Homeless Hare

A construction worker, who Bugs Bunny refers to as Hercules, has shoveled off his rabbit hole.He refuses to put it back.This means war! Homeless Hare from 1950 is a Merrie Melodies cartoon by Chuck Jones.Besides Mel Blanc we hear John T. Smith as a voice artist.This short has a lot of funny, zany stuff.We see Bugs playing with the elevator controls while the worker is inside the elevator.We see Bugs impersonating a building inspector, who orders the worker to make a high brick wall.We also see Bugs being knocked out.At the end we learn that a man's home is his castle.Not necessarily the most classic Bugs Bunny, but still very enjoyable.

Revenge is the story, here, but one can hardly blame Bugs Bunny for extracting it. You see, Bugs was at home minding his own business when a big construction crane came down and dug out Bugs and his home. They were digging to presumably put up another big high-rise in the middle of the city.

Anyway, Bugs pleads with the crane operator to put he and his home back in the ground. The worker - a real tough-looking and tough-sounding thug - talks sweetly agrees - but then dumps Bugs to the ground and pours a pile of bricks on top of him, laughing sadistically as he does it.

Bugs throws a brick back at him with a telegram attached. The message says, "Okay, Hercules, you asked for it. Signed, Bugs Bunny." (The top of the telegram, by the way, reads "Eastern Onion.")

Bugs then makes life miserable for the construction worker, doing everything imaginable, some of it very funny. The poor man, at one point, is hovering on a teeter-totter 100 floors up, taking his clothes off trying to keep the totter balanced!

I have been a Looney Tunes fan all my life, and I love Homeless Hare. It does have a simple premise and the story is simple too. That isn't a bad thing I feel, quite the contrary and even if it were a bad thing so much compensates. The writing is just brilliant, and some of the gags are among my favourites in a Looney Tunes cartoon, especially with the construction worker hovering on a teeter-totter making every effort to keep it balanced. Jones' direction is also superb, and I also loved the vibrancy of the animation and the energy of the music.

Bugs is his usual crafty, likable and witty self while the construction worker is a fantastic foil, more dim-witted than he is in No Parking Hare where he is quite smart and calculating but I liked this side as well. And Mel Blanc and John T. Smith give stellar vocals. Overall, a hugely enjoyable cartoon, that moves at a sharp pace and keeps me satisfied until the end. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This is the first of two cartoons where a thoroughly obnoxious and unlikable construction worker tramples on our stalwart hero, with generally hilarious results (though the construction worker was probably less than happy about it all). The second of the two, No Parking Hare, is slightly better, but both are marvelous and are well worth watching. This one is happily available. Recommended.

Chuck Jones's 'Homeless Hare' is a fantastic example of a simple premise made brilliant by great writing and genius direction. Pitting Bugs Bunny against a bullying construction worker, 'Homeless Hare' takes place on the oft-used setting of the building site but there's nothing hackneyed about these antics. Jones infuses Bugs's heckling with exceptional timing, increasing the hilarity of the gags significantly. "Hercules" the construction worker is a great foil for Bugs and there's also a diminutive assistant who steals every scene he's in with his deadpan performance. While Jones will always be best remembered for his more inventive shorts, he always also had a knack for infusing the traditional heckling and chase cartoons with a new energy and inventiveness. 'Homeless Hare' is an excellent example of this. Jones takes what could have been very standard fare in the hands of another director and manages to fashion a mini-classic.