Ruse de lapin

How can Looney Tunes be so good? How can Bugs Bunny be so good? He never ceases to amaze me. This is not my favourite of his episodes, but it is certainly up there in my Top 20 Bugs Bunny Cartoon List (probably). In this episode I enjoyed: 1. The caricatured appearances of the actors. I did not recognise all of them, but the ones I did recognise (Frank Sinatra, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx), I enjoyed watching and I found the spoofs on them funny. Am I misunderstanding or did Looney Tunes have it in for Frank Sinatra? Poor him.

2. Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, they played their characters well and you feel sorry for Elmer Fudd.

Anyhow, this episode is set in a posh, expensive restaurant, where many film stars are having their meals. Before any of the Looney Tunes characters appear, you see various film star/performer references, some you might recognise. Elmer Fudd is serving Humphrey Bogart, who wants a rabbit for supper. Elmer apologises and says they are out of rabbit. Bogart is unsatisfied and threatens poor Elmer with death if he does not produce a rabbit within twenty minutes. Elmer finds Bugs and he is determined to serve him up to the film star...

I recommend this episode to people who like old Bugs Bunny episodes, film star references and Looney Tunes in general. Enjoy "Slick Hare"! :-) 8 and a half out of ten.

While most cartoons had Bugs Bunny doing his own stuff to irk Elmer Fudd - and sometimes Daffy Duck - here he has the unexpected help of Hollywood's top stars. When Humphrey Bogart (sorry, it's not really him doing the voice) attends a fancy restaurant and orders rabbit, Elmer has to serve him within twenty minutes, or else. Sure enough, the only rabbit in the vicinity is that carrot-chomping rascal who isn't going down so easy.

All in all, "Slick Hare" makes one nostalgic for old Hollywood* in many ways: it's the era of Bogie, Ray Milland, etc., but also the era when the people behind the Looney Tunes cartoons were producing some of the greatest cartoons of all time. You just gotta see it. Because remember: what baby wants, baby gets.

*I know, Hollywood is the emptiest place on Earth, but this cartoon still makes one nostalgic for it.

Slick Hare (1947)

**** (out of 4)

Elmer Fudd plays a waiter at the Mocrumbo, a restaurant with Hollywood's A-list stars. Humphrey Bogart orders rabbit but when Elmer tells him they're out the legendary tough guy demands he get one. Back in the kitchen lies Bugs Bunny but will Elmer be able to serve him up? This is a great cartoon from start to finish because of all the celebs we get to see. Not only do we have a great impression of Bogart but we also see the Marx Brothers, Frank Sinatra and a funny bit of Ray Milland in his THE LOST WEEKEND role. Bugs and Elmer are also at the top of their game as the action between the two is great as are all the jokes. One of the highlights deal with pies being thrown and Bogart taking one in the face.

Humphrey Bogart is in the Mocrumbo restaurant (a spoof of the legendary Mucombo in LA), where Elmer Fudd is working as a chef. Bogart wants fried rabbit, so Elmer chases Bugs around in hopes of making him dinner. Half the fun is the chase and all the shenanigans that entails. The other half is spotting all the personality parodies. There's Bogert, Grocho Marx, and Lauren Bacall, of course. But there's also Leopold Stokowski, Gregory Peck, Ray Milland, Frank Sinatra, Sydney Greenstreet, and Carmen Miranda. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Micheal Barrier.

My Grade: A-

In a slick New York club for the rich and famous, Mr Humphrey Bogart orders rabbit. Waiter Elmer Fudd is at a loss where he'll get fresh rabbit at that time of night until he finds Bugs Bunny feasting on carrots. With running out, Fudd tries to get Bugs into the pot.

Starting out with a range of topical cameos from entertainers and film stars of the period, this film risks being hit and miss in the today but happily many of them will still be recognisable to modern audiences. After these jokes we move into what is the usual Bugs/Elmer fare of chases and trickery. Most of this is pretty funny and it all moves quite slickly, some of it is a little lesser than it should be but none of it really misses.

Bugs is a god character, even if it feels like he isn't the star here. Elmer does good work as a waiter but Bogart's voice work lets him down and doesn't totally sound realistic or natural. The celebrities were pretty well caricatured and quite funny (or at least those I recognised).

Overall this was an enjoyable short apart from the unavoidable failing that I wasn't totally sure who all the celebrities were at the start.