Posse Cat

Posse Cat is a 1954 one Reel animated Tom and Jerry Short. As with all Tom and Jerry cartoons at the time, it was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. The short was animated by Irven Spence, Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse and Ray Patterson, the usual quartet of animators who dealt with the vast majority of Tom and Jerry shorts in the Hanna and Barbera era. The backgrounds was credited to Robert Gentle. It was released on January 30, 1954 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Posse Cat is seen as the sequel or successor to 1950's Texas Tom, which is often considered one of the more popular Tom and Jerry shorts, though it was not nominated for an Academy Award that year.

Plot
The cartoon begins at the Cook Shack of a ranch with Tom sleeping lazily as Jerry steals a sausage. The cook then calls Tom using a triangle, preparing dinner (a turkey leg with a side of mashed potatoes in giblet gravy) for him but warning him that he can only eat when Jerry is disposed of ("When you get rid of that varment, you can eat, and not before! Now get going!"). The cook chases Tom out by shooting at him.

First, Tom paints his finger the color of a sausage so that Jerry mistakes it for a sausage. Jerry then lassos the sausage. At first Tom get excited and smiles as if to say, "Got him!" Then he is being pulled by Jerry, Tom's expression goes from happy to a surprised look from Jerry's strength as if to say "Uh-oh, this isn't good." and Tom goes through the mouse hole. A chase follows, and just before Tom catches Jerry, Jerry pushes over a rake which rings the triangle. This looks like it was dinner time to Tom and therefore Tom drops Jerry and goes to have his dinner. The cook takes it away not knowing he's been tricked by Jerry and warns, "I said no dinner till you catch that mouse!" again shooting Tom away. The chase begins again, with Tom trying to lasso Jerry towards him, but he misses and ends up catching the turkey instead. The cook once again shoots Tom away.

Later on, Tom has prepared a trap, but Jerry sees it. He then comes up with a trick of his own: preparing a sandwich with the sleeping cook's hand in it and ringing the triangle. Tom grabs the 'sandwich' and takes a bite: the cook screams long and loud in pain and shoots Tom away yet again, causing Tom to have several discrete holes in himself which can be seen as water that he drinks comes back out through the holes. Jerry appears with a baguette, but seeing Tom, runs away and does another 'sandwich' trick, this time with a bull's tail. Tom takes a bite; the bull screams and Tom is flung back to the shack. Tom sees Jerry with a piece of paper, which turns out to be a contract saying that in return for Jerry's co-operation, Tom would share his meals. The two shake hands, ready to co-operate.

As the cook is peeling potatoes, gunfire can be heard and then seen as Tom 'shoots' at Jerry so that the cook thinks that Tom is trying to get Jerry. Tom fires a few shots into the air as the cook gives Tom his dinner, giving him endless praise.

Just as Tom was about to eat, Jerry appears and reminds him about the contract. But Tom shoots the contract, as if to say that the deal is off. Jerry throws Tom's plate of dinner at him in retaliation and runs off. Tom grabs a red hot branding iron and is about to brand Jerry's rear end with it. Unfortunately, Jerry opens the door and Tom, unable to stop at the speed he's going, hits the cook's rear end, making him scream in pain. Seeing Tom as a traitor, the cook rapidly fires his gun at the cat and chases him into the wilderness. While Tom is being chased, Jerry comes out eating a chicken drumstick and watches.

Availability
DVD
 * Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 5
 * Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 3, Disc One