Part of what made the Looney Tunes and Warner Bros. dynasty so great beyond its characters, was its limitless ability to mock and satirize Hollywood. At a time where Hollywood was adored and enamored by so many, Warner Bros. actually did a great job of taking the piss out of people like Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable. In 1993, Fox Studios and Warner brought back the formula that they’d abandoned for decades with “The Animaniacs.” While the show was primarily a series filled with segments primarily aimed toward children, some of the segments brought back a lot of the classic Warner Bros. traditions, including satirizing modern Hollywood.
For the nineties it was all a matter of timing, and Warner never hesitated to satirize people like Madonna, Michael Jackson, and or Jack Nicholson. They even created the best Movie Satire I’ve ever Seen: “The Goodfeathers.” In 1990, Martin Scorsese unleashed his box office, critical, and Oscar darling “The Goodfellas,” an instant crime thriller classic. “Goodfellas” is based on the biographical book “Wiseguy,” written by Nicholas Pileggi. The book is based on the account of Henry Hill, an associate of the Luchese crime family before he became an FBI informant. The main characters were all based around real people in Hill’s life.
The main character, played by Ray Liotta was the center of the story who narrated much of what unfolded through his eyes.
In 1993, with the introduction of FOX Kids’ “Animaniacs,” Warner and gave us one of their many short segments entitled “The Goodfeathers.” This series of shorts was an on the nose satirizing of “The Goodfellas,” except the twist was that the trio of mafia thugs were New York Pigeons. Named Bobby, Pesto, and Squit, they live atop the head of a statue of Martin Scorsese in Central Park. On their free time, they roamed around New York City trying to survive, warring with seagulls, and merely soaking in the good life. The trio of characters was voiced brilliantly by John Mariano as Bobby, whose impression of DeNiro was pitch perfect, Chick Vennera, as Pesto, whose Pesci impersonation was top notch.
They were rounded out by Maurice LaMarche who was impeccable as pseudo-Liotta, Squit. They were animal doubles of their cinematic counterparts, as often times Bobby let the trio, and Squit would say something innocuous, which would cause Pesto to take offense with a sharp “What do you mean by that?” This of course was a play on the iconic “How am I funny?” sequence from the 1990 movie, turned in to a wonderful running gag that never wore out its welcome, believe it or not. Of course at the end of every episode they would answer to “The Godpigeon,” a barely understandable, overweight pigeon, an crystal clear nod to Marlon Brando. Only the Goodfeathers understood him, obviously.
There wasn’t much substance narrative wise to “The Goodfeathers,” but it was beautifully tailored for all audiences. Kids could appreciate the excellent comedy, hilarious animation and top notch double takes, while adults could soak in the fantastic movie references and nods to classic cinema. While “The Goodfeathers” was basically a blunt satirizing of “The Goodfellas,” it did take on other classic movies. There’s “The West Side Pigeons,” an epic spoof of Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story,” which finds Squit falling in love with Carloota, the sister of a rival group of birds known as the Sparrows. Easily the best episode is “The Boids” as the trio of sign up to become bird extras in filming of Alfred Hitchcock’s (or Hitch) “The Birds.”
Convinced they’re going to become Hollywood stars, they’re less than thrilled when they realize the job is very hazardous to their health. There is also “Raging Bird” which finds Bobby becoming a prized boxer, while being trained by an older pigeon, who is suspiciously similar to Burgess Meredith. There was just so much to this segment that punctuated how funny and ingenious it could be. It embraced its role as movie satire, while also looking for new avenues to take its characters. The series only lasted for sixteen segments and sadly it has not shown up on the 2020 reboot on Hulu. It’s surprising they were never even given a shot at a spin off as they even repurposed Pinky and the Brain a few times, ad nauseum.
In either case, it’s one of the reasons why “Animaniacs” is the best (and sadly last) of its kind, as Warner doesn’t seem to privy on celebrating the past anymore.
It’s still the best movie animated satire I’ve ever seen.