THE LEGEND OF COYOTE ROCK (Disney, 1945)

Recently I posted a background I referred to as a "Bent-Tail" BG. A reader's inquiry reminded me just how obscure these characters are. I hadn't watched the "Bent Tail" cartoons in ages, so I pulled the DVDs and watched them this weekend. That of course led to time spent digitally re-creating backgrounds!

"Bent-Tail" and "Bent-Tail Junior" are a father and son team of coyotes, and appeared in just four cartoons, plus a 1961 episode of "The Wonderful World of Color." In the first cartoon "Dad" Bent-Tail appears alone, and "Junior" joined him for the last three.

Most interesting, Disney's coyotes predated Warner Brothers "Wile. E. Coyote" by several years. Maybe Disney was the inspiration? We'll probably never know.

For a detailed article on "Bent-Tail" visit our friend Jeff Pepper's wonderful blog, "2719 Hyperion." Here's the link:

http://www.2719hyperion.com/2007/04/what-character-bent-tail-bent-tail.html

The backgrounds are wonderful, by artist Ray Huffine. Great old west style.

The film opens with a great multi-plane pan shot.

As I am posting this, the cartoon is currently available for viewing on YouTube. Have a look! (Sorry, the picture quality is not too great. For a much better look I recommend purchasing the Disney PLUTO DVDs. You can often find out-of-print Disney DVDs brand new and factory-sealed on eBay.)


Now that you've seen the cartoon, let's have a good look at the beautiful background art.

The first one has an unusual, unexpected color palette.

The second piece is a digitally re-assembled pan B/G. Beautiful! Love the cactus flowers...

Not sure if the look is inspired the Dakota Badlands or Arizona's red rock. Maybe both?


Here's another picturesque view of the corral from the pan shot...

The final B/G in this set is this stunning aerial view.


Happy trails, pardner!