Bully for Bugs

It has been reported by Chuck Jones that Edward Selzer (then Warner Bros. cartoon producer) saw his drawing of a bull and immediately said, "no bullfighting pictures!" Lucky for us that Jones and his crew ignored these hasty words, because what resulted was one of the best Bugs Bunny cartoons ever made.

We are fortunate that Bugs never learned how to read a map, because this time out, his "wrong turn at Albuquerque" brought him into a Spanish bullfighting arena with the bull chasing the matador around the ring. We are also indebted to Jones and Michael Maltese's other famous words they put into the rabbit's mouth, "Of course you know this means war!" And with those words, Jones and co. build around this situation as no one ever has before or since.

The bull is noteworthy as being only a one-shot character, but one of the many Looney Tunes "character actors" that we do not soon forget.

"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.

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.

Bugs, arriving underground, discovers this isn't the destination he was looking for - the big Carrot Festival at "Coachella Valley." Instead, it's the inside of a bull ring. It's also where a gigantic, terrifying black bull is chasing a scared matador around the ring. Bugs figures he must have taken the wrong turn around Albuquerque. The big bully of a beast winds up belting Bugs out of the area across town. "Of course, you know this means war," the airborne Bugs informs us viewers.

Moments later, another matador is ready to take on the huge bull. Of course, that matador is Bugs, who teaches the animal a few lessons, and gloats "What a nin-cow-poop!" His cockiness comes back to haunt him as the bull blasts him again.

This "war" goes back and forth, back and forth, with many funny gags. Lots of laughs.

Fun Bugs Bunny short, directed by the great Chuck Jones and written by the also great Michael Maltese. Bugs, after failing yet again to make that left turn at Albuquerque, winds up in a bullfighting arena with a particular nasty bull named Toro. Excellent voice work from the incomparable Mel Blanc. Lively music from Carl Stalling. The animation is crisp and colorful. There's plenty of funny gags and lines, including the classic "Of course you know, this means war." It's a textbook Bugs cartoon from the '50s in many ways. About the only thing missing is that Bugs never dresses up as a female bull. This cartoon is part of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner movie, which was how I first saw it as a kid. Nostalgia may be affecting my opinion a little but I think this is a great Bugs cartoon and ranks high on the list of those shorts he did without any of his usual nemeses like Elmer, Yosemite Sam, and Daffy.