SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . on the U.S. Taxpayer Dime during the height of World War Two, as evidenced by this mood adjustment cartoon commissioned by the U.S. Army, PRIVATE SNAFU: GRIPES. Snafu, supposedly a representative average Joe, is revealed as being Gay by Warner's Looney Tuners through multiple means. In this GRIPES episode, the Black-Bra-and-Pantied "Girlie" tattoo on Snafu's upper left arm faces away from the viewer, flaunting "her" butt as the Business End. "She" lets out an orgiastic yelp when a "doctor's needle" pokes "her" in this alluring butt. Then Snafu himself is "doctor butt-poked." Besides butt-poking, Snafu's "GRIPES" focus on solitary potato-peeling, featuring a repetitive hand motion that looks a lot like Onan's Sin. THEN, when Onan--oops, I mean, when SNAFU--is surrounded by three harem gals (2:38 to 2:44), the left one being totally bottomless to ease his access, he flees the scene to face a highly improbable attack by German (long-range!) bombers on his U.S. training base. Add to all of this evidence the fact that Snafu is always pictured by Warner with what they label as his (imaginary) "fairy" friend, and you have a Strong Case that Warner's taxpayer-funded "Every Soldier" is Gay. That American "Military Intelligence" and the U.S. War Censor Board swallowed Snafu's bone of contention shows how "thinking outside the box" enabled America to whip the Axis Powers.

Michael_Elliott Gripes (1943) *** (out of 4)The second film in the series has Private Snafu complaining about having to sweep, cut potatoes and other chores. He's then granted a wish on how he believes the soldiers should be treated each day. This here was the second film in the War Department's series, which was basically meant to educate soldiers during WWII. The title pretty much tells you everything you need to know as Snafu is griping about chores and then we see why everyone has to have a strict routine. The animation is certainly good and Mel Blanc does a fine job with the vocals. I personally thought this second episode was a lot better than the first and there's some adult content here that certainly wasn't normal for the time but since the film didn't have to go thru the Hayes Office it was allowed in.

Robert Reynolds This is a short done during World War II for the US Army under a contract with Warner Brothers studio. There will be spoilers ahead:This is the second Private Snafu short (Coming! Snafu is a introduction to the character which doesn't have a specific lesson other than to reveal Snafu as a bad soldier).Snafu is disgruntled at his lot in the army. He's shown on KP, being giving shots by the army doctors and laying in bed sick. While sick, he complains that he could do a better job running the command. At this, we meet Technical Fairy, First Class for the first time and he gives Snafu his opportunity. Be careful what you wish for.Snafu essentially eliminates all discipline by ending drills, requirements to wear uniforms, getting each soldier two girls and in general eliminating anything which even smacked of hard work or rules. The results of this are predictable. Snafu has no command, as his men are no longer soldiers.Then the Nazis attack and Snafu is alone, his men ignoring him and telling him where to go when he tries to get them to fight. Snafu gets it in the end, literally. The end is excellent.This short is available on various DVDs and online and it's well worth watching. Recommended.

slymusic "Gripes" is a very good Warner Bros. cartoon made specifically for all the various branches of the United States Army. Starring Pvt. Snafu (voiced by Mel Blanc) and featuring quite a bit of rhymed verse by Dr. Seuss, this short has our hero on KP duty, peeling a gigantic mound of potatoes. You think Snafu likes it? Nah! So he fantasizes about how much relaxation he & his fellow soldiers could have if HE were in charge of things.There are three sequences in "Gripes" that I especially like. First, Snafu's scantily-clad female tattoo gets an injection in the ass, after which Snafu gets an injection in his OWN ass! Second, an aerial bomb halts in midair where it produces a pair of mechanical arms digging Snafu out of the ground and placing a bull's-eye target on his ass. And third, a group of happy soldiers go cruising with a few chicks while they sing a "Hooray for Snafu" song, and another soldier in an outhouse - I sure am talking a lot about asses, ain't I? - remarks how glad he is about not having to clean any more latrines; then another soldier struts around with a catchy rhyme about his zoot suit.You can catch "Gripes" as one of the bonus cartoons on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 Disc 3.