The Old Grey Hare

Frustrated at never getting the rabbit, Elmer Fudd cries out to his God, who responds (much to Elmer's reply). God takes Elmer far into the future, to 2018 where Elmer is an old man chasing an old Bugs. With the new weaponry available, Elmer fatally wounds Bugs, sparking a trip down memory lane to when they were both children and the chase began.

Starting with the usual amusing play on words title, this short cartoon stutters a little early on. The focus on Fudd slows things down a little, an impact that is only slightly lessened by the arrival of an elderly Bugs Bunny. However when the short moves to the baby flashback, things pick up significantly and stay that way until the end. The baby stuff and the climax moves quicker and feels more enjoyable that the lengthy, flash-forward set up.

The animation is good and shows real care (lacking in some later cartoons) and the voice work is as superb as always. Seeing the baby Bugs being just as scheming and resourceful as his adult self is very funny.

Overall a good cartoon which suffers a little during the set-up scenes but then ends on a run of highs to leave a good impression.

The Old Grey Hare (1944)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Very funny short finds Elmer Fudd crying because he can't catch Bugs Bunny but God then speaks to him and tells him to look into the future. We go to the year 2000 when Elmer finally gets Bugs who then decides to show him a flashback to when the two were children. This here is one of the most clever films in the Bugs series because it's really two very good movies in one. The first has the elderly Bugs and Elmer going at it with some "futuristic" weapons and it manages to be very funny. The flashback sequence is just as good because we get to see them as babies fighting and of course there are plenty of laughs here as well. THE OLD GREY HARE features some great animation and of course a lot of nice laughs.

Present-day Elmer Fudd moans about not being able to catch "that Wabbit" when a voice from above tells him to think of the future, all the way to 2000 (this cartoon was made in 1944). So during that time he and Bugs Bunny are old men. Then after a while we go back to when they were toddlers. I'll just stop there and just say this was another very funny cartoon from both Warner Bros. And especially director Bob Clampett. He usually times these shorts just right with fast speed most of the time, only occasionally slowing down for surprises in tone especially when Elmer cries for whatever reason. Anyway, that's a high recommendation of The Old Grey Hare.

Amazing, Proustian Bugs Bunny, shot through with a twisted pathos. The film opens with the melancholy sight of a bawling Elmer Fudd, exasperated, as many men become, at the repetitive futility of his life. His needs are simple, he just wants to kill one rabbit; get that, if I may carelessly mix my metaphors, bugbear out of the way, and he can get on with his life. This is the eternal dilemma of the human race, the hopeless pursuit of that one object, which, if fulfilled, would bring ultimate content. It is an anxiety that is properly metaphysical, and, sure enough, God intrudes to comfort a despairing Elmer.

God takes him to the future. The brilliant thing about this future is that it is this year, 2000. We can literally connect with an ancient cartoon! So the millenarians are right - Bugs will finally get his reckoning. Once the object of desire has been achieved, the world can only end - what else is there? Latterday Elmer is a wrinkly crone, wheezing and whinging rather sympathetically, as he fondles the Buck Rogers zapper that will finally do in his prey.

Bugs himself, of course, has aged too, and a Bugs without mental and physical agility is no Bugs at all. He can't even say 'What's up doc?' He tries the old moves, but is full of arthritic creaks and is easily nabbed. The law of all Looney Toons, from Roadrunner to Tweetie, is irrevocably destroyed, the elusive prey is felled, the forces of might are right.

The lachrymose outcome of this scenario floods the screen, as Elmer and Bugs tragically realise that they are both of the same entity, maybe even the same person - one can't live without the other. In a lovely sequence, Bugs harks back to their youth which initiated the endless circle of chasing and taunting, never quite reaching consummation.

This is a lovely short with an explosive, subversive twist. If director Clampett never reaches the artsitic wonder of Chuck Jones' 'Hair Raising Hare', he has excellent pacing, and his futurising the old Western landscapes is a hoot.

I have gone on record as not being the biggest fan of Robert Clampett. He repeats a lot of corny gags that didn't really bear repeating, some of his animation had the tendency to become too rubbery, but what I most objected to was actually not a failing of his own, but a sort of tribute, as dozens of animators that followed trying to emulate him most often accentuated his bad traits at the expense of his genius. Ah, that's the rub! How can you copy genius?

This cartoon was one of those masterpieces Clampett created while he was at Warner Bros. We've all seen a hundred cartoons (my exaggerate - he he) where they show characters in infancy to old age, but never has anyone captured the brilliance of this one. As Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd go to the year 2000, the chase is on with a space age type rifle, and when we see them as infants, the chase was on even then with a popgun.

Like I said, I'm not a huge fan of Clampett's, but all animation lovers have to be indebted to those works he directed at WB that even today (especially today) are high water marks for anyone in this medium.