Rebel Rabbit is a 1949 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.
Plot[]
Bugs notes that there are high bounties on various animals, such as $50 for a fox and $75 for a bear, and gets highly offended by the two-cent bounty on rabbits. Bugs mails himself to Washington, DC. "Foist class, you know," he remarks to the postmaster. "I never travel with common bundles!" There, a supercilious game commissioner explains that the bounty is so low because, while foxes and bears are "obnoxious" animals who damage property, "rabbits are perfectly harmless," prompting Bugs to remark, "He don't know me very well, do he?" And when the game commissioner claims that the bounty for rabbits stays at two cents, Bugs vows to prove that "A rabbit can be more obnoxious than anybody!" and storms out, warning "You'll be hearing from me!" and slamming the official's door so hard that the glass in it shatters.
Bugs begins his campaign by attacking a guard with his own billy club. From there, he pulls stunts like renaming Barney Baruch's private bench as "Bugs Bunny's", painting barbershop pole stripes on the Washington Monument, rewiring the lights in Times Square to read "Bugs Bunny Wuz Here" (sic), shutting down Niagara Falls, selling the entire island of Manhattan back to Native Americans ("Dey wouldn't take it til I trew in a set of dishes!"), sawing Florida off from the rest of the country ("South America, take it away!"), swiping all the locks off the Panama Canal, filling in the Grand Canyon, and literally tying up railroad tracks.
An angry Senator Claghorn-esque Congressman demands action against Bugs, but is interrupted by him, who emerges from the congressman's hat, annoys the congressman with the "hair dye" joke, and gives him a mocking kiss. Live-action footage shows the entire United States Department of War mobilizing against Bugs. Sherman tanks come rumbling out of their garages, soldiers pour out of barracks, and bugles blow. Bugs, now satisfied with the million-dollar bounty on his head, though not on rabbits in general, is snapped out of a Tarzan-esque mood by the whole Army coming after him. Bugs then dives into a foxhole as artillery shells surround the foxhole. Bugs then says, "Could it be that I carried this thing too far?" just as the shells explode. On Alcatraz Island, Bugs is in a jail cell, as he admits, "Mm, could be."
Caricatures[]
- Kenny Delmar - the Congressman resembles his character, Senator Claghorn, from The Fred Allen Show.
- Red Skelton - "He don't know me very well, do he?"
- Artie Auerbach - "Mm, could be."
Availability[]
Bugs Bunny: Hare Beyond Compare: 14 More Bugs Bunny Classics
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc One
Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection, Disc 3
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
- Versions of this cartoon shown on The WB and the FOX version of Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends cut the scene during the montage of Bugs destroying America where Bugs trades Manhattan back to the Native Americans and is shown walking through it wearing a feathered headband and smoking a peace pipe.[2]
- Cartoon Network aired this uncut for a time (specifically, during an after-midnight showing of Bugs and Daffy in the early 2000s) until it aired with the scene where Bugs gives Manhattan back to the Indians edited as it was on The WB and FOX.
Notes[]
- Financier and political consultant Bernard Baruch was famous for spending time on park benches in New York and Washington.
- Several barrels are revealed behind the waterfall when the water stops in reference to the fad stunt of going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
- City stock footage from "Lights Fantastic" (1942) is used when Bugs rewires Times Square.
Gallery[]
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