larger and far superior saloon opens across the street, owned by a happy-go-lucky Buffalo Bill-type guy, that’s chock full of booze, gamble, shiny things and prostitutes for all sizes and tastes.
Of course, Slim doesn’t want to improve the quality of his latrine-sized establishment to compete so he goes for the “obvious” solution and tries to destroys the competition. Thus comedy runs wild to demonstrate that bad intentions can’t destroy a man who brings all kinds of joy to the lonely and overworked cowboys, prospectors, firemen and Native Americans of the West. It gets a little risqué at times, definitely moreso than most Saturday morning fare, but packs enough old-style humor that you’ll find yourself feeling like a kid again.
