Hare Lift is a 1952

1952 in film

The year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City....

-animated Looney Tunes

Looney Tunes

Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...

cartoon starring 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...

. It was released in theaters on December 20, 1952. The title is a play on the term "air lift," as expressed in the plotline.

Plot

A newspaper announces the test flight of the world's biggest airplane. The plane lands at an airport, its giant wheel covering Bugs Bunny's hole. Bugs struggles out and, impressed by the plane, decides to take a look inside. Meanwhile, in town, Yosemite Sam robs the Last National Bank ("...and keep reachin' for the ceilin'- till ya' reach it!!") and, after wiping off the assets, which read $4,562,321.08 (the amount he stole is equal to $ today), leaving just the $0.08, or $ today. He hears the police approach and drives off to the airport, with plans to hijack a plane and take refuge in another country where he won't be found.

Inside the plane, Bugs has started to pretend he's a World War II pilot, and when Sam boards, he assumes Bugs is the pilot and orders him to take off at once. Before Bugs can protest, Sam threatens to shoot him. Bugs succeeds in finding the ignition button, and the plane sets off down the runway and flies over a busy traffic intersection.

Racing toward a skyscraper, Bugs pulls the plane up into outer space, sending Sam falling to the plane's tail. When it seems as if the plane is about to crash into the moon, Bugs steers the plane back down toward Earth, sending Sam falling to the plane's nose. As Sam threatens to have Bugs's license

Pilot licensing and certification

Pilot licensing or certification refers to permits to fly aircraft that are issued by the National Aviation Authority in each country, establishing that the holder has met a specific set of knowledge and experience requirements. This includes taking a flying test. The certified pilot can then...

 revoked, he discovers the rabbit reading a flying manual. Noticing the Earth growing larger in the window, Sam orders Bugs to read faster, or else. Bugs, however, refuses to read any further in the manual because of Sam's mean talk and orders him to apologize. Sam slaps himself in the head. The United States appears in the window; Sam apologizes to Bugs, but not without insulting him. Bugs then orders Sam to "say [he's] sorry with sugar on it." Sam refuses and tries to act nonchalant by playing with a yo-yo and a set of jacks. As a farm appears in the window, Sam finally gives in and apologizes properly.

Bugs steers the plane straight back up into space and goes to radio the authorities

Authority

The word Authority is derived mainly from the Latin word auctoritas, meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. In English, the word 'authority' can be used to mean power given by the state or by academic knowledge of an area .-Authority in Philosophy:In...

 to inform them that they're bringing the plane back. Sam then orders Bugs to give him the flying manual, but Bugs throws it out the open door. Sam runs out to retrieve it, but upon discovering how high he is, "runs" back in. Bugs then lets Sam slip on a banana peel and out the other door. When he hears Sam knocking at the door, Bugs pretends to be a grocer. ("Nope, sorry, can't use any today! [slams door on him] Try next Wednesday.") Burning of anger, Sam busts back in and threatens to blow Bugs to Kingdom Come. Since Sam happens to be standing on the bomb bay doors, Bugs pulls a cord and sends Sam falling out of the plane. Sam panics mid-air and scrambles back into the plane.

Fed up with Bugs's flying, Sam orders Bugs to turn the steering wheel over to him. Instead, Bugs breaks off the steering wheel and tosses it out of the plane. Afraid of crashing, Sam activates the robot pilot, but the robot ends up chickening out, grabbing a parachute from the parachute locker, and jumping out of the plane himself.

With just one parachute left, Bugs decides he and Sam should draw straws to see who gets it. Sam suggests that Bugs should prepare the straws. While Bugs is distracted with the straws, Sam grabs the parachute and his bag of stolen money. Sam jumps out and, while shouting at Bugs ("So long, sucker! Ha-ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha... Wooooh...."), lands in an open police car with policemen in it. Bugs manages to stop the plane in midair by pulling a lever (an ending reminiscent of that of Falling Hare

Falling Hare

Falling Hare is a 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert Clampett, starring Bugs Bunny. The title is another play on words. The word "hair" and "hare". As "falling hair" refers to impending baldness, while in this cartoon's climax, the title turns out to be descriptive of Bugs' situation....

). He's just thankful the plane comes with "air brakes

Air brake (aircraft)

In aeronautics, air brakes or speedbrakes are a type of flight control surface used on an aircraft to increase drag or increase the angle of approach during landing....

" (a play on a different type of "air brakes").