Category: Elmer Fudd

Anything that had an appearance by the world’s most incompetent hunter. But don’t tell him I said that. Keep it vewy, vewy, quiet.

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The Bugs Bunny Show

“On with the show, this is it!”

During the sixties, “Looney Tunes” was on its last legs. Also during this time, Looney Tunes got its TV show. (Why not? It was the latest fad!) The premise was simple: Bugs showing us cartoons with various bridging sequences in between, such as Bugs feeding Taz carrots or Slowpoke coming to visit Speedy. The show was black and white which may have been odd today since all the shorts in the theaters were color, but color TV was only starting to get started. Lack of pigment  was a small price to pay for the convenience of watching animated masterpieces in your own living room.

Now for the bad news. This show is gone and you’re not liable to find any full episodes. (At least, as I’m originally writing this.) If you ever have seen, or have any somehow, you are quite lucky. Maybe you’d like to make the rest of the world feel as lucky as you?

Personal Rating: (From what little I’ve seen) 3

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Bugs Bunny’s Looney Tunes all star 50th Anniversary

Now obviously, this was made a while ago. If it’s celebrating Looney Tunes as a whole then it should have made its debut in 1980. If it’s Bugs we’re honoring, then it should be 1990. This came out in 1986. (I suppose that’s close enough to both dates) Enough of that. Let’s begin!

This shows plenty of stars remembering the Tunes and the joy that they have brought to every person who has enjoyed life at some point. Chuck Jones tells us how everyone is like Daffy but they all want to be Bugs. (This is the greatest analogy for the human race, ever. Don’t even try to debate.) Freleng tells us how Yosemite Sam came about and Kirk Douglas tells how great Bugs and Daffy’s westerns were. Freleng also tells us about Porky’s history and why he has his ‘stutter’ (It’s actually a grunt.) Mike Nicholas asks if we remember Petunia and explains why she faded into obscurity. My favorite part is when Jeff Goldblum defends Porky. I’m sure I’ve stated this before, but Porky is my favorite. He’s hilarious, charismatic, relatable, cute and stars in most of my favorites, and don’t forget: he’s the one we always expect to see at the end.

David Bowie gives reasons why he will not work with Bugs and the great Mel Blanc explains how he created a voice for bugs to use. Steve Martin makes note that all comedy has been influenced by Bugs and Chuck Yeager points out Bugs doesn’t get hurt. Quincy Jones explains that Bugs can get girls but he doesn’t want to, and Billy Dee Williams shows some of Carl Stallings talent with sound effects. Fascinating stuff.

Personal Rating: 2 (It’s really only for those passionate Looney Tune fans)

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Slick Hare

“If it’s rabbit baby wants, rabbit baby gets.”

At the Mocrumbo restaurant, (a takeoff of the real Mocombo , it seems like every star in Hollywood is there. Leopold Stokowsky conducts a jukebox, Gregory Peck cuts his steak with a razor, and Sinatra gets sucked into his own straw. Humphrey Bogart is ready to order, and despite Elmer telling him they are out, he demands fried rabbit. He tells Fudd he has twenty minutes to comply and if not… well…

Elmer finds Bugs and tells him that Bogart wants him for dinner. Bugs is happy to oblige until he finds out what is on the menu. He disguises himself as Groucho, only to find Elmer as Harpo. (Where did the real Harpo go? He was right there.) Running away, he hides in Carmen Miranda’s headdress.

One great dance scene later, he tricks Elmer into giving him pies to throw back at him. Fudd gets wise and throws one, only to hit Bogart. He demands his rabbit and Fudd fearfully tells him there is none. Humphrey says that his wife will just have to settle for a ham sandwich. Hearing this, Bugs is more than happy to let Lauren Bacall eat him.

Personal Rating: 3

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The Hare-Brained Hypnotist

“Who’s the comedian in this picture anyway?”

Typical start. Elmer is hunting and he reads that animals are dumb* and can easily be hypnotized. He bumps into a bear and unlike most people (or his past self) he does not freak out and uses his new found knowledge to get the ursine to believe he is a canary. It actually works and the bear flies away.

Bugs pops up and Elmer immediately tries his new skill but just ends up with a balloon lookalike. He does not notice he is floating away until the bear flies by. He shoves his gun into the hole and a tug of war ensues. After this, Elmer breaks down and Bugs agrees to let him have a try at the hypnotism thing. However, Bugs hypnotizes Elmer instead and has him believe he’s a rabbit. Guess who Elmer takes after?

He acts like Bugs, while Bugs begins hunting Elmer, so he can snap him out of it. It climaxes with Elmer hypnotizing Bugs at last, but Bugs laughs because he can’t be hypnotized. Noticing the time, he flies to the airport. He is a B-19 after all.

* I will never type this again

Personal Rating: 3

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The Big Snooze

“I get the worst of it from that wabbit in every one of these cartoons!”

Judging by the title, you’d think this is one boring cartoon. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a Bob Clampett cartoon after all! Sadly it is the last one he directed before he left the studio to do his own things.

As usual, Elmer is chasing Bugs. After falling for a log gag that Bugs used in a earlier cartoon (one of the censored eleven) Elmer gets fed up. This is the last straw and he is calling it quits. Bugs tries to get him to reconsider, but Elmer has made up his mind. Deciding to just relax and fish, Elmer falls asleep. This is Bugs’s chance!

He takes some sleeping pills and proceeds have a dream of himself to invade Elmer’s dream. After tormenting him a bit, he dresses Fudd up like a girl. This attracts some wolves who can’t wait to get their paws on him. Bugs helps him escape but in doing so, leads Fudd off a cliff. He falls out of the dream and back into his body. Glad to rid of the nightmare he goes back to chasing Bugs for all eternity. With such a great cartoon as this, it makes one wonder what Bob could have created if he stayed with the WB.

Personal Rating: 4

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Space Jam

“You guys are nuts.”

“Correction, we’re Looney Tunes”

I love this movie, but then again, I am a Looney Tunes fanboy. It’s sad most of the world seems to hate it. I think that is bull crap. This is a masterpiece if ever there was one. At least it did great at the box office.

The history is that people made commercials with Bugs and Michael Jordan advertising basketball shoes. So they figured making a movie was a good idea. (I think it was.) Our plot is that a theme park in outer space, (it is not specified which planet, but I think the whole park is its own planet) sucks. (How can people say that? Didn’t you ever want to ride an Astro-orbiter wannabe that shoots at you? Oh yeah, me neither) The owner decides they need new attractions and figures that the Looney Tunes are just the thing. I’d come.

However, Bugs tricks them into thinking they need to give the toons a chance to defend themselves. Since the aliens are short and have tiny limbs, basketball seems like a shoe in. However the aliens have the ability to steal the ability from five NBA players. Luckily, Jordan was retired at this time. So they don’t nab him. The toons get him for their side and we get the greatest game in all history!

This also introduced us to Lola. She did not have much of a personality in this movie, save for being someone for Bugs to be attracted to. Seems she was popular though, as she appeared in “Baby Looney Tunes”, “Tweety’s High Flying Adventure”, and “The Looney Tunes Show.”

Bottom line if you hate this you have no taste and at the very least you have to watch it once. (There must be more who love this, I know it!) “Tune” in next time where I will name all the Looney Tunes who appear in the film as well as some interesting facts. Woo hoo hoo hoo! Woo hoo!

Personal Rating: 3. (Unless you’re one of those people who can’t stand anything Looney that came out after the Golden age. For you, it’s a 2.)

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Kit for Cat

“Baby kittens are so cute”

It is a cold night and Sylvester and a little kitten seek shelter in Elmer’s house. He says he would like a cat, but can not decide which one to keep. Deciding to sleep on it, Sylvester decides to use this time to plot on how to screw the little one over. He pours milk over it and breaks the bottle causing Fudd to run down. The plan backfires when Elmer just thinks the kitten is hungry and gives it more food. Sylvester tries to make it look like it broke some dishes, but as Fudd runs downstairs the kitten starts gluing them back together. Sylvester begins breaking them again only for Elmer to see him.

Soon, Elmer says that one more sound and Sylvester will be kicked out. The kitten tries to make as much noise as possible. Elmer says he has made up his mind about who’s leaving, and so has his landlord. In the end Elmer is with the cats in the alley looking through the trash. (Fun fact: the landlords message is a bunch of gibberish followed by the sentence: “In other words: get out!”)

Personal Rating: 3

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Any bonds today?

Now what we have here is a short that is entirely music. We see a figure approaching and it is our patriotic cartoon character, Bugs Bunny. He starts to sing and tell us we must buy war bonds if we are going to win World War 2. Soon Porky and Elmer (in his fat phase) join him. So as you are probably guessing it is not really worth your time to watch it, right? Wrong! It is a great song! One that I find myself singing whenever I take a walk. If you do not watch this, then you are definitely missing out. (Just be mindful of the blackface. That is humorless.)

Personal Rating: 3

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Elmer’s Candid Camera

“Shucks. I don’t even know the guy.”

This is our boy Elmer’s first cartoon! I mean he has his dang name! Even the rabbit in this short was just Proto-Bugs. (He has a deeper voice and a laugh like Woody Woodpecker. That’s not Bugs.) Now for the plot.

Elmer has just read a book about photographing wildlife and decides it sounds like a good hobby. As to be expected. his subject is a rabbit that most definitely does not want to be photographed. For the rest of the short he drives Elmer insane. Good stuff. Unlike Bugs, this rabbit eats apples. My favorite part is after annoying him, he gets Elmer to growl like a dog. Its the simple stuff that makes this short great.

Personal Rating: 3

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Rabbit Fire

“Sthurvival of the fittest. And besides its fun!”

This is the short that I believe most everyone thinks of when they think of “Looney Tunes.” It defines classic. Most memorable is definitely the duck season/rabbit season line. That will be remembered until time itself stops. As for the plot, it is basically the same as “Rabbit Seasoning” (even though this one came first) It also marks the first time time Bugs and Daffy starred in the same short. (Their first time on screen together was in “Porky Pig’s Feat” but that was just a cameo by Bugs)

As a kid, this was one of the first one I ever saw and to this day I can still remember the joy of seeing it whenever it came on. (You know, back when Cartoon Network was cool, and this stuff was pretty much on every day?)

Personal Rating: 5