"A Mickey Mouse Cartoon"

Release Date May 15, 1930

Running Time 7:25

Synopsis

Riding in on Horace, Mickey enters a western town, fails to impress a Mexican Minnie with his mischievous antics, but succeeds in saving her from the dastardly Pegleg Pedro.

Characters

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Pete

Horace Horsecollar

Credits

Director : Walt Disney

Cut Scenes

In the 1980s, scenes of Pete taking Minnie's beer glass and Mickey doing trick horseback riding were cut. The current version has all gunplay scenes as well as Mickey holstering his gun cut. Each censored version contains all scenes left in the other version.

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #11 : The Many Lives of Pegleg Pete

Mickey's Mouse Tracks : Episode #31

Donald's Quack Attack : Episode #22

DVD

Disney Treasures : Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Black and White

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Cinephone; mono

Aspect ration : 1.33 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by Columbia Pictures

Gallery

Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized picture

Comments

From Jesus Daprice : This cartoon is very similar to the short used in "Mickey's Gala Premier" entitled "The Gallopin' Romance."

From Nancy Sykes : I liked the scene where Pete falls off the cliff and goes up and down like an accordion. This is probably one of the earliest shorts in which they use that.

From Jerry Edwards : After a series of song and dance routines by Mickey, Minnie, and Pedro (Pete), Pedro kidnaps Minnie, with Mickey chasing them on horseback across the desert. Mickey defeats Pedro and rescues Minnie. Pedro tumbles over a cliff and is flattened by a rock, but manages to walk away "accordion" style, while Mickey, Minnie, and their horse jeer at him. Generally, just a reworking of the 1928 "Gallopin' Gaucho." First appearance of Pete's "peg leg" in the Mickey cartoons.

From Ryan : This is definitely a classic Mickey short. It's sort of like an "update" of the "Gallopin' Gaucho." Mickey has his gloves and black oval eyes. He rides a horse (who is none other than Horace Horsecollar) instead of an ostrich. It was kind of hard to tell since this is a black and white short whether or not it took place during the daytime or at night. It sure looked like the sky was dark, but I guess the only way I'd know for sure is if it were colorized. One fun gag I enjoyed was where Mickey was chasing after Pete and Pete falls of a cliff. A rock lands on him and smashes him. He then walks off like an accordion.

From Bill : Good early short with life long nemesis "Peg Leg Pete" in the picture. Here we see Mickey riding in on Horace Horsecollar; the sight gag of Horace galloping in time with the music is classic. Another good bit of animation is the shooting scene in the dark and the facial expressions of Mickey when he grabs Pete's gun and points it at him. Another thing that is very moving, at least for me, is that everytime Mickey speaks, I know it's Walt's voice. You can just imagine being there in the beginning when Walt and his team of animators and storymen were making these early Mickey shorts. I like the shorts when Mickey rescues Minnie from Peg Leg Pete. The ending as Pete walks away in like an accordion after being hit by a rock is typical of the humor and gags that seem to be lost in today's cartoons.

From Gijs Grob : The Cactus Kid can be summarized as 'Gallopin' Gaucho in Mexico'. Mickey visits a Mexican canteen where Minnie's a waitress. They make music together until Peg Leg Pete enters and kidnaps Minnie. Minnie speaks Spanish in this cartoon and Peg Leg Pete's seen with a peg leg for the first time. Horace Horsecollar is recognisable, too, with his characteristic yoke and bowler hat. But he's still only a partly humanized horse, here, and Mickey rides him. 'The Cactus Kid' was parodied as 'Galloping Romance', the cartoon showed in "Mickey's Gala Premier" from 1933. It happened to be the last cartoon Walt Disney directed until his unfortunate come-back with 'The Golden Touch' five years later.

Referenced Comments

Gallopin' Gaucho (1928)