The Bugs Bunny Mystery Special is an animated television special that was broadcast onCBS October 15, 1980.^[1] Presented byPorky Pig as anAlfred Hitchcock-stylewhodunit, the plot is modeled after those ofNorth by Northwest andThe Fugitive.^[2]

Like mostLooney Tunes specials of the time, this program consists of clips from classic cartoons with some new original animation holding them together.^[3]

A criminal known as the Tall, Dark Stranger robs a bank, and InspectorElmer Fudd mistakenly arrestsBugs Bunny for the crime. Escaping from jail, Bugs sets out to prove his innocence while evading Elmer, who is searching for him after his escape. Soon word spreads about Bugs Bunny being a national fugitive. When a reward gets placed on his head "eaten or alive", this inspiresWile E. Coyote to hunt him down, and Elmer hires former prison guardYosemite Sam (who got fired for letting Bugs escape after the former having been antagonized by the latter during his time at prison) as abounty hunter. However, Bugs outsmarts both Wile E. and Sam in different ways until Wile E. gives up and Elmer fires Sam, leaving Elmer as the only one who keeps pursuing him.

After some chases and a side story involvingTweety andSylvester, Bugs ends up dangling from the beak of aMount Rushmore-sized sculpture ofFoghorn Leghorn; he is rescued by the Tall, Dark Stranger, who turns out to bePorky Pig (he was trying to keep the story going), as Bugs remarks "I could've sworn the butler did it!" Porky is arrested and concludes the special from inside a jail cell by saying his "T-t-t-t-that's all, Folks" line.

• Mel Blanc asBugs Bunny,Elmer Fudd,Yosemite Sam,Tweety,Sylvester,Wile E. Coyote,Porky Pig and Taxi Radio Announcer.

Directed byGerry Chiniquy,Friz Freleng andChuck Jones.

• Bugs and Thugs (the opening scene where Bugs walks to the bank while reading the newspaper)
• Baby Buggy Bunny (the scene where the bank is robbed)
• Big House Bunny
• Operation: Rabbit
• Compressed Hare
• All a Bir-r-r-rd (the Tweety and Sylvester subplot)
• Catty Cornered (the newspaper montage and the ending scene)
• Hare Lift (the scene where Yosemite Sam robs the Last National Bank is replaced with Elmer offering him a bounty of a large sum of money if Sam can find Bugs and arrest him; the scene where Sam threatens to shoot him if Bugs cannot help him escape is replaced with Sam ordering him to "fly us back to Sing-Song Prison"; and the scene where Sam ends up parachuting into a police car of officers is replaced with Elmer flying toward Sam and telling him that he did a "wotten" job before taking the bounty money back and firing him)

This special has been released onVHSvideocassette, but not onDVD.

• The Bugs Bunny Mystery Special atIMDb

• 1980 in American television
• 1980 television specials
• 1980s American television specials
• 1980s animated television specials
• CBS television specials
• Looney Tunes television specials
• Looney Tunes stubs

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All stub articles