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The Unruly Hare is a 1945 Merrie Melodies short directed by Frank Tashlin.
Title
The title is a play on "unruly hair".
Plot
Elmer is a surveyor for a railroad company, and disturbs Bugs' rest by singing "I've Been Wohking on the Wailwoad" a little too loudly, "an unreasonable facsimile" of Frank Sinatra. Bugs proceeds to harass the hapless Elmer.
Elmer has Bugs at gunpoint, the barrel of the shotgun poking his chest. Bugs says, "Only a rat would shoot a guy... (turns around) ...in the back!" After some more taunting, Elmer fires at point blank range, obscuring Bugs in a cloud of gunsmoke. Elmer turns and says, "So I'm a big fat wat!" Bugs suddenly appears through the cloud, unharmed, and effects a Jerry Colonna-like schtick, "Aaah! Have some cheese, rrrat!" and stuffs a large wad of cheese into Elmer's mouth before scampering off.
Their antics manage to set off trinitrotoluene in the supply store, and the explosion miraculously lays the ties and the track, followed immediately by an engine in full steam.
Bugs is riding away from Elmer at the back of the train, waving goodbye. He turns with a suddenly startled look, and leaps from the train, crashing and screeching to a halt. He then stands up, brushes himself off, and in a stark reminder of the still-raging World War II says, "None of us civilians should be doing any unnecessary traveling these days!" He then walks off down the tracks with a pole and a knapsack over his shoulder, into the moonlight, accompanied by an instrumental bar of "Kingdom Coming".
Availability
- (1986) VHS - Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd Cartoon Festival Featuring "Wabbit Twouble"
- (1986) VHS - Bugs Bunny and Great Adventures[1]
- (1988) VHS - Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs Vs. Elmer
- (1990) VHS - Bugs Bunny Collection: Here Comes Bugs
- (1992) LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1, Side 7: Bugs Bunny by Each Director
- (1992) VHS - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes: Vol. 7: Bugs Bunny by Each Director
- (1996) VHS - Looney Tunes Collection - Further Adventures of Elmer Fudd
- (2001) DVD - Cartoon Explosion Vol. 1
- (2005) DVD - Bugs Bunny! That Wacky Wabbit
Streaming
Censorship
- On The WB, the part where Elmer has his rifle pointed at Bugs and Bugs tricks him into shooting him with, "Only a rat should shoot a guy in the back" was cut.[2][3]
- Some local stations (and televised prints from the early 1960s) edit out the part where Elmer is looking through his telescope and Bugs puts a pin-up magazine in front of the telescope.[citation needed|date=]
Notes
- This was the only Bugs Bunny short in which Frank Tashlin is credited, and one of two Bugs Bunny shorts directed by Frank Tashlin.
- Although Bugs did appear in one previous cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin, "Porky Pig's Feat", he wasn't in a starring role in that short.
- This is the final Bugs Bunny cartoon to use the 1941-45 rendition of "Merrily We Roll Along". This is also the final Bugs Bunny cartoon not to have expanded credits, simply only crediting Supervision, Musical Direction, Story, and Voice Characterizations.
- This is the final cartoon in which Frank Tashlin receive onscreen credit; he is uncredited in his final four cartoons "Behind the Meat-Ball", "Tale of Two Mice", "Nasty Quacks" and "Hare Remover" due to them being released following his official departure from the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio.
- While this short has appeared on at least one public domain DVD release, the copyright was renewed on October 25, 1972.[4]
- The engine on the train is a 4-4-0 (four leading wheels, four driving wheels, and no trailing wheels), commonly known as an American type steam locomotive, due to the great number of them produced in the United States.
Gallery
References
