Bully for Bugs

I could watch this one a hundred times over and still laugh myself to tears. It is incredibly funny, perfectly timed and just when you expect it to become formulaic, the Jones crew start to throw in some comical curveballs (which I refuse to spoil here) My personal favorite Bugs Bunny short and one of the jewels of the WB catalog.

Famed cartoon director Chuck Jones has said that this cartoon came about because his then-producer, Edward Selzer, caught him doodling a drawing of a bull one day and told Jones that he was *not* to make cartoon about bullfighting. Of such defiant acts are great cartoons made. This is one of the all-time great Looney Tunes, with great camera angles (note the ant's-eye view of a confident Bugs as the bull gains ground on him), hilarious give-and-take between Bugs and his adversary, and a gut-busting ending (beautifully scored by Carl Stalling). For years, CBS was stupid enough to broadcast this cartoon with its fantastic climax cruelly edited. You can now find the whole thing intact in Jones' The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie and on the Jones compilation videocassette From Hare to Eternity, as well as in intermittent broadcasts on Cartoon Network

Bugs Bunny finds fun and hi-jinks at the big Carrot Festival in the Coachella Valley—or he would have had he not taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Instead, he ends up in a Mexican bullring during what can only be described as a bull-flight: the matador is a coward and the bull is one mean machine. Bugs is less impressed, but when he slaps the bull's face for steaming up his tail, the bull butts him out of the ring. "Of course you realize this means war." It will be a war of wits fought with such tools as an anvil; a slingshot; a rifle, elephant bullets; axle grease; and a crude Rube Goldberg device that employs TNT. Think the bull's brawn is a match for Bugs's brain? "What an ultra maroon!"

Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese made a bullfighting picture because their boss told them never to make bullfighting pictures; and we end up with this funny, memorable short that gives Bugs one heck of an intimidating opponent. This huge black bull is scary; and he seems to be forever posing for a toro edition of Muscle Magazine. Bugs has more nerve than I do. Give me Elmer Fudd as an adversary any day.

This short is available on the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume One," Disc 1.

This is a masterpiece, a veritable classic! Bugs is cast in the perfect situation with the bull as a perfect foil. Sight gags galore, including a bit with a rifle that is absolutely priceless! The ending is gloriously funny! Catch the look on the bulls' face in the last part of the closing bit, it's wonderful! Good to see it's available. You have to see this. Most highly recommended!

"Bully for Bugs" is a very good Bugs Bunny cartoon--which is no surprise since the franchise was going very strong at the time. Receiving a score lower than 8 actually would have been a surprise--these films were that consistently good. However, in one way this isn't exactly the typical sort of Bugs Bunny cartoon--as his nemesis is a lot more successful against him than normal.

The film begins in a bull ring in Mexico. After dispatching the matador, the bull is ready for another fight when, suddenly, up pops Bugs. He naturally made a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ended up in the ring. As I mentioned above, however, the bull often gets the best of Bugs...that is, until the end. Overall, it's a high quality cartoon--with nice animation and plenty of laughs. Worth seeing.