Baseball Bugs

This is the one you remember from when you were growing up and watching Saturday morning "Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner" cartoons. I recently watched this cartoon a 15 years at least since I last saw it and laughed out loud at all the pranks that Bugs pulled out of his hat. I know I must have used some of these jokes when I was playing baseball as a kid.

And the cameo at the end of America's perennial first lady was a hoot - and Bugs goes and lampoons her on the spot!

Classic is the only word for this one.

In most Bugs Bunny cartoons, he is pitted against a foe, usually human, while formidable in their own way, are obviously not in his league when it comes to brains. In this particular one, directed by Friz Freleng, he is up against a whole team of them. Bugs calls the Gas House Gorillas "a bunch of dirty cheaters". They then challenge him to a game of baseball where Bugs has to play every position, plus having to catch up where the Tea Totalers left off, behind 96-0 or something close to this score. Many of the jokes aren't up to writer Michael Maltese's usual standards, but anyone who has ever watched this cartoon will never forget the ending sequence where Bugs has to catch the last out of the game to win it.

The Tea Totallers is not a good ball team. The average age of the players is about 93--or 93 and a half as one player tells us in his best Lou Costello imitation. The Gas-House Gorillas is not a good ball team either. Everyone on it is an enormous, bullying reprobate. Contemptuous, too. A player grounds an umpire into the ground with his fist. The overconfident jerks even dance a conga line around the bases. Bugs Bunny picks the wrong team to boo. When he shouts that he could take on the Gorillas all by himself with one hand tied behind his back, they take him up on it, except for the hand-tying. Now it's the Gorillas against Bugs on first, Bugs on second, Bugs on third, Bugs pitching, Bugs catching; and it's no match. That is, the Gorillas are no match for our wily Bugs.

Friz Freleng and Michael Maltese give us several unforgettable moments: the screaming liner to left field; Bugs the catcher encouraging Bugs the pitcher with "That's the old pepper, boy"; Bugs's unique method for stealing a base; and even the Statue of Liberty imitating a typical woman fan of the day: "That's what the man said, you heard what he said, he said that!" Mel Blanc's voice talents, as usual, rival Bugs Bunny's one-man show. Treg Brown gives us several hilarious sound effects, such as what accompanies Bugs's wind-up pitch and what we hear when a Gorilla blows cigar smoke in Bugs's face. Carl Stalling writes a score worthy of Bugs and baseball.

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

My description for this Bugs Bunny episode, overall, is fun. The beginning of it is very boring and not very funny, but Bugs Bunny transforms this cartoon completely. If it had been any other cartoon character, this episode would have been a disaster. Bugs Bunny had to come on to enhance the action.

Bugs Bunny is watching a very boring and bad (according to him anyway) baseball match, saying he could do better. Not too surprisingly, the other players of the game challenge him to a game and Bugs Bunny accepts. Can he really do better than the other team..?

I liked this episode for the animation, some of the jokes (which were very original in 1946) and of course, Bugs Bunny. Personally I did not think the subject of baseball would make this episode very enjoyable, but I enjoyed it a great deal.

I recommend this episode to anyone who likes Bugs Bunny and to anyone who likes baseball (or people who can bear it). Enjoy "Baseball Bugs"! :-)

Having just got the "Loony Tunes Golden Collection"(which i HIGHLY recommend, by the way), I'm going to try to comment on most if not all of the cartoons individually. As such the starting statement might seem redundant for those whom read multiple reviews of them, for this i apologize.

Baseball Bugs is a great cartoon of Bugs playing baseball (in all positions) against the Gashouse Gorillas' team. Some funny sight gags make this short great.

My Grade: B+

DVD Extras: Disk 1: an introduction by Chuck Jones; The Boy of Termite Terrice part 1; clips from the films "Two Guys from Texas" and "My Dream is Yours", both with Bugs cameos; Bridging sequences for an episode of "the Bugs Bunny show"; the Astro Nuts audio recording session; 2 vintage trailers; "Blooper Bunny: Bugs Bunny 51st and a half anniversary" with optional commentary with writer Greg Ford & stills gallery