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Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Smart Ass (David Lander)

Site Rating: 70%
(ratings: 3)
Writeup Rating: 100%
(ratings: 4)
Film: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Deceased Character: Smart Ass (David Lander)
Archetype: Baddy (Minor)
Killed by: Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins)
Killed with: Paint Thinner


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Written by Mr. Mouseburger 14th May 2006

Kindly submitted by Pyro

After Judge Doom had experienced a rather embarrassing moment of slipping on a bunch of spilled balls, his weasel thugs (including his second-in-command Smart-Ass, who has Eddie at gunpoint) burst out laughing, which they seem prone to do whenever someone is hurt in a comical fashion. He warns them, as he has before, that they'll end up literally laughing themselves to death. Whether it's because they're 'evil' toons and thus merriment defies their existence or if such a thing is fatal to toons is unknown, but it gives Eddie an idea when the Judge leaves.

"Nothin's funny to you, ain't it Needle-Nose?" He asks Smart-Ass.

"Gotta problem with that?" The toon weasel responds as if ready to empty his revolver on him then and there.

"Nah, just wanna tell you something about the guy you're gonna dip!" Eddie says as he suddenly activates a large device of some kind that plays all the instruments required for a wacky musical tune all at once. Smart-Ass is at a complete loss of words at Eddie's curious action.

The normally humorless detective immediately proceeds to do something that is arguably one of the most memorable moments in the film, he goes all out on a variety of goofy antics as he improvises a song about Roger, ranging from making a rake handle hit himself in the face, tossing balls in the air and letting them fall on his head, to bouncing around on a pogo stick with a huge grin and smashing into a headlight.

Needless to say, his actions are too much for several of the weasels; Stupid keels over almost instantly and we see his soul exit his body. Wheezy follows shortly after (though not without some attempts to keep his soul from leaving). Smart-Ass however, who has a lot more self-control then his brothers, isn't quite as impressed.

"I'm sick of takin' falls, and bouncin' off the walls!" Eddie sings as he approaches the weasel."When I get done I'll have some fun and kick you in the--" but he's suddenly cut off by a falling vase to the head before he can get the last word or action out."Nose!" Roger shouts, attempting to provide Eddie with a rhyme. Smart-Ass makes the mistake of taking his eyes off Eddie long enough to correct Roger that nose does not rhyme with walls.

"No, but this does!" Eddie says as he gets back up and kicks the weasel leader in a spot that certainly DOES rhyme with walls. The impact is hard enough to send the weasel flying off his feet and into Doom's Dip machine's vat of paint thinner, killing him.



2 categories : Ironic, Acid

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Other Death Reviews for Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd)
Smart Ass (David Lander)
Toon Shoe ()

Last Updated: 2nd Jun 2008
Number of views for this review since 30th May 2008: 9177
This review has 3 comments. Reply to the comments
Comment 1 by 'luke-jones' (reply to this comment)
The weasals' ghosts were going the wrong way. They went up when they should've went down. Not to mention that they had 'angel' looks when they should've had 'devil' ones.
Comment 2 by 'Flashpenny' (reply to this comment)
Anonymous User Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The weasals' ghosts were going the wrong way. They
> went up when they should've went down. Not to
> mention that they had 'angel' looks when they
> should've had 'devil' ones.


Meh, it's a cartoon. Any veteran of Tom & Jerry or Looney Tunes should know that a 'toons' dead soul is really an angel no matter what.

That being said, could this qualify as a plot hole? Since in the context of the film, they said that only Dip could kill 'toons yet the Weasels all died of laughter.
Comment 3 by 'Kooshmeister' (reply to this comment)
Flashpenny Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That being said, could this qualify as a plot
> hole? Since in the context of the film, they said
> that only Dip could kill 'toons yet the Weasels
> all died of laughter.

There's dying, and then there's dying. The other weasels "died" in the sense that they just went through the motions comically and turned into cartoon angels. They didn't die die. They'll continue on as angels.

Smart Ass and others (i.e. Doom) die "for real" by having their actual physical makeup broken down into its component parts (dip is essentially paint thinner).

Toons can return from even this, though. Depending on its canon status, the sequel comic book, The Resurrection of Doom, has Judge Doom (revealed to actually be a toon villain named Baron Von Rotten) brought back by a new gang of weasels who use his original model sheet and an animation camera. Von Rotten returns mostly none the worse for wear, evil tendencies and all.

If the comic is canon then it means even getting dipped isn't the end for a toon provided you've got their original model sheet.