Bugs Bunny dans l'arène

Friz Freleng's 'Roman Legion-Hare' is set in Rome AD 54, where Emperor Nero tells Captain of the Guards Yosemite Sam to find a victim to throw to the lions for his entertainment or else Sam himself will have to fill the role. The victim Sam selects is, of course, Bugs Bunny. Although simply placing an established rivalry in a new setting can lead to repetitive cartoons, Freleng always seemed to pull it off far better with Bugs and Sam than he did with Tweety and Sylvester. The ancient Rome backdrop, which chiefly focuses on the Colleseum's lion enclosure, allows for some great gags as Bugs finds new ways to cause Sam to be savaged. The real star of 'Roman Legion-Hare' is Warren Foster's very funny script, which includes one of my favourite lines in cartoon history. As Sam attempts to cross a pit filled with lions on a pair of wooden stilts, Bugs tosses a selection of cutting tools into the pit with the unforgettable exclamation "Here, lions"! 'Roman Legion-Hare' is not especially attractive to look at and the direction is fairly run-of-the-mill but none of this takes anything away from the one essential ingredient it does boast: it's very funny.

I am an avid Looney Tunes fan, and I love Roman Legion-Hare. It is a little slow and obvious to begin with, but once it picked up I forgot about these minor misgivings. The animation is excellent, colourful, crisp and smooth, the backgrounds especially and like it is with many Looney Tunes cartoons the music has a lot of energy. The dialogue is witty and incredibly funny, Bugs and Sam both have a lion's share of great lines, and the sight gags particularly in the lion's den(Nero playing a violin before supposedly being mauled by the lions) are clever. Sam has great lines and is a great foil, he doesn't look too bad in Roman gladiator garb either, and Nero(a caricature on Charles Laughton?) is good too, but Bugs steals the cartoon just by his wit alone. Mel Blanc as always is superb, bringing life to these characters with terrific gusto. Overall, terrific. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Despite the story taking place in 54 A.D., the writers get their digs in early on the West Coast culture at the time as we see a sign for "Another Appian Freeway for your Safety" sign. It was during this time that many of the freeways in California were being built.

Anyway, we are in the Roman Coliseum and Emporer Nero wants a victim. (If the writers knew what brutal savage Nero was in real-life, would they still be doing a cartoon with him?) Yosemite Sam, the captain of the guards, and he goes out with a small legion to find victims to feed to the lions. Bugs Bunny sees the "parade" asks what's going on. He tells Sam, "Well, it looks like your out of luck. There's no one around but me." Mmm.....not a smart thing to say. The chase is on.

I liked Bugs comment about "these hot-rod kids," after Sam cracks up his chariot.

Overall, this was an entertaining Bugs cartoon. Even if Bugs has to battle lions, you know who is going to come out on top!

Nero is out of victims for the Coliseum. So Yosemite Sam (the Roman version of him) is sent to find one. Well, there seems to be only one rabbit available. So our hero is beset by Sam and has several potential encounters with he kings of beasts. It is colorful and a lot of fun. Sam, of course, is decimated over and over and over, but he never seems to lose heart.

It's Rome, 54 AD, and there's a game at the Colosseum. Unfortunately, they're all out of victims for the lions. No problem! Emperor Nero - bellicose as ever - orders Captain of the Guards Yosemite Sam to find one, or he'll be the victim. As you might have guessed, Sam decides that a certain long-eared, carrot-chomping rabbit will make an ideal victim. But of course Bugs Bunny isn't going to submit so easily, especially when the lions seem to be pretty hungry for Yosemite Sam.

Admittedly, the whole thing's rather silly. But there's nothing unpleasant here. Quite the opposite: Bugs plays some hilarious tricks on Sam. And the end puts a new kind of spin on the story of Nero playing his fiddle.