Bugs Bunny Rides Again

I love Looney Tunes, I love Bugs Bunny and I love Yosemite Sam, so Bugs Bunny Rides Again is one rootin' tootin' cartoon. There may be clichés, but everything else works so superbly it hardly matters. The animation is wonderful, the scenery is luscious and gorgeous, the colours are beautiful and every character is drawn very well. The music brings a real sense of fun flavour to the proceedings, it is rousing and bombastic. The visual gags are hugely entertaining and come by thick and fast and the dialogue is razor sharp and hilarious. The story still entertains, but what makes the cartoon is the chemistry between Bugs and Yosemite Sam, they are both on top form and both have their fair share of hilarious lines and scenes (ie. their first meeting spoofing High Noon and "So Long Sam, see you in Miami"). Both are brilliantly voiced by Mel Blanc, is there anything he cannot do? Overall, just a gem from the Looney Tunes canon, quite possibly my personal favourite of the Bugs-Yosemite cartoons. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Bugs Bunny gets in a good old-fashion Western showdown with the ornery Yosemita Sam, the roughest toughest he-man stuffest hombre that's ever crossed the Rio Grande - and I don't mean Mahatma Gandhi (that last part is still censored on the DVD version sadly). This town isn't big enough for the both of them naturally and comic hijinks ensue as they try to outwit each other. This is just a classic Bugs/Sam outing any way you slice it and I enjoyed it immensely. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Greg Ford writer of latter day Tunes (late 1980's-early '90's) and Friz Freleng via vintage recordings.

My Grade: A

It's the wild west with bullets flying down the street like traffic in Manhattan. Over at The Gunshot Saloon - Come In And Get A Slug," Yosemite Sam walks in with two smoking guns. He orders "all you skunks clear out." Of course, the last one is literally a skunk.

Well, there is one varmint left in the bar.....Bugs, who does his Gary Cooper "High Noon" imitation, walking dramatically toward Sam. At the last minute, he pulls a carrot out of his holster and says, "What's up, doc?"

Off we go with another wild Bugs Bunny animated short, filled with funny dialog which includes a lot of puns and clichés from the Old West. The scenery is also spectacular. I laughed continuously throughout this cartoon. The two of them dancing almost had me in tears, laughing so hard. This is just great material.

Friz Freleng's 'Bugs Bunny Rides Again' is a sequel to Bugs' first Western battle with Yosemite Sam in 'Hare Trigger'. Cautiously breaking Sam in as a character by opting for another Wild West setting, Freleng was also risking just retreading old ground. Fortunately, 'Bugs Bunny Rides Again' is a magnificent cartoon in all respects. Extremely handsome to look at, it also benefits enormously from one of the great scripts by Tedd Pierce and Michael Maltese. Shoot-outs, horse chases, dance routines and a hilarious card game are all crammed into this very fast paced short. Notable amongst the many great gags is the scene in which Bugs and Sam persistently one up each other with bigger and bigger guns which may well have inspired Chuck Jones to take this gag to the next step two years later in the famous scene from 'Rabbit of Seville'. For all those people who accuse Friz Freleng of being a boring director, 'Bugs Bunny Rides Again' is ample retort. Packed with incident and perfectly timed jokes, it not only proved that Yosemite Sam worked as a character but also ensured that his rivalry with Bugs would become a constant.

When Yosemite Sam comes into town, his reputation comes before him and the majority of the town run in fear of their lives. However Bugs Bunny stands his ground in a saloon stand off which spills out into the street to decide who stays in the town and who goes.

Another of the Bugs cartoons that sets itself in the old west opposite Sam to good effect – and this is easily one of the best cartoons that I've seen with them. The animation is full and looks great, the characters are detailed and the backgrounds aren't just coloured blotches in the rear of the shot! The plot is a good western spoof (Bugs even says `just like Gary Cooper' at one point') and is pretty funny for most of the time.

Bugs is on top form and Sam is pretty sharp. The two work well together and Sam is a good partner for Bugs. The material is pretty clever but still has good physical slapstick too boot. Overall this is a really good Bugs Bunny cartoon with plenty of laughs and a real sense of quality in everything from the animation, the characters and material.