Bugs Bunny Rides Again
Encyclopedia
Bugs Bunny Rides Again is a 1947 Warner Bros.
Merrie Melodies
short, released in 1948, directed by Friz Freleng
, and written by Tedd Pierce
and Michael Maltese
. Voice characterizations are performed by Mel Blanc
. The cartoon features Bugs Bunny
and Yosemite Sam
. This is a sequel, of sorts, to the pair's first encounter in 1945's Hare Trigger
. The title is a typical Western
reference, as in "The Lone Ranger
rides again", and also suggests a reference to the 1940 Jack Benny
comedy, Buck Benny Rides Again.
In release date order, this cartoon is the next-to-last Bugs Bunny outing in the a.a.p.
package, with the last such cartoon being Haredevil Hare
- also the overall latest-released WB cartoon in the a.a.p. package.
(as with The Lone Ranger), the music segués into a lively instrumental of Cheyenne
as the action begins. The opening scene features a typical Old West frontier town with the self-contradictory name of Rising Gorge. Bullets are firing from every window across the street into every other window across the street. A hail of bullets flies down one street until a traffic light
turns red and the bullets hover in mid-air while a second hail of bullets shoot by on the perpendicular street. The light changes back and just as the first hail of bullets is about to start, a lone bullet "runs the red light" at even higher speed, holding up the first stream. After it passes, the first hail continues.
The scene then cuts to the Gunshot Saloon with the slogan of 'Come in a get a slug', and Western saloon-type piano music plays Cheyenne in the background. Inside, two men are standing at a bar. One man is about to drink a shot of whiskey; the second man takes out his gun and shoots the first man. The first man throws his glass into the air and the second man catches it. A scream is heard and Yosemite Sam enters the bar. All of the patrons are afraid of Sam, yelling his name in terror while the underscore plays Der Erlkönig
(as is often the case for villains in Looney Tunes). Sam says, "Yeah, Yosemite Sam. The roughest, toughest, he-man stuffest hombre whose ever crossed the Rio Grande
... And I don't mean Mahatma Gandhi
! (Certain versions of the cartoon censor the line. Instead, Sam says "And I ain't no namby pamby!") Now all of you skunks clear out of here!" After firing his guns, all the patrons run out, followed by a real skunk
which looks similar to Pepe le Pew
who retorts, "My, weren't there a lot of skunks in here?" Sam turns around to see a man trying to sneak out. Sam fires his guns at the man, who then turns into a firing range walking dummy, making a "ding" every time he is hit, with a score board above keeping tally. After that, Sam asks, "Now be there any livin' varmint who aims to try to tame me?" Spying Bugs Bunny, he asks again, "Well, be there?"
No one dares to challenge Yosemite Sam except Bugs
, sporting a cowboy hat
and rolling a cigarette. After a brief silence, Bugs replies ... "I aims ta ..." As they march toward each other, Bugs breaks the fourth wall and says to the audience, "Just like Gary Cooper
, huh?", and then draws a carrot instead of a gun. Sam declares, "this town ain't big enough for the two of us!" Bugs tries to rectify that by running off-screen and, to sound effects of hammers and saws and music from the first movement of Beethoven's Sonata Pathétique, quickly constructs a background of modern skyscrapers in the town, but "it's still not big enough!" They then pull out guns, one each a shot larger than the other, until Sam pulls out a 10-shooter and Bugs responds with a pea shooter, which he uses. In the time-honored western cliché, Sam orders Bugs to "Dance!" while firing at his feet. Bugs grabs a cane and straw hat from off-screen, and goes into the same vaudeville
soft shoe routine he first exhibited in Stage Door Cartoon
(in which a prototype of Sam appeared), then says "Take it, Sam!" The diminutive villain, although startled initially, quickly breaks (rather expertly) into the same dance, and is tricked into dancing into an open mine shaft (nearly getting hurt in the process). This gag is featured in the 1991 cartoon (Blooper) Bunny
.
When Sam returns to the surface, Bugs dares him to cross a line drawn with his foot. "OK, I'm a-steppin'!" Bugs continues this schtick all the way out of town to the edge of a cliff, where the unobservant Sam steps over the line and plummets toward the ground far below. (This gag would be recycled in High Diving Hare
and Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
.) Suddenly stricken with guilt, the speedy hare dashes down a roadway, beats Sam to the ground and lays down a mattress, telling the audience, "Ya know, sometimes me conscience kinda bodders me ... but not this time!" as he pulls away the mattress. Sam smashes into the ground (off-screen) and the already pint-sized bandit has been vertically flattened to a hat with legs, but he still comes up firing.
A horseback chase scene ensues, to the tune of the William Tell Overture
, as the two ride on horses that are proportional to their own sizes (or lack thereof). Bugs leads Sam into a tunnel, and again showing extraordinary construction talents, has time to don a painter's cap and build a brick wall at the other end, which Sam smacks into. After more chasing, Bugs stops the chase and points out that they are getting nowhere and are right back where they began ("Hey, wait a minute, Sam! We ain't gettin' nowheres! We're right back where we started!"), and Sam agrees.
The two decide to settle their differences "like the Western pictures" by playing cards, with the loser being forced to leave town ("Gin rummy
's mah game, Sam"). Sam tells Bugs to "cut the cards", which he does using a meat cleaver, a joke previously seen in a Harpo Marx
gag in the 1932 film Horse Feathers
, a Curly Howard
gag in 1936's Ants in the Pantry
- and probably a lot older than that. With a new deck, Bugs tricks Sam into playing a card that gives Bugs the win {"GIN! You lose!!"}. Bugs tries to get Sam to take the train out of town to the tune of Cheyenne, but when the passenger car is revealed to be full of swimsuit-clad women headed on the Miami Special to the tune of Oh You Beautiful Doll, Bugs fights with Sam to board the train.
Bugs prevails as usual. In the final shot, he leans out the train window, his face covered with lipstick from kisses, and hollers a line similar to one from Hare Trigger
: "So long, Sammy, see ya in Miami
!" The cartoon is ended by the strains of Aloha 'Oe
.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
short, released in 1948, directed by Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
, and written by Tedd Pierce
Tedd Pierce
Tedd Pierce , was an American animated cartoon writer, animator and artist. Pierce spent the majority of his career as a writer for the Warner Bros. "Termite Terrace" animation studio, working alongside fellow luminaries such as Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Pierce also worked as a writer at...
and Michael Maltese
Michael Maltese
Michael "Mike" Maltese was a long-time storyboard artist and screenwriter for classic animated cartoon shorts.-Career:...
. Voice characterizations are performed by Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
. The cartoon features Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
and Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
. This is a sequel, of sorts, to the pair's first encounter in 1945's Hare Trigger
Hare Trigger
Hare Trigger is a 1945 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon short starring Bugs Bunny directed by Friz Freleng. It marks the first appearance of Yosemite Sam, who appears as a train robber...
. The title is a typical Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
reference, as in "The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture....
rides again", and also suggests a reference to the 1940 Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
comedy, Buck Benny Rides Again.
In release date order, this cartoon is the next-to-last Bugs Bunny outing in the a.a.p.
Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions was a distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. It existed from 1953 to 1958. It was later folded into United Artists. The former a.a.p. library was later owned by MGM/UA Entertainment and then Turner Entertainment. Turner continues...
package, with the last such cartoon being Haredevil Hare
Haredevil Hare
Haredevil Hare is a 1948 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. It stars Bugs Bunny and it is the debut for Marvin the Martian — although he is unnamed in this film — along with his Martian dog, K-9. All the voices are done by Mel Blanc...
- also the overall latest-released WB cartoon in the a.a.p. package.
Synopsis
After opening credits underscored by the William Tell OvertureWilliam Tell Overture
The William Tell Overture is the instrumental introduction to the opera Guillaume Tell by Gioachino Rossini. William Tell premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, after which he went into semi-retirement, although he continued to compose cantatas, sacred music and secular vocal...
(as with The Lone Ranger), the music segués into a lively instrumental of Cheyenne
Cheyenne (song)
"Cheyenne" is a popular and sentimental song written in 1906, with words by Harry Williams and music by Egbert Van Alstyne. It became a hit for a number of artists. The chorus is:...
as the action begins. The opening scene features a typical Old West frontier town with the self-contradictory name of Rising Gorge. Bullets are firing from every window across the street into every other window across the street. A hail of bullets flies down one street until a traffic light
Traffic light
Traffic lights, which may also be known as stoplights, traffic lamps, traffic signals, signal lights, robots or semaphore, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic...
turns red and the bullets hover in mid-air while a second hail of bullets shoot by on the perpendicular street. The light changes back and just as the first hail of bullets is about to start, a lone bullet "runs the red light" at even higher speed, holding up the first stream. After it passes, the first hail continues.
The scene then cuts to the Gunshot Saloon with the slogan of 'Come in a get a slug', and Western saloon-type piano music plays Cheyenne in the background. Inside, two men are standing at a bar. One man is about to drink a shot of whiskey; the second man takes out his gun and shoots the first man. The first man throws his glass into the air and the second man catches it. A scream is heard and Yosemite Sam enters the bar. All of the patrons are afraid of Sam, yelling his name in terror while the underscore plays Der Erlkönig
Der Erlkönig
Der Erlkönig is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It depicts the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlking or "Erlkönig"...
(as is often the case for villains in Looney Tunes). Sam says, "Yeah, Yosemite Sam. The roughest, toughest, he-man stuffest hombre whose ever crossed the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
... And I don't mean Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
! (Certain versions of the cartoon censor the line. Instead, Sam says "And I ain't no namby pamby!") Now all of you skunks clear out of here!" After firing his guns, all the patrons run out, followed by a real skunk
Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
which looks similar to Pepe le Pew
Pepé Le Pew
Pepé Le Pew is a fictional character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, first introduced in 1945. A French skunk that always strolls around in Paris in the springtime, when everyone's thoughts are of "love", Pepé is constantly seeking "l'amour" of his own...
who retorts, "My, weren't there a lot of skunks in here?" Sam turns around to see a man trying to sneak out. Sam fires his guns at the man, who then turns into a firing range walking dummy, making a "ding" every time he is hit, with a score board above keeping tally. After that, Sam asks, "Now be there any livin' varmint who aims to try to tame me?" Spying Bugs Bunny, he asks again, "Well, be there?"
No one dares to challenge Yosemite Sam except Bugs
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
, sporting a cowboy hat
Cowboy hat
The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United States, western Canada and northern Mexico, with...
and rolling a cigarette. After a brief silence, Bugs replies ... "I aims ta ..." As they march toward each other, Bugs breaks the fourth wall and says to the audience, "Just like Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, huh?", and then draws a carrot instead of a gun. Sam declares, "this town ain't big enough for the two of us!" Bugs tries to rectify that by running off-screen and, to sound effects of hammers and saws and music from the first movement of Beethoven's Sonata Pathétique, quickly constructs a background of modern skyscrapers in the town, but "it's still not big enough!" They then pull out guns, one each a shot larger than the other, until Sam pulls out a 10-shooter and Bugs responds with a pea shooter, which he uses. In the time-honored western cliché, Sam orders Bugs to "Dance!" while firing at his feet. Bugs grabs a cane and straw hat from off-screen, and goes into the same vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
soft shoe routine he first exhibited in Stage Door Cartoon
Stage Door Cartoon
Stage Door Cartoon is a 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and a predecessor to Yosemite Sam...
(in which a prototype of Sam appeared), then says "Take it, Sam!" The diminutive villain, although startled initially, quickly breaks (rather expertly) into the same dance, and is tricked into dancing into an open mine shaft (nearly getting hurt in the process). This gag is featured in the 1991 cartoon (Blooper) Bunny
(Blooper) Bunny
Bunny is an eight-minute Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon, produced in 1991 by Warner Bros. Animation. Featuring the voice talents of Jeff Bergman and Gordon Hunt, the short is a parody of some of the specials produced for Bugs Bunny's 50th anniversary the previous year...
.
When Sam returns to the surface, Bugs dares him to cross a line drawn with his foot. "OK, I'm a-steppin'!" Bugs continues this schtick all the way out of town to the edge of a cliff, where the unobservant Sam steps over the line and plummets toward the ground far below. (This gag would be recycled in High Diving Hare
High Diving Hare
High Diving Hare is a 1948-produced Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. Released to theaters on April 30, 1949, the short is an expansion of a gag from Stage Door Cartoon, which was also directed by Friz Freleng...
and Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers is a Bugs Bunny short cartoon directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon and released in 1992. The cartoon was intended for a release in theaters, but was left out of production and was instead later seen on TV on Nickelodeon, and later, Cartoon Network.-Plot:In a parody...
.) Suddenly stricken with guilt, the speedy hare dashes down a roadway, beats Sam to the ground and lays down a mattress, telling the audience, "Ya know, sometimes me conscience kinda bodders me ... but not this time!" as he pulls away the mattress. Sam smashes into the ground (off-screen) and the already pint-sized bandit has been vertically flattened to a hat with legs, but he still comes up firing.
A horseback chase scene ensues, to the tune of the William Tell Overture
William Tell Overture
The William Tell Overture is the instrumental introduction to the opera Guillaume Tell by Gioachino Rossini. William Tell premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, after which he went into semi-retirement, although he continued to compose cantatas, sacred music and secular vocal...
, as the two ride on horses that are proportional to their own sizes (or lack thereof). Bugs leads Sam into a tunnel, and again showing extraordinary construction talents, has time to don a painter's cap and build a brick wall at the other end, which Sam smacks into. After more chasing, Bugs stops the chase and points out that they are getting nowhere and are right back where they began ("Hey, wait a minute, Sam! We ain't gettin' nowheres! We're right back where we started!"), and Sam agrees.
The two decide to settle their differences "like the Western pictures" by playing cards, with the loser being forced to leave town ("Gin rummy
Gin rummy
Gin rummy, or simply gin, is a two-player card game created in 1909 by Elwood T. Baker and his son C. Graham Baker. According to John Scarne, Gin evolved from 18th-century Whiskey Poker and was created with the intention of being faster than standard rummy, but less spontaneous than knock...
's mah game, Sam"). Sam tells Bugs to "cut the cards", which he does using a meat cleaver, a joke previously seen in a Harpo Marx
Harpo Marx
Adolph "Harpo" Marx was an American comedian and film star. He was the second oldest of the Marx Brothers. His comic style was influenced by clown and pantomime traditions. He wore a curly reddish wig, and never spoke during performances...
gag in the 1932 film Horse Feathers
Horse Feathers
Horse Feathers is a Marx Brothers film comedy. It stars the four Marx Brothers and Thelma Todd. It was written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S. J. Perelman, and Will B. Johnstone. Kalmar and Ruby also wrote some of the original music for the film...
, a Curly Howard
Curly Howard
Jerome Lester "Jerry" Horwitz , better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and vaudevillian. He is best known as a member of the American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges, along with his older brothers Moe Howard and Shemp Howard, and actor Larry Fine...
gag in 1936's Ants in the Pantry
Ants in the Pantry
Ants in the Pantry is the 12th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
- and probably a lot older than that. With a new deck, Bugs tricks Sam into playing a card that gives Bugs the win {"GIN! You lose!!"}. Bugs tries to get Sam to take the train out of town to the tune of Cheyenne, but when the passenger car is revealed to be full of swimsuit-clad women headed on the Miami Special to the tune of Oh You Beautiful Doll, Bugs fights with Sam to board the train.
Bugs prevails as usual. In the final shot, he leans out the train window, his face covered with lipstick from kisses, and hollers a line similar to one from Hare Trigger
Hare Trigger
Hare Trigger is a 1945 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon short starring Bugs Bunny directed by Friz Freleng. It marks the first appearance of Yosemite Sam, who appears as a train robber...
: "So long, Sammy, see ya in Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
!" The cartoon is ended by the strains of Aloha 'Oe
Aloha 'Oe
"Aloha ʻOe" is Liliʻuokalani's most famous song and a common cultural Leitmotif for Hawaii. The song was inspired by a horseback trip she took in 1877 to the windward side of Oʻahu...
.
Availability
- Bugs Bunny Rides Again is available (with all the scenes that were edited on the WB uncut, but with the "namby pamby" line instead of the "Mahatma Gandhi" line) on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on November 2, 2004. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements.-Related releases:...
, Disc 1.
See also
- Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940–1949)
- List of Bugs Bunny cartoons