The Dogfather

For the album, see Tha Doggfather.

The Dogfather
First appearance	The Dogfather (1974)
Portrayed by	Bob Holt (short films) Joe Piscopo (The Pink Panther (1993)) Jim Cummings (The Pink Panther (1993), 1 episode) Barry Carrollo (The Pink Panther: Passport to Peril)
In-universe information
Species	Dog
Gender	Male
Occupation	Crime boss

The Dogfather is an American series of 17 theatrical cartoon shorts produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and distributed by United Artists between 1974 and 1976. It is the final theatrical cartoon series made by DePatie–Freleng.

Plot

Set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, The Dogfather is a loose parody of The Godfather, but with canines as part of the Italian American organized crime syndicate. It consists of the Dogfather (voiced by Bob Holt impersonating Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone), his two main henchmen Pugg (also Bob Holt) and Louie (voiced by Daws Butler), themselves modeled on Friz Freleng's earlier creations Rocky and Mugsy, plus other gang members.

The opening credits feature the Dogfather, speaking (and later singing) to the lyrics of a song entitled "I'm Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse", named after a line spoken by Vito Corleone in The Godfather.

The Dogfather was later broadcast as part of the NBC Saturday morning cartoon series The Pink Panther and Friends.

Filmography

No.	Title	Directed by:	Story:	Released:	Plot summary:
1	"The Dogfather"	Hawley Pratt	Bob Ogle	June 27, 1974	A stray wildcat has wandered into Louie's territory, so the Dogfather sends him and Pugg to oust him.
2	"The Goose That Laid a Golden Egg"	Hawley Pratt	Friz Freleng	October 4, 1974	The Dogfather reads about a goose that laid a golden egg, and kidnaps him to make him lay another one. However, another goose laid the egg but kept it a secret since he knew of the fate of the goose in the original fairytale.
3	"Heist and Seek"	Gerry Chiniquy	Don Christensen		Pugg and Louie hide out in an old house from persistent private investigator Sam Spaniel.
4	"The Big House Ain't a Home"	Gerry Chiniquy	Dave Detiege	October 31, 1974	An old friend of the Dogfather is locked up in the pound, so the Dogfather sends Pugg and Louie out to rescue him, but Pugg and Louie get sent behind bars and are forced to find a way to get out themselves.
5	"Mother Dogfather"	Arthur Leonardi			A stork delivering a baby mistakes the Dogfather and Pugg for its parents and tries to hand it to them. The canines secure their house to prevent the stork from getting in, but the stork is determined to deliver its bundle.
6	"Bows and Errors"	Gerry Chiniquy	John W. Dunn	December 29, 1974	After the Dogfather reads his gang the story of Robin Hood, Pugg and Louie go on a spree to take money from the rich and give to the poor needy gangsters until a rival cat gang steals their money.
7	"Deviled Yeggs"				The Dogfather hires the Croaker, a cat assassin, to eliminate Charlie the Singer, a bird who threatens to inform on the dogs to the police; however, the Croaker dies during the chase and must wait for the rest of his nine lives to catch up.
8	"Watch the Birdie"			March 20, 1975	Pugg is sent to stop Charlie the Singer from informing on the dogs to the police and ends up having to chase the cat in a chemical factory, where Charlie sips some unusual "soda pop".
9	"Saltwater Tuffy"	Arthur Leonardi			A cat mobster has won the Dogfather's yacht, the Mary Belle, in a poker game, so he sends Pugg and Louie to steal it back.
10	"M-O-N-E-Y Spells Love"		Dave Detiege	April 23, 1975	The Dogfather tries to marry a widow exclusively for her money, but has to compete with a rival gangster for who gets the woman.
11	"Rock-A-Bye Maybe"	Gerry Chiniquy	John W. Dunn		Pugg takes the Dogfather to a quiet house in the woods for some rest, but two squirrels stand in the way of the boss's peaceful slumber.
12	"Haunting Dog"			May 2, 1975	As an act of revenge for his contractual murder, Machine Gun Kolly's ghost possesses the Dogfather's new car he got from Machine Gun's will and makes the Dogfather's life more troublesome.
13	"Eagle Beagles"			May 5, 1975	The Dogfather and Pugg make a getaway from the police after a bank haul by escaping in an airplane, though Pugg lacks in piloting skills.
14	"From Nags to Riches"				The Dogfather trades his old beaten down race horse for his neighbor's speedy stallion. In order to fully own him, he must catch him, so Pugg and Louie try their best to capture the steed to send him to the races.
15	"Goldilox & the Three Hoods"			August 28, 1975	The Dogfather tells his grandson a bedtime story about himself, Pugg, and Louie coming into conflict with three pig police officers and a Goldilox on the run from the law.
16	"Rockhounds"	Arthur Leonardi		November 20, 1975	Pugg becomes a butler to the wealthy Van Waggers to steal their prized diamond, but the Van Waggers' young son keeps distracting him with games.
17	"Medicur"	Gerry Chiniquy		April 30, 1976	Rocky McSnarl breaks out of prison and swears revenge on the Dogfather, so he hides out in a hospital as a patient. However, Rocky finds out where he is and gets a job as a nurse, tending to the Dogfather when he is hospitalized.

Remakes

Much like a number of DFE-produced cartoon shorts, 10 of the 17 Dogfather cartoons were remakes of Looney Tunes cartoons from the 1950s that were directed by Freleng, which are listed below:

• The pilot episode (The Dogfather) was a remake of Tree For Two (1952).
• The Goose that Laid a Golden Egg was a remake of Golden Yeggs (1950).
• Heist and Seek was a remake of Bugsy and Mugsy (1957).
• Mother Dogfather was a remake of Stork Naked (1955).
• Saltwater Tuffy was a remake of Tugboat Granny (1956)
• Devilled Yeggs was a remake of Satan's Waitin' (1954).
• Watch the Birdie was a remake of Dr. Jerkyll's Hide (1954).
• M-O-N-E-Y Spells Love was a remake of Hare Trimmed (1953).
• Rock-a-Bye Maybe was a remake of Kit for Cat (1948).
• Eagle Beagles was a remake of Hare Lift (1952).

However, this was criticized by Charles Brubaker, the author of the website Cartoon Research, who pointed out that this made the series almost completely unoriginal and resulted in inferior versions of those Looney Tunes shorts.

Crew

• Produced by: David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng
• Directors: Hawley Pratt, Gerry Chiniquy, Arthur Leonardi
• Story: Bob Ogle, Don Christiansen, John W. Dunn, Friz Freleng, Dave Detiege
• Title Designer: Arthur Leonardi
• Animation: John V. Gibbs, Bob Matz, Norm McCabe, Bob Richardson, Warren Batchelder, Don Williams, Bob Bransford, Nelson Shin
• Layout: Dick Ung, Richard H. Thomas, Roy Morita
• Background: Richard H. Thomas
• Music by: Dean Elliott
• Lyrics: John Bradford
• Camera: John Burton Jr.
• Executive in Charge: Lee Gunther

Home media

Kino Lorber released all 17 shorts on DVD and Blu-ray in April 2018.

Revival

In 1993, the Dogfather, Pugg, and Louie were included as recurring antagonists for The Pink Panther, but they were radically reinterpreted as more original characters with new appearances, voices, and personalities. Furthermore, whereas Louie was originally the shortest of the three, the new Dogfather--a bulldog with a magenta coat, sunglasses, and a ponytail--is the shortest. The Dogfather is voiced by Joe Piscopo (except for "It's Just a Gypsy in My Soup" where he is voiced by Jim Cummings), while Pugg and Louie are voiced by Brian George and Jess Harnell.

These versions of the characters are also the main antagonists for the video game The Pink Panther: Passport to Peril, with the Dogfather voiced by Barry Carrollo, Pugg voiced by Jonathan Fedinatz, and Louie voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas. In the game, the Dogfather schemes to ruin the reputation of the prestigious summer camp Chilly Wa-Wa so he can open a "Dogburger" fast food restaurant in its place, while Pugg and Louie unsuccessfully attempt to thwart the Pink Panther's efforts to stop them.

Images of Pugg and Louie as infants appear during a musical number about the myth of Pegasus to represent two of Poseidon's children in Passport to Peril's sequel, The Pink Panther: Hokus Pokus Pink.

External links

• Big Cartoon Database
• Mofolândia Archived 2009-04-06 at the Wayback Machine (in Portuguese)