From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project : As I’ve watched all of these Disney shorts, I’ve been trying to find trends or instances that show growth and change in the animation and the style that it is done. While the actual drawings themselves have evolved over the years, more change has come from the storytelling and how things are done. This is readily apparent in Two Gun Mickey.

This is a standard story of Mickey rescuing Minnie from outlaws in the Wild West. But it does not come off as standard, because the storytelling is done so well. Particular attention is paid to the characters, and their lines early in the short are paid off later.

For example, Minnie begins the short on her own, driving a wagon with horses through the desert. When she meats a puddle, Mickey comes by and offers to help, but Minnie intones that “I can take care of myself,” in an unconvincing fashion. Mickey ends up having to help anyway, but it’s a refrain that Minnie will repeat throughout the short.

At the end of the short, though, after Mickey has saved her from Pete’s clutches and she is alone with him, she repeats the mantra again. This time, though, it takes on new meaning, as she is referring to her ability to take charge and kiss Mickey on her own. It’s a very interesting juxtaposition and a character moment for Minnie that we don’t see often in these films.

Another interesting moment comes when Minnie is being chased through the desert by Pete. Mickey is perched on a hill above, and of course catches sight of Minnie and goes after her. Before that, though, we get a shot of him daydreaming about Minnie, and seeing her in the smoke of his fire. Mickey embraces the smoky vision only to get a lungful of smoke in return.

But that single moment, the brief pause in the action, connects the viewer with Mickey more, and provides us his motivation, rather than relying on familiarity with the character to do so. It may not seem like much, but for storytelling, it is a big leap forward.

Why do I focus on this aspect? Because as the Disney studio was preparing to work on a full length feature, storytelling was critical. You could not sustain a full length film like Snow White on the basis of gags or familiar characters in familiar settings. A strong story had to be the goal. You can see them trying to work towards this in the Silly Symphonies and the Mickeys of this era.

Artistically, this short shines as well. There is some great work here, and inventive use of the camera. We get some wide panoramics of the desert vistas, and tight close up shots of Mickey and Pete grappling over Minnie. All are very well done.

It is disconcerting, however, to see the horses Mickey and Minnie are riding. They look just like Horace! Kind of a weird thing to see one of their best friends turned into a piece of livestock. If you can get past that, though, Two Gun Mickey is a good step forward in storytelling for the Disney crew, and well worth a watch.

From Mac : An epic Mickey cartoon. Great visuals, great characters and interaction, great music. This is top quality stuff that's a joy to watch. It's too bad there weren't many more Mickey cartoons like this made after this one.

I agree with pretty much all the comments you made on this one, Ryan. However, I do think that the horses are different enough from Horace. In the past Mickey's horse would have been Horace – think of The Cactus Kid, but by this stage he's one of the 'humans'. Admittedly the horse designs are one of the weaker elements of this short.

From Jerry Edwards : Although full of action and gags, nothing really new from the typical "Mickey rescues Minnie from Pete" routine of several previous shorts.

From Ryan : When I first saw this short, I thought at first that the mouse traveling across the desert was Mickey. Well as soon as I got a closer look, I saw it was Minnie with her pink cowgirl clothes (of course this was the colorized version that I saw I never saw the black and white version). It's just another one of those shorts where Mickey saves Minnie. I thought that the horses were poorly drawn. They looked like they had been drawn by children. I like this short, but it's not one of my favorites.

From Bill : I agree with Jerry Edwards that this is a typical Mickey rescues Minnie. However, there were gags galore and some really fine animation. I liked the shadows of Pete and Minnie on the rock ledge and the fight scene with Mickey and Pete rolling around are great! Also, the gunfight Mickey has with Pete's gang where no one runs out of ammo is classic toon. Best sight gag: when Pete punches Mickey and knocks him right out of his clothes and he falls back into them. This is the first time I saw Mickey's bare feet with toes and no gloves. Another note, there were some nice backgrounds in this short. Not my favorite Mickey, but always nice to see again.

From Gijs Grob : The sixth and last of the "Pete kidnaps Minnie"-stories certainly is a magnificent one. This time the setting is the Wild West and both Mickey and Minnie talk in some southern accent. The story is familiar, but the execution is one of the best, containing a lot of fast-paced gags and beautiful 'camera-shots', including a few extreme close ups. The design of the cartoon, like its content, looks a bit old-fashioned: the horses are the same rubbery type as in the earliest Mickey Mouse outings, although a more sophisticated design had already appeared in Ye Olden Days (1933). Two-Gun Mickey was the first cartoon directed by Ben Sharpsteen, who had joined the studio in 1929.

From Jose : I saw on the Disney channel the colorized version of this short and now have this in a DVD. The colorized version is wonderful and the colors make this cartoon a better cartoon. This cartoon is one of the best early Mickey cartoons. This is my favorite cartoon in this moment.

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Two-Gun Mickey

A Mickey Mouse Cartoon

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Released by United Artists Pictures

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