Hare-Less Wolf

An absent-minded wolf is forced by his bossy wife to go out and hunt a rabbit for dinner. Bugs sees him and naturally decides to mess with him. What follows are a series of funny gags as the wolf tries to catch Bugs only to be easily outsmarted and left wondering what he was chasing in the first place. Mel Blanc does the voicework for Bugs and the wolf with the hilarious June Foray as the wolf's wife at the beginning. The animation is fine for the period but not the among the best examples of what the Warner animators were capable of. It's that scratchier, unpolished style with less-than-impressive backgrounds and muted colors. The gags are great and the recurring joke about the wolf's forgetfulness never gets old. The train bit is the highlight. Fairly routine for a Bugs short but enjoyable nonetheless.

While not one of my favourites, I have always liked Hare-Less-Wolf. I have seen Bugs Bunny shorts with better animation quality, not that it is bad here, some of the backgrounds are quite detailed and the characters are drawn well but at the same time it lacks the vibrancy in the colours of for example the Hunting trilogy. However, the music is full to the brim with energy and manages to be catchy and beautiful. Te dialogue is fresh and very funny, I do like Charles M Wolf's "Now why was I trying to catch a train" and Bugs' "Now stop breathing on my fur" but the funniest part was the exchange, Open up the door or I'll uh--I'll uh. Gee, what will I do? /Knock it down?"/Yah, yeah. Knock it down. The gags are still as clever and imaginative as ever, I do love the one where Charles M Wolf is following the fuse all the way to the TMT, but it is the priceless hand grenade sequence that stays long in the memory. Bugs is intelligent and witty as you'd expect, while Charles M Wolf is rather endearing in his forgetfulness. June Foray is fine as Charles M Wolf's overbearing wife, however the bulk of Hare-Less-Wolf belongs to Mel Blanc and he is as ever wonderful. All in all, a very enjoyable short. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I have mixed feelings about this one.... While I enjoy the concept, (A forgettable wolf is quite unique) And a lot of the jokes really nail in this short, I wouldn't call it masterful, And I don't quite have the nostalgic feeling for this one then I do for some other Bugs bunny shorts. I love the ending, and the animation is acceptable to be honest.

So yeah, Not bad, But I'm just not so hot on this one as other people.

7.3/10.

This time, Bugs Bunny is chased by a dimwitted wolf* who never remembers which kind of animal he's looking for. Does contact with Bugs just strip people of any sense?! Or is it just that Bugs always knows how to make them forget that they're after him? Whatever the case, it's always a pleasure to watch Bugs come up with every possible gag to pull on the other characters. No, this isn't the greatest cartoon that they ever released, but quite funny nonetheless. Aside from Mel Blanc as Bugs and the wolf, June Foray (who later voiced Rocky the Squirrel) voices the wolf's overbearing wife.

*The wolf is named Charles M. Wolf, and I wondered if that's a reference to Chuck Jones, although Friz Freleng directed "Hare-Less Wolf".

Well, this cartoon might not be all spit-and-polished, but "Hareless Wolf" has been with me since childhood. It's a comedy classic if there ever was one, and Charles M. Wolf has always been in my upper echelon of favorite Warner supporting characters.

Charlie's your regular-guy, shiftless layabout who only wants to relax with a beer and his TV ballgame, but his shrewish wife has other ideas and orders him to shoot a rabbit for dinner.

Bugs really has little to do except being a sounding-board for Charlie's ubiquitous memory lapses…but that makes little difference here. Bugs always chimes in with the correct answer, and the wolf's forever overjoyed at learning the answer; happens every time. Bugs eventually gets fed up, but I the viewer never manage to—that's what separates this cartoon from the rest of the bunch.

There is one scene that's incongruous with the rest of the film: A gag with no dialogue, involving a long fuse Bugs lights which attracts the wolf, who emptyheadedly follows it straight thru to the explosive end. I always want to cling to my belief that Charles really isn't dumb, just forgetful. But this scene severely tests that belief.

All in all, a gem from my childhood days, with dialogue that forever resounds in the memory.