Nasty Quacks

{{Infobox film

| image = NastyquxTC.png

| caption =

| animator = Art Davis
I. Ellis
Richard Bickenbach
Anatolle Kirsanoff (uncredited){{cite web |title=Warner Cartoon Breakdowns #3: That Darnfool Duck! |url=https://archive.org/details/warnercartoonbreakdowns3 |access-date=19 December 2020}}{{cite web |title=Animation Breakdowns #34 |url=https://archive.org/details/animationbreakdowns34 |access-date=24 December 2020}}

| layout_artist = Bob Givens

| background_artist = Richard H. Thomas

| starring = Mel Blanc
Sara Berner (uncredited)
Robert C. Bruce

| music = Carl W. Stalling

| producer = Edward Selzer

| distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation

| released = {{Film date|1945|12|01}}

| color_process = Technicolor

| runtime = 7:08

| language = English

}}

Nasty Quacks is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin, released on December 1, 1945, and starring Daffy Duck.{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Jerry |last2=Friedwald |first2=Will |title=Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons |date=1989 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co |isbn=0-8050-0894-2 |page=163}}{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |accessdate=6 June 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/70/mode/2up |pages=70–72}}

Plot

In a suburban household, a father gifts his daughter, Agnes, a black duckling that soon matures into the infamous Daffy Duck. Daffy's disruptive antics test the father's patience, but Agnes staunchly defends her beloved pet. The father's frustration escalates, leading to a comical chase around the house, until he hits upon a plan to distract Agnes with a new, cute yellow duckling. Determined to eliminate his rival, Daffy stalks the duckling with an axe but decides he can't kill the little one, instead intending to accelerate their growth with vitamins before taking them down. Unexpectedly, the duckling transforms into a grown, white female duck, leaving Daffy stunned. The joyous father’s celebration is short lived when he discovers Daffy cohabiting peacefully with the new duck and their offspring, ending the tale with Daffy's characteristic storytelling.

Reception

This was the final Daffy Duck cartoon, and the second to last overall, directed by Tashlin. The director is not credited as he had already left the studio. The voices of the male characters are performed by Mel Blanc. The film also introduced a love interest for Daffy.

Animation historian Greg Ford writes, "A comparison might be made to the plot of the hit play The Man Who Came to Dinner, in which an insufferable dinner guest becomes incapacitated and overstays his welcome for endless, grueling months. Daffy, as Warner Bros.' blue-collar answer to George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's patrician wordsmith Sheridan Whiteside, terrorizes the household not with acerbic putdowns but exuberant, palsy-walsy camaraderie... One of the cartoon's funniest bits finds the borderline bratty Agnes swooshing in to Daffy's defense before her father does the duck corporeal harm. While other animation directors showed an antsy reluctance to caricature females, Tashlin distinguished himself as an equal-opportunity exaggerator."{{cite book |editor1-last=Beck |editor1-first=Jerry |title=The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons |date=2020 |publisher=Insight Editions |isbn=978-1-64722-137-9 |pages=120–121}}