Baseball Bugs

Classic Bugs Bunny short, directed by Friz Freleng and written by the great Michael Maltese. It's an exciting day at the ball field as the Gas-House Gorillas are playing the Tea Totallers. Things aren't going the Totallers' way, so Bugs steps in and takes on the Gorillas single-handed. Hilarity ensues. It's quite simply one of the best baseball cartoons ever made. Possibly even THE best. Solid voice work, nice music, and excellent animation. Love the colors. The cartoon moves at a fast pace and all of the gags connect well. As I said, it's a classic. Any Looney Tunes fan worth their salt will have seen it at least a few times. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it since childhood but it never gets old to me.

We are at the Polo Grounds in New York City with the visiting team - the Gas-House Gorillas - giving the home team - the Tea Totallers - a thrashing, leading 94-0 and it's only the top of the fourth inning! Bugs emerges from his hole in the outfield and is disgusted. "Hey, I can beat this team singled-handed," he thinks, so he takes over from the 91-year-old pitcher who is getting shellacked. In fact, he takes over for everybody, being the whole team!

From that point on, it really becomes total lunacy - but one of the funniest Bugs Bunny cartoons I've ever seen (well, I'm a baseball fan, too) - capped off by a the most ridiculous catch ever made!

This was a lot of fun to watch. I hope Bugs did more sports cartoons and, if so, I get a chance to see them.

Having just got the "Loony Tunes Golden Collection"(which i HIGHLY recommend, by the way), I'm going to try to comment on most if not all of the cartoons individually. As such the starting statement might seem redundant for those whom read multiple reviews of them, for this i apologize.

Baseball Bugs is a great cartoon of Bugs playing baseball (in all positions) against the Gashouse Gorillas' team. Some funny sight gags make this short great.

My Grade: B+

DVD Extras: Disk 1: an introduction by Chuck Jones; The Boy of Termite Terrice part 1; clips from the films "Two Guys from Texas" and "My Dream is Yours", both with Bugs cameos; Bridging sequences for an episode of "the Bugs Bunny show"; the Astro Nuts audio recording session; 2 vintage trailers; "Blooper Bunny: Bugs Bunny 51st and a half anniversary" with optional commentary with writer Greg Ford & stills gallery

This is the one you remember from when you were growing up and watching Saturday morning "Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner" cartoons. I recently watched this cartoon a 15 years at least since I last saw it and laughed out loud at all the pranks that Bugs pulled out of his hat. I know I must have used some of these jokes when I was playing baseball as a kid.

And the cameo at the end of America's perennial first lady was a hoot - and Bugs goes and lampoons her on the spot!

Classic is the only word for this one.

In most Bugs Bunny cartoons, he is pitted against a foe, usually human, while formidable in their own way, are obviously not in his league when it comes to brains. In this particular one, directed by Friz Freleng, he is up against a whole team of them. Bugs calls the Gas House Gorillas "a bunch of dirty cheaters". They then challenge him to a game of baseball where Bugs has to play every position, plus having to catch up where the Tea Totalers left off, behind 96-0 or something close to this score. Many of the jokes aren't up to writer Michael Maltese's usual standards, but anyone who has ever watched this cartoon will never forget the ending sequence where Bugs has to catch the last out of the game to win it.