Captain Hareblower

Very funny Bugs Bunny short where he plays a stowaway on a ship whose entire crew flees when confronted by pirate Yosemite Sam. Bugs isn't afraid of the diminutive buccaneer so he tells Sam if he wants the ship, he'll have to take it from him. This leads to a battle (and lots of cannon fire) between the two. Nothing particularly deep here, just lots of verbal back & forth and violent gags. Sam gets the worst of it, of course. Sam also has the best lines. Mel Blanc is great, as I'm sure you expect. The music is good. The animation is nice and colorful. I liked the last bit a lot. It's fun to see Bugs thrown a curveball from time to time. Not the funniest Bugs & Sam short that I've seen but a good one.

I first saw "Captain Hareblower" in the compilation film "Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island". After all these years, I've finally seen the cartoon on its own. I almost never stopped laughing, as pirate Yosemite Sam (in full aggressive form) scares the crew off of a ship and then tries to get Bugs Bunny to surrender but Bugs always has a trick up his sleeve. With perfectly timed gags, I might add.

It's always so great to contrast the calm but acerbic Bugs with the violent but incompetent Sam. As I once read, Friz Freleng wanted a character who could take on Bugs. For Friz, it wasn't Elmer Fudd, a total sap. So, Friz came up with the smallest person imaginable and gave him the biggest voice imaginable. As a result, the roughest, toughest, he-man stuffest hombre as ever crossed the Rio Grande - and he ain't no namby-pamby - has always been a hoot, including in this cartoon.

Another cartoon where Sam is out to get Bugs Bunny but Sam is constantly outwitted by the too-clever rabbit. Sam is once again portrayed as a pirate who tries with all his might to take over a passing ship. The entire crew abandons ship, except Bugs Bunny who stays on board to defend the ship against Sam.

This has many scenes that are basically re-creations of "Bunker Hill Bunny" and "Buccaneer Bunny", which also feature Sam and Bugs at war with each other. I would have given "Captain Hareblower" a higher rating if it had all original story lines instead of copied scenes from past cartoons. Nevertheless, it's one of many WB shorts that is full of mayhem and good fun.

While sometimes a little too reliant on slapstick, particularly in the middle half, and one or two of the sight gags are executed a little predictably, this cartoon is enormous fun. Just plain Looney fun with a lot of battle- of- the- wits just as I like it. The animation is excellent really colourful and expressive, the music is beautiful and rousing, the vocal characterisations are spot on as pretty much always and the writing is very funny and imaginative. Both Bugs and Yosemite Sam are on top form, and the story is engaging enough for both kids and adults.

In conclusion, this is a lot of rollicking fun. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny are the main stars of this short, Yosemite Sam is Pirate Sam and Bugs Bunny is the only surviving crew member when he confronts him (as all the other crew members and captain have drowned themselves). Pirate Sam battles with Bugs to try and win the ship - but Bugs is not going to make it easy for him..!

This short contains a great deal of slapstick, especially for the time (around 1954 most of the directors/writers were quite sensible in their amounts of slapstick). There are also some very good lines and the animation is good. Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam are both good characters, it seems they work as a team, even though they are battling against each other.

This cartoon is based on "Bucaneer Bunny" made a few years before. "Bucaneer Bunny" is slightly better, with more jokes, but because I had watched this first, the jokes in "Bucaneer Bunny" were more predictable.

Hope you like this episode! I recommend this short to people who like old fashioned ships, Looney Tunes and amusing slapstick. Enjoy "Captain Hareblower"! :-)