Bugs Bunny. He's one of the most famous cartoon characters of all time, and rightfully so. Even though his shorts are 40–60 years old, I can still turn them on and laugh, thanks to the sharp comic timing, the witty ways he outsmarts his adversaries, his smile-inducing smart alec nature, and superb voice acting by Mel Blanc.
Now of course, there are certain Bugs outings that even those not well-versed in cartoons know about, often summarized in sentences instead of their actual titles: the one where Bugs fights the bull ("Bully For Bugs"), the opera one with the fat horse ("What's Opera, Doc?"), the one with the barber chair ("Rabbit of Seville"), the one with the high-diving act ("High Diving Hare"), and the wabbit/duck season one (there are actually three: "Rabbit Fire", "Rabbit Seasoning", and "Duck! Rabbit! Duck!"). Those are the famous ones that your average Joe knows.
However, what about the shorts that don't get as much recognition? Bugs has starred in over 160 shorts; it's only natural that some of them are forgotten to time, whether it be due to them not airing on TV very much or just not being highlighted in retrospectives. This list sets out to spotlight ten Bugs Bunny shorts that, while possibly not unknown, don't seem to get the respect they deserve. This is my Top 10 Underrated Bugs Bunny Shorts.
#10: The Hare-Brained Hypnotist*: Elmer's trying out hypnotism, hoping to catch Bugs with his new ability, but it backfires when Bugs hypnotizes Elmer instead, telling him to be a rabbit. Much like the same year’s “Fresh Hare” and shows that Friz Freleng really had a good handle on the Bugs Bunny character as early as 1942. The short contains one of my favorite Looney Tunes gags. Elmer, who is standing behind an oblivious Bugs, adds multiple carrots to his mouth when the rabbit begins his trademark veggie chewing, and it obviously becomes harder and harder for Bugs to talk. There is nothing better than starting with a simple gag and building it up to ridiculous proportions.
#9: Hare Brush: Similar to the above entry, this is a role reversal entry where Elmer thinks he's a rabbit and Bugs, who is keeping Elmer's bed warm for him in the mental hospital, is convinced he's a human hunter (who owns a mansion und a yacht!). Chase eventually ensues. I know this won't be a popular cartoon because Bugs loses in the end, but I think it’s great. It showed Freleng was willing to experiment with the formula. The twist ending works, suggesting that Elmer was faking his dementia just to avoid the I.R.S. Most interestingly, this short shows us that the only way one can win against Bugs is by becoming Bugs.
#8: Big House Bunny*: Bugs is put in the slammer by Yosemite Sam and uses his wits to escape repeatedly, but not before causing some mischief, including tricking Sam to lock himself in the cell and dressing up as the warden. While this isn’t terribly underrated, I never seem to find it at the top of many “Best Bugs” lists, and I’m not sure why. Heck, even -I- have neglected to mention it in my various favorites lists! It features solid laughs throughout the whole cartoon, and the comic timing is superb. The warden screaming “SCHULTZ! OFFICE!”, brilliantly read by Mel Blanc, is both funny and – at the same time – tense, because we know Sam’s going to get royally chewed out. It may not reach the artistic experimentation of, say, “What’s Opera, Doc?”, but who cares? It’s a riot.
#7: Bill of Hare: Whenever someone thinks of Taz cartoons, they generally think of his debut vehicle, “Devil May Hare”, from 1954, but this later gem from 1962, directed by Robert McKimson, is arguably better than the first two Bugs vs. Taz outings. While the animation isn’t quite as lively, the cartoon makes up for it with creative visual gags that fully realize Bugs as a comic magician who is able to bend reality just to avoid being eaten. The short features a fun and lavish soundtrack by Milt Franklyn along with one of my favorite lines in a WB cartoon: “I could be wrong. Maybe it’s face north for a south-bound moose. Or is it the other way around in reverse?”
#6: Gorilla My Dreams*: Bugs is adopted by a gorilla couple and doesn't get along with the grumpy father. McKimson was at the top of his game around the late 40's, especially when it came to comic beatings. His intense use of squash and stretch animation helped a lot. Many of the gags are funny just because of how they’re animated, like the baby-fied Bugs being flopped along the ground by the deliberately careless father gorilla, or the final beating where the gorilla throws Bugs down over and over again. This concept was reused in 1959 for “Apes of Wrath”. Unfortunately, the more conservative animation and a less pleasant voice for the mother gorilla (done by June Foray) hampered this second short. Still, it has some winner gags, such as the male gorilla being able to pull an entire mountain towards him with a rope. Consider it a companion to "Gorilla", just not quite as strong.
#5: Jack Wabbit and the Beanstalk: Nothing too complicated here, just Bugs versus a giant in a take-off of the classic Jack and the Beanstalk story. There are hilarious lines like, "But he can't outsmart me, 'cuz I'm a moron!" from the giant, but the sight gags really carry this short. For a duel, Bugs tells the giant to walk 20 paces, which, due to his massive size, takes the giant around the world and back to where he started! Bugs sneaks around on the giant's face, which is funnier than it sounds, thanks to an amusing still portrait and subtle musical cues. The short ends with another great sight gag where the fallen giant leaves a Grand Canyon-like outline of himself.
#4: Rabbit Rampage*: This one gets a bit of flack because it uses the exact same premise as 1953’s “Duck Amuck”: Bugs is harassed constantly by an off-screen animator’s brush, similar to what happened to Daffy in the earlier cartoon. Just to be clear, I do find “Amuck” slightly superior for being the pioneer; however,
“Rabbit Rampage
” is by no means a poor effort.
The multitude of ways in which Bugs is drawn are hilarious, such as with a tiny head, in a goofy-looking rabbit caricature, and with really, really long ears.
I prefer the soundtrack of this short over “Amuck”, as there’s more meat to the melodies, and it flows better.
Much like “Hare Brush” and the Tortoise & the Hare trilogy, it’s interesting to see a cartoon which shows how poorly the usually winning Bugs reacts when he
isn’t in complete control of the situation.
The ending alone makes this short satisfying, using a scenario similar to “Amuck” but with a twist. Finally, like “Hare Brush”, it's a nice revenge story without being mean-spirited.
#3: The Unmentionables: 1963 was not a good year for Warner Bros. The studio was disbanding its cartoon unit (where duties would later be resumed at DePatie-Freleng). The deceased Milt Franklyn was replaced by Bill Lava, whose harsher, more modern music style contrasted with the tone set by his predecessors. The animation budgets were slimmer yet, and there were few standout entries. This short, however, was one of the few good ones. It’s a fun parody of The Untouchables with Bugs as Elegant Mess, where the gangster-based gags really work. I especially enjoyed the various caricatured mobsters at Rocky’s birthday party (especially Teeth Malloy, just for how he’s drawn), and Lava’s dissonant sound worked within the context of the source material they were parodying. Lava also utilized jazzy tunes like “Charleston” and “Sweet Georgia Brown” to make the soundtrack fun when appropriate. And what better way to cap off the short than with an entirely unexpected ending? (No. I won't tell you what it is!)
#2: Bugs’ Bonnets*: This short doesn’t seem to be brought up often in lists of Chuck Jones’s great Looney Tunes accomplishments, and I’m not sure why. For one, the cartoon has a really innovative premise: Your personality changes drastically when putting on a hat. There's no shortage of variety as a plethora of hats randomly blows onto Bugs and Elmer’s heads throughout the cartoon. The impressions done by Bugs when he’s given new head wear, particularly his gangster accent, are a joy to listen to. Perhaps best of all, the backdrops by Richard H. Thomas are really some fantastic eye candy; they’re abstract renditions of an early fall forest, way out there, but still identifiable as such. The unique color choices really make the backgrounds pop, while at the same time not distracting from the characters too much.
And, are you ready for it? The wait’s probably killing you. The number one underrated Bugs Bunny short is…
#1: The Unruly Hare: Directed by the great Frank Tashlin, this Bugs/Elmer short may not be brimming with originality in its premise (it’s just a hunter vs. hunted cartoon in the forest, set against the backdrop of railroad construction), but it more than makes up for that with its lightning fast pace, sharp comic timing, and some appropriately snappy pose-to-pose animation to keep things moving. It’s a testament to Tashlin’s expertise in getting guffaws from the viewer, simply through how the gags are pulled off. If I had to choose, I really love a scene where Bugs goads Elmer by saying only a big fat rat would shoot a guy in the back. Elmer shoots, admits he's a rat, and Bugs appears from the gun smoke cloud and says, "Ah! Have some cheese, rat!", shoving a huge chunk of cheese into his mouth.
So there you have it: My personal top 10 underrated Bugs shorts. Many of these are available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collections (which are marked with asterisks). If you get the chance, I encourage you to check them out. You may find some new favorites in the Bugs Bunny series!
