Hillbilly Hare

Hillbilly Hare
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Airdate:	12 August 1950
Series:	Merrie Melodies
MPAA Number:	14195
Production Number:	1130
Vitaphone Number:	1944
Runtime:	7 minutes, 26 seconds
Copyright Renewed:	21 December 1977
Starring:	Bugs Bunny The Martin Brothers
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc John T. Smith (uncredited)
Director:	Robert McKimson
Written By:	Tedd Pierce
Producer:	Eddie Selzer (uncredited)
Animated By:	Rod Scribner Phil De Lara John Carey Emery Hawkins Charles McKimson
Layout Artist:	Cornett Wood
Background Artist:	Richard H. Thomas
Film Editor:	Treg Brown (uncredited)
Musician:	Carl Stalling

Hillbilly Hare is a 1950 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.

Plot

After having several of their hunting attempts foiled, hillbilly brothers Curt and Punkinhead Martin are determined to get revenge on Bugs Bunny for their humiliation. However, Bugs easily outsmarts them and eventually leads them into a violent square dance involving repeated slapstick comedy gags.

Television

• The Bugs Bunny Show (1960–1968; 1971–1975)
• The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour (1968–1971; 1975–1976)
• The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (1976–1985)
• The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour (1985–1986)
• The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show (1986–1990; 1997–2000)
• Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends [Syndication] (1990–1992)
• Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon (1992–1997)
• The Bugs and Daffy Show [Cartoon Network] (1999–2004)
• The Looney Tunes Show [Cartoon Network] (2001–2004)
• Looney Tunes on Boomerang (2003–2005; 2013–present)
• Looney Tunes on Cartoon Network (2009–2015)
• Bugs Bunny and Friends [MeTV] (2021–present)
• Sunday Night Cartoons [MeTV+] (2021–present)
• Toon In with Me [MeTV] (2021–present)

Availability

(1993) VHS
Bugs Bunny's Hare-Brained Hits

(1993) LaserDisc
Looney Tunes: Curtain Calls: Classic Music and Show Business Cartoons

(2000) VHS
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 3: The Vocal Genius

(2005) DVD
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc One

(2005) DVD
Looney Tunes Collection Best of Bugs Bunny Volume 3

(2013) DVD
Best of Warner Bros. 50 Cartoon Collection: Looney Tunes (USA only; replaced by "High Diving Hare" in Europe)

(2014) Blu-Ray
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc One

(2014) DVD
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc One

(2015) DVD
Looney Tunes Musical Masterpieces

(2016) DVD
Music Triple Feature

(2018) DVD
Looney Tunes Collection Volume 3

(2020) DVD
Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection, Disc 3

(2020) Blu-ray
Young Man with a Horn

Streaming

iTunes ( - ) (restored)

HBO Max Latin America / Brazil (2021 - 2024)

Censorship

This cartoon saw major editing when it aired on ABC due to its violent content. The following scenes were edited:

• The scene where Bugs mistakes Curt's gun for a camera and has his carrot shot full of holes.
• The scene where Curt unties his rifle barrel and gets blasted in the face. The scene prior to that, where Bugs sarcastically sobs that he'll never see his wife and kids again before getting shot, was initially cut but was reinstated after 1992.
• The scene where Bugs meets up with Punkinhead and Bugs reverses the gun barrel so that Punkinhead is blown up.
• The aftermath of the explosion in the dynamite shack sequence where Curt comes out with Bugs' lit lighter and says, "I think y'all are usin' too strong a fluid."
• The line during the square-dance ending that goes: Grab a fence post/Hold it tight/Whomp yer partner/Wit' all yer might/Hit 'im in the shin/Hit 'im in the head/Hit 'im again/The critter ain't dead/Whomp 'im low and whomp 'im high/Stick yer finger in his eye/Pretty l'il rhythm/Pretty l'il sound/Bang yer head against the ground (and the ensuing comic violence that follows) was also cut.

Notes

• Bugs Bunny, as usual, is voiced by Mel Blanc, as is Curt Martin; an uncredited John T. Smith voiced Punkinhead Martin; Smith also voices the square dance caller before Bugs unplugs the machine.
• This is one of only three Warner Bros. cartoons released in 1950 not to bear the "all-green" Color Rings scheme, the others being "Dog Collared" and "Two's a Crowd".
• The hillbillies have gone on to enter pop culture among animation fans. They have made occasional cameos in the DC Looney Tunes comic book series, and they also make a brief cameo along with Bugs in the Histeria! episode "Great Heroes of France". They also make a brief cameo in Space Jam (with the other Looney Tunes characters watching the basketball game between the Tune Squad and the Monstars).
• A test reel of this cartoon was screened in January 1950.
• This is the only cartoon where Bill Melendez never animated while he was in Robert McKimson's unit, or it was possibly developed while he was not yet in that unit.
• This is the first Robert McKimson-directed cartoon with written credits by Tedd Pierce.
• This cartoon, alongside "Big House Bunny", "What's Up Doc?", "Bunker Hill Bunny", and "Bushy Hare" are the only cartoons from 1950 to not get a Blue Ribbon reissue. Coincidentally, all of these cartoons star Bugs Bunny.

Gallery

Part of the animator draft, along with two other drafts for "French Rarebit" and "What's Up Doc?"

Animator draft

Animator draft

Lobby card preliminary sketch

External links

• Baxter's Breakdowns animator breakdown at Cartoon Research