Barbary-Coast Bunny

Bugs Bunny is traveling underground when he bumps into a big rock. The rock turns out to be a giant gold nugget. Nasty Canasta tricks Bugs out of the gold. It is six months later in San Francisco. Nasty Canasta is opening a gambling house. Bugs starts winning.

There are a couple of things that I don't like for Bugs. First, he gets tricked rather easily. It's not a good look. He's the one who tricks other people. Then it's six months later before he catches up to Nasty. That doesn't make Bugs look good either. One would assume that he could catch up to Nasty before then. Otherwise, I still like this as long as it's Bugs.

Chuck Jones's 'Barbary Coast Bunny' is a hilarious cartoon which benefits greatly from a terrific script by Tedd Pierce. Jones goes for a minimal look in his layouts which proves to be a wise choice since 'Barbary Coast Bunny' is very much a cartoon based heavily around the interaction of two characters. This interaction, as per usual, is realised with impeccable timing by Jones. When Bugs Bunny accidentally finds an enormous gold nugget, the villainous Nasty Canasta (a dopier re-imagining of the villain from 'Drip Along Daffy') steals it and uses it to build his own casino. Bugs turns up at this casino, disguised as a know-nothing out-of-town type and proceeds to get more than his money back. The gambling sequences get progressively funnier as Bugs manages to win money even from sources that are not supposed to dispense it! 'Barbary Coast Bunny' was a cartoon that I loved as a child and its unexpected twists and deftly imaginative script ensure that I still love it equally as much as an adult.

Bugs Bunny is tunneling to see his cousin in San Francisco when he hits his head on a large gold nugget. Bugs doesn't enjoy his gold for long as he's soon swindled out of it by a crook called Nasty Canasta (love that name!). Six months later, Canasta has used the gold to build himself a profitable casino. Bugs shows up and decides to get even with the swindler by taking him for all he's worth. A funny and nicely-animated short from director Chuck Jones. I liked how the action starts during the opening credits, something Jones did quite a bit. Since the cartoon's only 7 minutes or so I appreciate how he tried to get in as much as he could. I liked the villain Nasty Canasta a lot. Aside from having a cool name, he's voiced by the great Daws Butler. Bugs is in top form here, especially when in disguise at the casino. Some hilarious gags like 'draw poker' and 'bigger hand.' Just a fun short.

I like how Bugs' speech has improved over the years. Instead of the normal, "You realize this is war" he now says (at least in this cartoon) "You realize that this is not going to go unchallenged!"

Bugs had just gotten stupidly swindled out of his big rock of gold by some unscrupulous bandit, who rode away with this lode. Six months later, in San Francisco (dig the fantastic artwork of The City, by the way), a derby-wearing Bugs looks into a fancy new saloon and sees "one of those new fancy tele-o- phones," which is really a slot machine. The boss of the place is the crook who stole Bugs' gold, but our hero doesn't notice that right away.....or does he?

Suffice to say, Bugs - quite the gambler - finds a way to get even.

Nasty Canasta steals a gold boulder that would have made Bugs rich. Once Bugs realizes this, he disguises himself as a rube and goes to Nasty's Casino. There are several games of chance where Bugs manages to overcome the cheating and take the guy for everything. How he does it is the fun part of this.