Three Little Bops (1957) User Reviews

a toe-tapping good time

[movieman_kev · 8/10 · 31 October 2005]

A variation on the Three Little Pigs fable set to toe tapping jazz swinging music. Has the pigs playing different clubs which the Wolf blows down when no one likes his trumpet playing and call him a square. This was an amusing short and the music was good so I enjoyed it. Not the best of the music-centric Looney Tunes shorts, but it's still a fun time to be had be all. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It features a commentary by Jerry beck, as well as an optional music only track, and a vocals only track.

My Grade: B

Slightly flawed but still a personal favourite

[phantom_tollbooth · 9/10 · 1 October 2008]

Friz Freleng's 'The Three Little Bops' is a longtime favourite of mine. From the first time I saw it at a very early age, I was always on the lookout for a chance to see it again. While I was growing up during the 80s and 90s, Warner Bros. cartoons were frequently on TV and every so often this one came around. I was absolutely delighted when it finally became available for me to own on the essential Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. A jazz parody of Disney's famous 'Three Little Pigs' cartoon, 'The Three Little Bops' is entirely set to music with a great vocal by the underrated Stan Freberg (who finally gets screen credit in this cartoon). It tells the story of the Big Bad Wolf's unsuccessful attempts to be accepted into the Three Little Pigs nightclub act and each time he is rejected, he blows the nightclub down! The visuals are beautifully stylised, fitting perfectly with the modern theme of the cartoon, and Warren Foster's lyrics are often priceless ("Dew Drop Inn did drop down"!). It's not quite a perfect cartoon, since there are a couple of slightly mistimed moments and the section in which the Wolf adopts a series of disguises slows things down and unnecessarily breaks from the musical narration for a conspicuously long time. Nevertheless, if asked to list my favourite cartoons, 'The Three Little Bops' would always be one of the first to pop into my head. It's a toe-tapping delight of which I never tire.

This cartoon probably should have won the Oscar . . .

[oscaralbert · 9/10 · 19 March 2016]

. . . for Best Animated Short of 1957, but voice artist Mel Blanc's contract with Warner Bros. stated that only cartoons giving Blanc a voice credit would be submitted for Academy Award consideration. (Since it was Warner's "turn" to win this category that year--under the genteel practice of the 1900s for the Hot Houses of Hollywood to rotate the Golden Statuettes according to the "Studio System"--the Oscar went to an inferior Warner effort called BIRDS ANONYMOUS, in which Mr. Blanc participated.) THREE LITTLE BOPS illustrates the Truism that Death (preferably by suicide) helps many artists to "hit their stride," (such as John Kennedy Toole, whose CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES was published by his Mom 11 years after he killed himself, or Vincent van Gogh, whose brother sold hundreds of his paintings after Vinnie failed to sell even one, and blew his brains out in that corn field). Often people who collected only rejection slips when they were alive enjoy their greatest success once they buy the farm, especially if they have Moms and Brothers like Toole and Van Gogh. But, because his medium is Jazz, the Big Bad Wolf of THREE LITTLE BOPS doesn't even require the services of such an immediate-family-member-turned-posthumous-business-manager to finally earn a coveted ensemble gig. As the Three Little Pigs observe, "You Gotta get Hot (in Hades) to play Real Cool."

Like, The Coolest Three Little Pigs Anywhere

[ccthemovieman-1 · 10/10 · 21 April 2007]

Jazz, 1950s style, takes precedence in this cartoon of the "The Three Little Pigs" who are jazz musicians. They're good, too, on sax, drums, piano with a bass handy, if needed. The whole cartoon is told in song, with Stan Freberg doing his best to sound jazzy as he sings the story. It actually sounds more like very early rock 'n roll.

The story is basically a hip-dressed wolf who enters the club, hears the pigs and wants to join in with his trumpet. The pigs are nice guys and can't say "no" but when the wolf starts blowing his horn, well, it ain't' good. As Fregerg sings, "The three little pigs were really gassed; they never heard such a corny blast."

The pigs tell the wolf, "We've played in the West; we've played in the East, we've heard 'the most,' but you're 'the least!' They escort the wolf out. He winds up blowing the house of straw down!

This happens in several places as the pigs entertain elsewhere, each time the wolf coming in and getting thrown out for his horrible playing until the pigs finally build a place made out of bricks ("made in 1776" - each line is rhyme in this cartoon.)

It's this kind of dialog and singing (along with the dress-ware of the musicians) that makes this cartoon just a huge hoot to watch and hear. I loved it! It was different from anything else I've seen on these Looney Tunes collections. I felt like I was in a jazz club back in the '50s or at a Bill Haley rock 'n roll concert. This is one cartoon I will play over and over.

A Fully Deserving Cult Favorite

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 10 June 2008]

Why this absolutely brilliant 1957 "Looney Tunes" entry was not nominated for an Academy Award, I'll never know. In a 1992 television viewers' poll, it was deservedly voted one of the best twenty cartoons in the whole Warner Brothers' repertoire.

For once, the UPA cartoon style isn't employed by the Warner artists simply because it's flavor of the month, but because it's highly suited to the subject matter. The backgrounds and the character animation all perfectly compliment the up-beat vocal.

No matter how many times you watch and listen to "The Three Little Bops", repeated viewing does little to lessen the impact of its cleverly off-beat visual and verbal humor.

"You gotta get hot to play real cool!"

[slymusic · 16 February 2006]

"Three Little Bops" is one of my favorite Warner Bros. cartoons, and not just because I am a jazz musician. This cartoon, under the direction of Friz Freleng, is a delightfully funny jazz adaptation of the Three Little Pigs story. The three pigs play some hard-driving swing music that cannot be resisted by anyone wishing to dance, but the trumpet-blowing Big Bad Wolf repeatedly tries to sit in uninvited, and he proves he can't play worth beans. After getting kicked out of the first two jazz clubs (made respectively of straw and sticks), the wolf succeeds in blowing them down with his trumpet. Since he cannot blow down the third club (made of bricks), he tries to blow it up with a TNT keg, and he ends up blowing himself up instead. While burning inside a cooking pot in Hades, he is finally able to play the trumpet satisfactorily!

So many things about this cartoon are funny: the musical narration throughout, as well as the rhythmic dialogue of the pigs and the wolf (all vocal characterizations well-performed by Stan Freberg); the wolf dancing, turning pages in the music, and playing the trumpet badly (a challenge for the great jazzman Shorty Rogers); the piano-playing pig forming a square to indicate the quality of the wolf's trumpet playing; the numerous sound effects created by different instruments; the crowd of people all in sync on the dance floor; the wolf in a marching band uniform pounding a bass drum and in a woman's coat playing the Charleston dance on the ukulele; and the wolf finally playing a fine jazz trumpet solo while boiling in a pot in Hades.

Friz Freleng was a music lover, hence he incorporated music as a vital component in his cartoons. "Three Little Bops" is a definite musical gem in the Warner Bros. cartoon library, and I must highly recommend this film for all fans of cartoons and music.

Excellent Riff on the story of the Three Little Pigs

[llltdesq · 10/10 · 4 November 2000]

This is a jazzy little cartoon, taking the Three Little Pigs and making them a Jazz combo, consisting of a guitar, drums and piano. The Big Bad Wolf wants to join in on a jam session. He's really bad and a square, so the Pigs tell him to scram. The cartoon focuses on his attempts to join in. The music is great, the narration is sung (by Stan Freberg) and the ending is excellent. The crowd goes wild and the land saw much rejoicing! They just don't make 'em like this anymore! Great cartoon and more than worth your time. Highly Recommended.

it's fun to pig out on this cartoon

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 28 November 2006]

Through many of the Looney Tunes cartoons, I've derived that the creators probably had a way with jazz, and it plays out in "Three Little Bops", as a trio of jazz-playing pigs perform in clubs, but a square wolf keeps interrupting and blowing the clubs down. But then, they find a place built out of bricks.

Not only is this a jazz-centric cartoon, but I notice that the narration sounds like "Rock Around the Clock". But that shouldn't be any surprise; after all, rock 'n' roll was pretty much based in jazz and blues. All in all, this is a very fine cartoon. I can say with certainty that Stan Freberg was as great a voice artist as Mel Blanc was.

'The Three Little Pigs' has never been cooler

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 6 September 2017]

It is always interesting to see Warner Brothers cartoons featuring characters that are not the classic ones we know and love and are iconic in animation history.

'Three Little Bops' is one of the finest examples of an animated masterpiece. It is so well made, so fun, so energetic and so cool with phenomenal music and impeccable timing that that the story is a slight one, and basically a gags matched to music experience, is completely forgotten while watching. Proof that when it comes to Warner Brothers animation, one does not need the likes of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck present to make it a good cartoon, with 'Three Little Bops' being on par with the best of their cartoons (high praise indeed and to me warranted).

As to be expected, the animation is great with beautiful colours and meticulous detail. The characters are drawn well with smooth movement. The music is phenomenal (being a music/gag-oriented cartoon, this component being good was essential to as whether the cartoon would work), making one sing along, tap their feet and get up and dance and it is just so infectious as well.

Furthermore, there is just so much energy and the gags are impeccably timed and often extremely funny and always clever.

Here, the characters are a joy. Especially the wolf, the funniest and most interesting character. Stan Freberg does a wonderful job here, some of the best work he ever did.

In conclusion, so much fun and so cool, a masterpiece (not a word often thrown around lately for me). 10/10 Bethany Cox

Unless I'm hearing things, one stanza states that . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 8/10 · 24 August 2021]

. . . "the House of Bricks was built in 1776." Certainly by 1957, when THREE LITTLE BOPS was released, such an ancient 181-year-old edifice would be on its last legs, from an architectural perspective. (Most of us are "in on" the poorly kept secret that supposedly "ancient" landmarks such as America's White House, Mount Rushmore, the Great Pyramid, London Bridge, Independence Hall and China's Great Wall are constantly being "touched up," repaired, strengthened and rebuilt from scratch.) This animated short gives viewers no reason to believe that the the title trio's third-shown venue is anything more than a crumbling pile of dried mud blocks. Surely it should have proven even less of a challenge to a determined intruder than forts of straw or sticks.

Pigs are pretty lame, too

[killersax · 5/10 · 22 June 2006]

The pigs play better than the wolf, but no more hip. They're mostly just vamping on a simple boogie that sounds a lot like "Rock Around the Clock" (And Stan Freberg's inability to find the right pitch is downright painful--way worse than the wolf.)Considering this was made the year Miles released "Kind of Blue," (a year after Bird died.) and considering the really adventurous stuff Shorty Rogers was doing for Stan Kenton around this time, I have to think Warner Bros. dumbed it down musically to what they thought the Lawrence-Welk/Liberace-listening public would like.

For a cartoon that really does something with music, how about "The Rabbit of Seville"?

Glenn

Musicians cult classic.

[meg940 · 22 January 2003]

Every muso you speak to knows this cartoon. When I was in year 10 my school music teacher showed us this video. I'm now a high school music teacher myself and I want to share it with my students too. Unfortunately my old teacher has lost it and I can't find a copy of it anywhere. I've described it to my students and they have named their jazz band "House of Bricks". I may sound slightly obsessed but to me watching this cartoon was a defining moment in my musical career.

I saw three entertaining versions of Three Little Bops on YouTube

[tavm · 26 May 2009]

On YouTube, I got to see three versions of this unique Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon. One was the original with the voices of Stan Freberg and the music of Shorty Rogers. That one is pure classic. Another one had an Italian-dubbed soundtrack that was another nice twist on the cartoon. And then there was one I saw linked from the Misce-Looney-ous blog. That one had a live version of the music and the other voices as performed at the Blackstump Festival at Australia in 1993 by the Belvedere Blues Band. That was fine too except for the slightly changed ending when it's mentioned that the wolf went to the pearly gates when he's still seen playing in "the other place" and one of the pigs says, "You've got to be SAVED to play it cool" instead of saying HOT. While this cartoon was not hilarious, there was one line that I was highly amused by when, after Freberg mentions Liberace, one of those pigs says, "I wish my brother George was here." On that note, I highly recommend all three versions of Three Little Bops that are uploaded on YouTube still as I'm writing this... Original version:**********, Italian-dubbed version: **********, Belvedere Blues version: *********.

Clever idea but needed better delivery to be worth more than one look

[bob the moo · 3 May 2004]

The three little pigs are a city jazz combo who play to adoring crowds. When they are joined by a trumpet player by the name of `big bag wolf'. However the wolf is not a very good player and he threatens to spoil the career of the pigs. However when they kick the wolf out of the band, he blows down their gig at the Straw House. Despite their insistence that he is rubbish, he follows them to the Wood Club to try and get in again.

I have seen other Warner twists on the Three Little Pigs story, some of which have also been set to music but this one is a lot different as it totally changes the story. Sadly it is interesting enough to only watch once and then it will have lost it's novelty value and will expose it's many flaws too readily. The film is set to a constant jazzy/bebop style song and basically sees the wolf trying to play with the pigs and then taking revenge in the time honoured fashion when he is rebuffed. The material is not very funny and relies too much on the juxtaposition of the music and action. In this regard it is worth seeing once as it is a clever idea, albeit it one that needed better delivery.

The singer is not all that he could have been and doesn't sound like he is someone who sung that type of music for a living - I may be wrong but it sounded like the emphasis was on clear pronunciation of the words rather than an authentic feel to the music. On top of that the animation was too broad and colourful for me - lacking it's own feel. The characters also struggle over this and they feel too basic and blocky. Once the basic humour of the music and the action has gone the film has nothing left and didn't endear itself to me after this point.

For all it's flaws it is worth seeing once for it is a clever idea and is cool and jazzy enough to keep you happy for several minutes. However repeat viewings will not have this novelty value and you'll be left with nothing much else to replace it. Clever idea but needed better delivery.