Garfield's Babes and Bullets

Plot synopsis:
Feeling bored, Garfield looks into a closet and finds a trenchcoat and fedora. He begins to fantasize he is Sam Spayed, a second-rate private investigator in a film noir atmosphere. Sam receives a visit from Tanya O'Tabby, a beautiful woman who hires Sam to investigate the death of her husband, Professor O'Tabby, who apparently drove off a clifftop road. Tanya believes it was murder, as her husband was an excellent driver, but the death was ruled as a simple car accident. Sam agrees to take the case.
No solid proof of murder comes to light when Sam visits the morgue, although he notes that O'Tabby's shirt, chest and stomach hairs have yellowish-brown stains on them and secretly pockets a mysterious, painted "stone" that the coroner overlooked. Next, Sam goes to the university where O'Tabby worked and meets the late man's colleague and former advisor Professor O'Felix. He tells Sam how O'Tabby was on his way to visit an elderly benefactress the night he died, but dismisses Sam's idea that the professor was having an affair, saying his one weakness was instead a coffee addiction.
Sam phones Tanya to tell her what he knows so far, only for his newly-hired secretary Kitty to spill coffee on him when he mentions talking to O'Felix about O'Tabby's "woman trouble". While cleaning himself up, Sam realizes that the "stone" is actually a piece of a broken coffee mug and the stains on the late professor's clothing and body must have been coffee. He deduces that Kitty worked for O'Tabby before she came to Sam's office, and accuses Kitty of O'Tabby's murder, believing her motive was that she loved O'Tabby but he didn't love her. Kitty tearfully insists that she did not kill the professor, having simply left the university out of being unable to bear not having him. She also explains that she did more than make coffee for O'Tabby, giving him potent sleeping pills to treat his insomnia.
Deducing O'Felix is the murderer, Sam brings him to court. O'Felix was jealous of his former student's success and murdered him by spiking his coffee with some sleeping pills, causing O'Tabby to fall asleep at the wheel and drive off the cliff to his death. Tanya visits Sam one last time, making it very clear that the romance he had hoped to have with her will never happen. Kitty starts to seduce Sam, only for reality to intrude via owner Jon Arbuckle asking Garfield what he's doing in the closet.

Tags: psychedelic, neo noir, murder

Review:
Absolutely brilliant. Garfield is bored out of his mind. With nothing do to he rummages in the closet and unearths an old raincoat and fedora hat. All of a sudden he has the desire to fantasise himself as a jaded dime-novel private detective called Sam Spayed.At this point the show turns to black and white, a bold move considering most studios only want to give kids garish loud colors. Sam Spayed is the typical 1940's private dick. He narrates with the usual cynicism and attention to obscure detail. Women and dames or broads and every scam or crime is the 'oldest trick in the book'.A beautiful broad called Tanya enters his office asking for help. Her husband drove his car off a cliff and the police are only too eager to assume he fell asleep at the wheel. Smelling foul play she hires Spayed to find the truth. And through a series of odd clues Sam finally deduces the whos, whys and whens.A radically different turn for Garfield sure, but still very funny, with some great dialogue and one-liners. Phil Roman directs as if he's doing a black and white dime novel story and not the usual Garfield stuff (as great as the usual is). As thin as the story may sound it actually comes across as quite clever and it is surely one of the best Garfield TV specials. And they are all great so that's pretty much saying a lot.. Garfield steals the show in a unique murder/mystery.. I remember seeing this Garfield special when I was all of nine years old, I have loved it ever since.Garfield has been to Hollywood and rescued Odie from the dog pound...but now we get to see him a'la Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade, PI, a wise-cracking feline investigator hot on the tail of a murderer.The show itself is in the traditional black and white, except for a few brief moments in the beginning and end. Sam Spade has been hired by a beautiful human, Tonya O'Tabby (get the name?) to find the person responsible for the death of her 23 year-old husband. Spade questions several suspects- the husband's university boss, Professor O'Felix (another cat reference) and his own girl Friday, the lovely Kitty. Garfield, sporting the usual hat and trench coat, might just be able to solve this mystery if he can keep John at bay and Tonya O'Tabby in check. Who really is responsible for this outrageous "who dunnit"?This is a unique Garfield show that I found a little scary when I was a kid since it was darker and less comedic, but I loved it anyway. The amazing Lorenzo Music reprises his role as Garfield. Highly recommended.. Garfield in his mystery fantasy.. Garfield finds a trench coat and derby in the closet and decides to imagine himself as Sam Spayed an old school detective.The fantasy is all in black and white like a common mystery movie. Sam Spayed is meet-ed by a woman who said her husband's been murder in a car accident and knows there's more to the story than meets the eye.Sam Spayed(Garfield) gets to the bottom of this by tracing clues and asking suspects on this mystery matter.As soon as he gathers up the clues, the mystery becomes clearer to him like the scent of coffee he's always having through out the story.With great animation and some jokes and Odie & Jon Arbuckle making small cameos, Babes and Bullets is a fine Garifeld TV movie. And one of the few fantasies TV movies on Garfield.. Top 5 with a bullet. To a degree, I grew out of Garfield after a while; I'm still a fan of Here Comes Garfield, Garfield on the Town, and the Christmas and Halloween specials. But many of the specials, when I was finally able to see them, were definite disappointments (in the Rough, in Paradise, and especially Gets a Life). I did read the book His 9 Lives, and Babes and Bullets was a great story. I was finally able to see this special, based on it, today.The TV changes lose some things- Garfield is his familiar cartoon self rather than the realistic, scary humanoid cat, and the supporting cast are turned from cats to people, which doesn't make sense, especially given they still have cat-like names. But much of the spirit and humour is kept, and that's what makes it a standout. When I read this book with my younger cousins, they were surprised I laughed as much as I did. Much of the humour went over their heads- jokes about being spayed, needing to see a body, etc. It's more mature and often wittier than your average Garfield. And, it kept the risqué ending- Garfield has sex with his secretary, though since she's a human in this version, that's technically bestiality. Definitely deserving of its Emmy.