El conejo de Bunker Hill

(*Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam quote*) - "CHARGE!!!"

The year is 1776 and Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam (as Sam Von Schamm) are battling it out from separate camps on Bagle Heights.

As you can well-imagine (among all of the bombing and blasting) some really outrageously comical situations take place between these 2 opposing camps.

Yosemite Sam battles it out with Bugs Bunny in the little known "Battle of Bagel Heights" in the American War of Independence. I've seen this one on TV so often growing up that I could quote the whole thing word for word by the time I was nine. My head tells me there are way better Looney Tunes shorts out there, but my heart tells me that this is one of the most fun. My heart wins out for the most part and this short never fails to bring a smile upon my face no matter what mood that I'm in. This animated short can be found on disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1.

My Grade: A

And that's all this cartoon has really got for it. It's highly amusing, Probably some of Sam and Bugs's Best jokes take place in this cartoon, but it's just a little plain and simple with that discarded, and to be honest Is really just bugs and sam fighting over and over again. Maybe I should have watched this in History class!!

There's really not much to expand on this cartoon, just watch the Cartoon for yourself if you haven't seen it.

Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam are at it again! This time, it's the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Bagel Heights. The rabbit and the ornery short guy are the only people at their respective forts and neither wants to give up their base of operations. As they keep charging into each other's forts, flags saying "We" with a carrot (Bugs', of course) and "They" (Sam's) change places inside each. They also charge cannon balls at each other with the rabbit always catching his inside the cannon and Sam doing the same until Bugs plugs a cork on Sam's cannon. Wanna guess what happens when Sam pulls the cork from his? I'll stop here and say this was another funny cartoon short from Friz Freling. And remember, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

Not Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam at their best, but anybody who loves the two characters whether individually or together will find much to like here in 'Bunker Hill Bunny'.

A couple of the gags do drag on a little longer than they should do, and as 'Bunker Hill Bunny' is pretty one-joke it's a tad repetitive (inevitable for one-joke cartoons). However even when Bugs and Sam were not at their best, they still were always watchable and even their weaker cartoons (not saying this is) are better than those of most other Looney Tunes partnerships.

The animation is as ever excellent, made during a period when Looney Tunes were at their peak in quality (which was a long time until they went into decline around the mid-60s). As said in my review for 'Hare Lift' from two years later, the animation is drawn absolutely beautifully, the colours are vibrant but never garish and there is a lot of meticulous detail here. Both Bugs and Yosemite Sam are well drawn and their movements move easily, Sam here being more kinetic in movement is a touch more expressive.

Carl Stalling is my favourite of the regular Looney Tunes composers and one of few cartoon composers to never put a foot wrong. His music score for 'Bunker Hill Bunny' is no exception. As always with Stalling, the music is supremely characterful and energetic, the orchestration is lush and clever and most importantly aside from that it's very memorable it fits with to the action and adds to it, Stalling also showing his perhaps unmatched ability at that time to enhance the action, especially when scenes get more energised and desperate.

If anybody is looking for good dialogue and gags in a Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon, they won't be disappointed. There are some very witty and hilarious lines here, both from Bugs and Sam that show off their character traits brilliantly. Despite 'Bunker Hill Bunny' being a one-joke cartoon there is enough variation in most of the gags to make them funny and most are timed very well, with Sam getting the worst of it. The part with the gunpowder in Sam's pants is just priceless.

Both Bugs and Sam demonstrate what makes them such great characters in the first place, and their chemistry is gleefully enjoyable. Mel Blanc provides some bravura voice work for both characters, especially as abrasive Sam.

Overall, very solid, well-made and fun but not among the best Bugs and Yosemite Sam outings. 8/10 Bethany Cox