Compressed Hare
Compressed Hare is a 1961 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones.[1] The short was released on July 29, 1961, and stars Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote.[2] This is the final first-run Golden Age short in which Wile E. Coyote speaks, although he speaks again in the Adventures of the Road Runner featurette a year later.
Compressed Hare | |
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Lobby card | |
Directed by | Chuck Jones Maurice Noble |
Produced by | David H. DePatie John W. Burton |
Story by | Dave Detiege |
Starring | Mel Blanc |
Music by | Milt Franklyn |
Animation by | Ken Harris Richard Thompson Bob Bransford Tom Ray Effects animation: Harry Love |
Layouts by | Maurice Noble Assistant: Corny Cole |
Backgrounds by | Philip DeGuard William Butler |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date | July 29, 1961 (USA) |
Running time | 7 minutes |
Language | English |
Plot
Wile E. Coyote leaves a telephone at the hole of his neighbor, Bugs Bunny. He calls from his cave, asking to borrow a cup of diced carrots. Bugs' whiskers twitch as he sarcastically looks at the Coyote's mailbox ("Wile E. Coyote - Genius"), and realizes what he's up against. He then mocks him: "Are you in, genius? Are you in, capable? In, solent? In, describable? In, bearable?..." Wile E. grabs Bugs, ties him to a stake and prepares to complete his rabbit stew, but Bugs gets the upper hand by hopping on the floorboards, setting off a wine cork that, after it ricochets around the room, triggers Wile E.'s Murphy bed to open, crushing the Coyote into the floor, with only his head sticking out (ll to the tune of Raymond Scott's Powerhouse). Bugs makes his getaway and hops back to his hole.
Wile E. then tries a vacuum cleaner to suck up the rabbit, getting a dynamite decoy instead (before the decoy explodes, he says, "Well, well, the boy has talent"), a cannon shot, which Bugs re-directs at the Coyote thanks to some underground pipes (Coyote: "But how? Well, even a genius can have an off-day"), and "Quick-Drying Cement". The cement dries into a cylindrical block. As Wile E. laughs, saying, "What a wonderful way to cement a friendship.", he runs right into the block, which tips over on top of him. Bugs then pops out and says, "Well, now he has concrete evidence that I'm a good neighbor".
The final attempt is a 10 billion-volt electric magnet, which Wile E. Coyote turns on after leaving a metal carrot in Bugs' hole (hoping the bunny can eat the carrot and then be pulled by the magnet to his waiting predator). Bugs tricks him and sends the carrot right back at Wile E. Bugs' mailbox is also pulled towards the magnet, hitting Wile E. right in the face. To further batter the Coyote, Bugs throws out an iron, a frying pan, a garbage bin, and a mallet, as well as his bed and kitchen stove, all of which are attracted to the magnet. However, neither Bugs nor Wile E. expect the magnet to attract everything else with metal properties (including barbed wire, horse shoes, street lamps, kettles, cars, signs, bulldozers, iron fences, buses, an ocean liner, the Eiffel Tower, satellites, and, finally, the Mercury rocket trying to blast off into space) their way. The Mercury rocket lodges itself in Wile E's cave and explodes, along with everything else the magnet attracted, blasting Wile E. Coyote into oblivion as Bugs watches from his hole. Bugs remarks "One thing's for sure: we're the first country to get a coyote into orbit."
Crew
- Co-Director & Layouts: Maurice Noble
- Story: Dave Detiege
- Animation: Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Bob Bransford & Tom Ray
- Assistant Layouts: Corny Cole
- Backgrounds: Philip DeGuard & William Butler
- Effects Animation: Harry Love
- Film Editor: Treg Brown
- Voice Characterizations: Mel Blanc
- Music: Milt Franklyn
- Produced by David H. DePatie & John W. Burton
- Directed by Chuck Jones
References
- Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 333. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60-62. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Compressed Hare |
Preceded by The Abominable Snow Rabbit |
Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1961 |
Succeeded by Prince Violent |