Rebel Rabbit
Rebel Rabbit is a 1949 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short.[1] The cartoon was released on April 9, 1949, and features Bugs Bunny.[2]
| Rebel Rabbit | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Robert McKimson |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Starring | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Animation by | Charles McKimson Phil DeLara Manny Gould John Carey |
| Layouts by | Cornett Wood |
| Backgrounds by | Richard H. Thomas |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date | April 9, 1949 |
Running time | 6:39 |
| Language | English |
Plot
Bugs notices high bounties on various animals. $50 (about $540 today) on foxes, $75 (about $810 today) on bears, but then he becomes offended by the two-cent bounty (about $0.21 today) on rabbits. Bugs has himself mailed to Washington, D.C., where 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." Bugs vows to prove that "a rabbit can be obnoxious than anybody" and storms out, slamming the game commissioner's door so hard that the glass shatters.
Bugs begins his campaign of direct action by attacking a guard on the leg with his own billy club. From there, he pulls stunts like renaming Barney Baruch's private bench to "Bugs Bunny", painting barbershop pole stripes on the Washington Monument, and rewiring the lights in Times Square to read "BUGS BUNNY WUZ HERE".
Various newspapers comment about Bugs' actions as he shuts down Niagara Falls (revealing some barrels underneath it). Bugs then sells the entire island of Manhattan back to the Native Americans and is shown walking through it wearing a stereotypical feathered headdress and smoking a peace pipe, asiding to the audience that "they wouldn't take it back unless I threw in a set of dishes". Afterwards, Bugs saws Florida off from the rest of the country, and quotes "South America, take it away!" Bugs then wonders what other kind of devilry he can commit. Bugs heads to Panama and swipes all the locks off the Panama Canal, which are represented as actual locks as he yells "I got 'em! I got 'em!". Bugs then heads to Arizona where he fills up the Grand Canyon. He then concludes his campaign by literally tying up railroad tracks.
An outraged Senator Claghorn–esque Congressman speaks before the United States Congress and demands that they take action against Bugs, but is interrupted by Bugs who emerges from the congressman's hat, slaps him and gives him a mocking kiss. The cartoon then shows live-action footage of the entire War Department mobilizing against him. Tanks come rumbling out of their garages, soldiers pour out of barracks, and bugles blow as the news of this is shown.
Bugs, now satisfied with the $1 million bounty on his head (about $10,750,000 today, although the bounty is for him specifically, not rabbits in general), is snapped out of a Tarzan yell by the whole US Army coming after him, much to his horror. Bugs then dives into a fox hole as artillery shells surround the foxhole. Bugs then says "Could it be that I carried this thing too far?" just as the shells explode. It then cuts to Alcatraz Island where Bugs, in his jail cell, finally remarks "Ehhh, could be...!"
Availability
The uncut short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 DVD set.
See also
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. 197. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60-61. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Rebel Rabbit |
- Rebel Rabbit on IMDb
| Preceded by Mississippi Hare |
Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1949 |
Succeeded by High Diving Hare |