Mickey Mouse and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks again served as the head animator, assisted by Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Wilfred Jackson and Dick Lundy. This short was intended as a parody of Buster Keaton's "Steamboat Bill, Jr.", first released on May 12 of the same year. Although it was the third Mickey cartoon produced, it was the first to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey's debut. "Willie" featured changes to Mickey's appearance (in particular, simplifying his eyes to large dots) that established his look for later cartoons and in numerous Walt Disney films. The cartoon was
Steamboat Bill, Jr. all the way through that cause laughs" while noting that "the plot is nonsensical." Mordaunt Hall of the "New York Times" called the film a "gloomy comedy" and a "sorry affair." Over the years, "Steamboat Bill, Jr." has become regarded as a masterpiece of its era. Currently, review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 16 reviews, with an average score of 9.1/10, with an audience rating above 90%. The film was included in the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die". The film inspired the title of