| Rebel Rabbit | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Robert McKimson |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer |
| Starring | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Animation by | Charles McKimson Phil DeLara Manny Gould John Carey |
| Layouts by | Cornett Wood |
| Backgrounds by | Richard H. Thomas |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 6 minutes 39 seconds |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Rebel Rabbit is a 1949Warner Bros.Merrie Melodies animated short directed byRobert McKimson.[1] The cartoon was released on April 9, 1949, and featuresBugs Bunny.[2]
In the film, Bugs finds the insignificant bounty on rabbits to be offensive. He is informed that rabbits are considered harmless. He sets out to prove how dangerous he can be, by vandalizing monuments and landmarks throughout the United States. He is soon targeted by the entireWar Department. He starts serving a prison sentence inAlcatraz Island, while trying to figure out whether he overdid it.
Bugs notices high bounties on various animals: $50 on foxes, $75 on bears, but then he becomes offended by the two-cent bounty on rabbits. Bugs has himself mailed to Washington, D.C., where a supercilious game commissioner explains that the bounty is so low because, while foxes and bears are "obnoxious" animals who damage property, "rabbits are perfectly harmless." Bugs vows to prove that "A rabbit can be more obnoxious than anybody!" and after squirting the official's face with an ink pen, storms out, slamming the game commissioner's door so hard that the glass shatters.
Bugs begins his campaign ofdirect action by attacking a guard on the leg with his own billy club. From there, he pulls stunts like renamingBarney Baruch's private bench to "Bugs Bunny" bench, painting barbershop pole stripes on theWashington Monument, and rewiring the lights inTimes Square to read "BUGS BUNNY WUZ HERE".
Various newspapers comment about Bugs' actions as he goes toBuffalo, New York and shuts downNiagara Falls (revealing a faucet above and some barrels beneath it). Bugs then sells the entire island ofManhattan back to theNative Americans and is shown walking through it wearing a stereotypical feathered headdress and smoking a peace pipe,asiding to the audience "Ehh, they wouldn't take it until I threw in a set of dishes". Afterwards, Bugs sawsFlorida off from the rest of the country and quotes"South America, take it away!" Bugs then wonders what other kind of devilry he can commit. Bugs heads toPanama and swipes all thelocks off thePanama Canal, which are represented as actual locks as he yells "I got 'em! I got 'em! I got 'em!". Bugs then heads toArizona where he fills up theGrand Canyon. He then concludes his campaign by literally tying up railroad tracks.
An outraged bombastic SouthernSenator Claghorn–esque Congressman speaks before theUnited States Congress and demands that they take action against Bugs, but is interrupted by Bugs who emerges from the congressman's hat, slaps him and gives him a mocking kiss. The cartoon then shows live-action footage of the entireWar Department mobilizing against him.Tanks come rumbling out of their garages, soldiers pour out of barracks, the US Horse Cavalry, tanks and jet planes charge toward Bugs and bugles blow as the news of this is shown.
Bugs, now satisfied with the $1 million bounty on his head (although the bounty is forhim specifically, not rabbits in general), has hisTarzan yell interrupted by the whole US Army coming after him, much to his horror. Bugs then dives into a fox hole as artillery shells surround the foxhole. Bugs then says, "Ehh, could it be that I carried this thing too far?" just as the shells explode. It then cuts toAlcatraz Island where Bugs, in his jail cell, finally remarks "Ehhh, could be...!"
The uncut short is available on theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 DVD set.
| Preceded by | Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1949 | Succeeded by |