"A Goofy Cartoon"
Release Date September 23, 1949
Running Time 6:30
Synopsis
Characters
Credits
|
Original Movie Poster |
Laserdiscs
DVD
Television
Technical Specifications
Released by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Gallery
Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized picture
Comments
For those of you who need exercise, this video may not be the beginner's model that you would expect. With Goofy and a 78 RPM record running the helm, there would be plenty of painful blunders in this one.
It all starts as Goofy collapses as he opens the door and falls into his house. He crawls to the nearest recliner and reads a magazine, where he turns to a page which featured an exercise advertisement. It said, "don't be a spineless, weak-kneed, no good nincompoop!" As Goofy looks on, he is excited by what he reads, so he is urged on by the narrator to fill the coupon out and then just wait for the arrival of the exercise equipment. But will it deliver the promise of fame, money, and fortune to Goofy? After Goofy mails the coupon, the equipment arrives in state-of-the-art fashion. Instant equipment from the mailbox! Goofy carries it in and sets up very quickly, then compares his muscles to the muscular man on the posterboard. Needless to say, there is no comparison. Afterwhich, he carries the record over to the record player but he never makes it - he trips over a barbell, loses grip of the record, and, in a "stroke of luck" Goofy fashion, the record lands right on the player and the needle lands right on the first track.
The first exercise was with the barbells, where Goofy is taught how to lift them properly. When told to lift, he obviously does not lift the heavyweights a millimeter. On his second attempt, the dots pop out of his caveman suit (used for his exercising) and he manages to get it off the floor a couple of inches, but then lands down, with the weights falling over and the bar crushing his hands. As he fixes the barbells, one of the weights he picks up lands on his left toe! Then, he (as Goofy as it is) tries to lift the weights behind his back! Needless to say, that did not work as he drops the weights and the barbells bangs him in the back of his head. Somehow, he manages to lift the weights using his feet, but gets them trapped between the weights, so he rolls to a platform and as he comes off, he lands feet first, weights over his head! Then, as sad as it is, a fly lands on the weights and as he walks across the bar of the barbell, Goofy goes crashing through the floor and through apartments a few stories below him.
Goofy collapses once he re-enters his apartment, then is told to walk over to the muscular chart to compare bicep sizes. He makes a muscle (pointing upside down), then manages to have his muscle inflate his nose! After that, he goes to the chin-up bars, and as he jumps to get a grip, he lives up to his name by clubbing his head on it. He pulls himself up a few times, then cheats by pulling the bar down without moving. As he finishes, he lets go of the bar and once again, it lands on his head, producing a lump as the record says, "notice the quick muscular development."
The next exercise gets Goofy tangled up in knots as he attempts to use the cable expanders to help strengthen his arms. He stretches with his left arm, then with his right - causing his left arm to wap him on the side of his head. The right hand follows, and Goofy now finds himself with his face trapped between the springs! His left legs follows as he tries to separate the springs from his face. Eventually, Goofy winds up playing a spiderweb game with the springs until they reached under him and yanked his caveman sweatsuit off. Finally, the springs haul him over to the hanging rings. Goofy grabs on to them and hangs on for dear life as he prepares for the best act in the history of Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus!
Goofy swings through the apartment above him, then goes airborne through the glass house and back down again, dribbling like a basketball! The springs stretch him over to a mirror, and as Goofy is thrown into reverse, his mirror reflection becomes human by waving sayanora to him! He crashes on more equipment, including the chin-up bar, then goes flying out the window, where Goofy tries to grab onto the balcony of an upstairs apartment a quarter of a mile away, 30 stories high! As he returns, he does not use the window... rather, he crashes through the bricks and imprints himself exactly onto the muscular chart, where he passes out as the cartoon closes by being "just plain physically fatigued."
So much for this cartoon making a good exercise program! What Jane Fonda thinks is not my business, but hey - use whatever program that works!
-- Tom Wilkins
| I have seen "Goofy Gymnastics" and would like to submit a comment on this short |