User Reviews

In a story somewhat reminiscent of the classical folktale Androcles and the Lion, Jerry removes a thumb tack from Spike's paw, the grateful dog swearing never to forget this act of kindness. Spike gives the friendly mouse a bell that, when rung, will bring the bulldog to his aid. This comes in very handy with Tom the cat on the prowl, but Jerry experiences problems once a law is passed that all dogs must be put on a lead.

Sixty nine cartoons in and the Hanna-Barbara play a blinder, delivering one of the funniest T&J capers so far. This one is seriously funny all the way through, with Jerry getting the best of Tom for a while before the tables are turned, the relieved cat making the absolute most of poor Spike being tied to his kennel.

In one gut-bustingly hilarious scene, Tom stands just out of reach of the snarling bulldog and proceeds to hit him with a pie, smash him with cymbals, smack him with a boxing glove, and, in a wonderful coup de grâce, uses Spike's gnashing teeth to form a baseball bat from a log which he then uses to bash the dog on the head. If you don't find that funny, you might as well give up watching cartoons, period! Another splendid moment comes when Jerry rings his bell to find that Spike does not answer: Tom generously hands the perplexed and rather worried mouse a selection of bells, none of which have the desired result.

This excellent cartoon comes to a satisfying end, with the leash law repealed and Spike once again coming to Jerry's rescue, much to Tom's chagrin.

People who look at William Hanna & Joseph Barbera's body of work with a dispassionate eye will quickly notice that they had a penchant for recycling old story lines (they weren't the only ones - Friz Freling at Warner Brothers regularly reused gags, but seldom complete stories). With slight variations as to the devices, "Fit To Be Tied" is nearly identical to 1944's "The Bodyguard". The similarities are such that if another studio had produced "Fit" they could have been sued for plagiarism. I guess with hundreds of cartoons to their credit, originality can't be expected every time, but `Fit' appeared long before the general decline of the quality of cartoon storywriting in the ‘60's, so it could have been closer to the norm in 1952.

"Fit to Be Tied" is an American cartoon starring Tom and Jerry and it runs for slightly under 7 minutes just like they always do. Looking at the film's rating and number of votes here on IMDb, it is without a doubt among the most famous films starring the duo, even if it did not manage to score with the Oscars like some other of these short films. Jerry helps out Spike (who is apparently quite a sissy) in a critical situation and as a consequence Spike keeps helping the little mouse against his arch nemesis Tom. But things change when a leash law is introduced. This film has a real plot with 2 major twists and this is something you can certainly not say about every T&J cartoon. Sure, there are moments too that don't make that much sense like Spike not grabbing Tom when he is within reach (despite the leash), but as a whole, it was an enjoyable watch and I can see why people like it. Thumbs up for this one.

. . . America needs so-called "leash laws" for CATS, rather than canines. Most dogs just want a cozy place to sleep after chewing their chow, especially older mutts like Spike. However, for the first 20 years of so of their lives, tabbies are constantly chasing the wildlife within the grasp of their killer claws, whether it's mice like Jerry--or, in Real Life, more often than not--whooping crane fledglings, endangered songbirds and spotted owlets. Bird counters estimate that a single cat roaming unleashed outdoors will slay an average of 10 more desirable critters such as songbirds daily. That adds up to about 4,000 wasted mommy, daddy and baby finches annually, or 80,000 missing martins during a feral kitty's lifetime. Any attempt to excuse these cruel tabbies for maliciously pillaging the last of the passenger pigeons would leave the apologist FIT TO BE TIED.