One Froggy Evening and Long-Haired Hare: A Looney Tunes Thread

Is Long-Haired Hare the one with Bugs fucking up opera singer Giovanni Jones? That is a fucking classic. Bugs goes to Oldboy-level lengths of revenge in that one.

For me, though, this thread begins and ends with The Rabbit of Seville. I'd put that segment up against any of the sequences in Fantasia.

Now we're in my wheelhouse baby. Chuck Jones had just about as much of an influence on my sense of humour and childhood in general as Jim Henson.

While the three cartoons already mentioned really are brilliant (I still have mates who quietly whisper in my ear or I in theirs 'Leopold!' and we'll laugh) I've got a particular soft spot for Jones work with Daffy. Robin Hood Daffy is simply one of the funniest pieces of comedy ever, and if you really want to see Bugs being sadistic - especially because he was doing it for shits and giggles rather than revenge - nothing beats his metafictive screwing with Daffy in Duck Amock, possibly 7 of my favorite minutes of anything anywhere.

I've been meaning to start a Chuck Jones Appreciation thread, but I reckon this one could easily become a catch-all for that instead.

As for the two cartoons that kicked this thread off tho, I have to say that every time I see that poor bastard bring the singing frog to the talent agent and try making him dance with his fingers, the incredibly panicked face he has always makes me utterly roar with laughter. Long-Haired Hair truely is a classic but for my money comes a (very close) second to Bully For Bugs as far as my favorite Jones Bugs short. "Stop steamin' up my tail!", just floors me.

It's amazing that I've watched so many Jones shorts so many times and they never cease to make me giggle quite unlike anything else - my missus says she loves watching me watch them because I laugh harder at them than almost anything. When I was a little kid I remember if Dad was home and they were on he'd laugh harder than I would - now I sit with my 6 year old nephew and do the exact same thing. They are utterly timeless.

My job involves me being around classic cartoons all the time but I hardly ever get around to watching the things, even though I love them. This thread should help me rectify this. I just watched One Froggy Evening - the guy's facial expressions are what make that one.

I remember back at university when Duck Amuck was screened in a lecture to demonstrate some concept or other. It was kind of life-affirming to be in a packed auditorium with a bunch of studiously hip and disaffected fellow students who are all unironically cracking up at a 50 year old cartoon. The gag at the end with Daffy hitting the anvil-turned-missile brought the house down. As well it should.

Daffy and Wile E. were always my favourites - embodiments of life's endless frustrations and disappointments. Bugs was just a jerk.

Rain Dog, I'm with you on both Bully for Bugs specificly and Chuck Jones in general. His run in the late 40s through mid 50s with Mike Maltese writing are the high water mark for animation in my book. The wit and gags hold up decades later.

When we first found out we were having a kid (and later, kids) we made sure to buy a bunch of the Looney Tunes collections. My little girls are gonna get all the glorious violence that I had as a child. I made sure that One Froggy Evening was included in one of the sets. One of my favorite animations of all-time.

I still prefer 'What's Opera, Doc?', but 'Long-Haired Hare' is a really close second for the Bugs Bunny cartoons. That long note that he forces at the end kills me every time.

'One Froggy Evening' is as good as it gets. I'll never forget the huge response that the parody scene in 'Spaceballs' received when I saw it in the theater.

That's pretty much the one highlight in Spaceballs.

What a pleasure to have to think about ranking these shorts. It's been *way* too long since I've seen any of them.

I'm going to come right out with Bully for Bugs at the top of my list of the Chuck Jones Looney Tunes offerings too, though...if only for the little details like Bugs' ears flopping on the ground when he's bowing and kicking up little puffs of dust.

With the Oscars coming up, this thread got me wondering about the history of WB animation and the Academy Awards. So far, none of the ones we've been talking about have been nominated! If my list from Wikipedia is correct, anyway...

Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Animation):

* Tweetie Pie (1947)
* For Scent-imental Reasons (1949)
* Speedy Gonzales (1955)
* Birds Anonymous (1957)
* Knighty Knight Bugs (1958)

Academy Award nominations:

* It's Got Me Again! (1932)
* Detouring America (1939)
* A Wild Hare (1940)
* Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941)
* Rhapsody in Rivets (1941)
* Pigs in a Polka (1943)
* Greetings Bait (1943)
* Swooner Crooner (1944)
* Life with Feathers (1945)
* Walky Talky Hawky (1946)
* Mouse Wreckers (1948)
* From A to Z-Z-Z-Z (1953)
* Sandy Claws (1954)
* Tabasco Road (1957)
* Mexicali Shmoes (1959)
* Mouse and Garden (1960)
* High Note (1960)
* Beep Prepared (1961)
* Nelly's Folly (1962)
* Now Hear This (1963)

So... head-to-head, debate the relative merits of:

1953: Duck Amuck vs. From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
1955: One Froggy Evening vs. (!!!) Speedy Gonzales
1957: What's Opera Doc? vs. Tabasco Road

Wow...Speedy Gonzales stealing Oscar thunder from at least two of the most widely respected and loved entries from Chuck Jones. Who was Bob McKimson blowing?

At least there's a thread of reason to go with From A to Z-Z-Z-Z instead of Duck Amuck. They're both great in their own way, even if Duck Amuck is much more funny. But Froggy vs. Speedy? Come ON!

For me, second the words "Bugs Bunny" and "sadistic" came up in the same sentence, first thing that came to mind was the cartoon where Bugs adopts that gangster who looks like a baby, and shakes the living hell out of him while telling him not to play with the dirty money.

Funny as hell, but still harsh.

I'm not up on my history of animation houses, so I'm not sure what rules I may be breaking by bringing Merrie Melodies into this. But Jones' Feed The Kitty plays me like a fiddle.

I always enjoyed the rare occasions when Bugs Bunny would go up against Wile E. Coyote. The one where Wile E builds that giant magnet to catch Bugs and ends up attracting giant exploding missiles and satellites into his cave is greatness.

You and me both. Marc Antony putting the little cookie on his back gets me every time.

"I am a genius, where as you could not pass the entry exam into kindergarten"

God the matter-of-fact way Wile.E says that and the completely incredulous look on Bugs face at the same time has me giggling just thinking about it.

I love the Wile E Coyote Super Genius talky ones. It's cool and pretty impressive that they managed to take silent character and find a vocal persona for him that fits perfectly and is funny in itself. Plus the fact there was only a handful of them makes them stand out as a bit special.

Speaking of Wile E. Coyote, I also always loved that weird Bizarro Wile character who always goes up against the sheepdog, gets abused for eight hours and then punches a timeclock at the end of the day.

"Falling Hare" with Bugs vs. The Gremlin is friggin' hilarious. I love that they keep going back to that wrench gag.

So inspired by this thread, I flicked over to Boomerang last night for the Looney Tunes Hour and while it was mostly McKimson and Freling stuff, the one Chuck Jones I did get had me in absolute hysterics.

That's the thing, when you sit down and try to think of your favoirte Jones cartoons you'll often comeback to many of the same culprits, yet I always seem to forget the under-rated classics he did like No Barking.

It has probably my favorite depiction of a dog onscreen ever, and is utterly gut-bustingly funny as well. I honestly don't think Jones knew how to not be hilarious back in the fifties.

Oh, most of my favorites have been mentioned already, but "Hillbilly Hare" is an all-time favorite for me.

The way Bugs takes over the square dance and makes Curt and Pumkin'head beat the shit out of each other is a thing of sadistic beauty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Hare

I've been giggling lately over this line:

"My, I bet monster lead such innnnnteresting lives. I was just saying to my girlfriend the other day "Gee, I bet monsters are interesting", I said."

I still walk around sometimes randomly saying "Abra-ca-pocus" and "Hocus Cadabra".

To me, one of the all time greats is the Bugs vs. Daffy episode where they're going between Rabbit Season and Duck Season, and Daffy gets so mad at one point, he says, "Look! I'm a fiddler crab! Why don't you shoot me? It's fiddler crab season!"

And for those with kids, yes, I bought every set of the Looney Tunes DVD sets and started watching them with my son when he was about 5 years old. He's 8 now, and still has some of the discs as "regulars" in his traveling DVD collection for when we take trips.

That's the great thing about those Road Runner cartoons. You know something is going to go spectacularly wrong with Wile E.'s schemes. That's the whole point. It's the way they go wrong that kills every single time. Like the magnet -- you know he's going to end up pulling some big heavy metal thing into himself. But goddamn rockets and satellites? That's just hysterical.

One of my favourite Wile E gags is probably the simplest ever - the ACME Superman costume. It's the total confidence of his dynamic flying pose as he jumps off the cliff that makes it. The Bat costume one is great as well.

Another example of exquisite timing. You know he's going to hit something. And they milk it. And milk it. And he throws the "Hey, check me out!" look. And then BAM! Just impeccable.

Doesn't he actually pull in an ocean liner as well? So great.

Let's start the great debate: Elmer Fudd or Yosemite Sam? Despite Fudd being in my all-time favorite cartoon (Rabbit of Seville), I'd have to go with Sam. He seems more of a genuine menace, and he's much funnier when he's angry. "Great horny toads!"

Yeah, gotta go with Sam. There's that one cartoon where he inherits a fortune if he can control his temper while Bugs is there, and in one scene he falls down a flight of stairs and weaves a tapestry of cartoon profanity that's a glory to hear.

There's also the point that it's hard to tell where Sam's eyebrows end and his head begins. Love me some Yosemite Sam. Also, sometimes I tell my wife or my son before I go to bed, "Good night, Varmint."

For a Roadrunner/Wile E Coyote cartoon, nothing really beats the one where Wile E builds the catapult. The whole episode is nothing but countless permutations of the catapult doing EVERYTHING wrong to Wile E.

I watched a few last night with the kids, and while it's not the most amazing entry, Frigid Hare had them in stitches. And I had completely forgotten that it was Bugs Himself who put the penguin in a top had and bow tie. "Let me fix you up a bit. It ain't every day you go formal". It's those little bits that make Chuck-directed shorts freaking *glorious*.

The majesty of that one is that A) he's in a suit of armor and B) it happens TWICE.

More love needs to be given the exquisite jackassery of Foghorn Leghorn. One of those cases where the sight gags will give away to pure writing and Mel Blanc's towering talent.

"Lookey here, son, I say, son, didja see that hawk after those hens? He scared em! That Rhode Island Red turned white! Then blue! Rhode Island -- red, white, and blue, that's a joke, son! A flag-waver! You're built too low, the fast ones go over your head. Ya got a hole in your glove, I keep pitchin em and you keep missin em. You gotta keep your eye on the ball! Eye... ball! Eyeball! Almost had a gag, son! Joke, that is."

I know he's based on a comedian/character of the time, but one's lost to the ages and one isn't. I could listen to Blanc doing Foghorn all day long.

Greatest Foghorn Leghorn line ever: "No, I better not look. I just might be in there."

I don't remember the exact quote, but "sharp as a bag a' wet mice" is one of my all-time favorite Foghorn Leghorn putdowns.

I'll put it this way: That cartoon is a bonus feature on the Happy Feet Blu Ray. It takes 5 minutes for that short to accomplish what 90 minutes of Robin Williams god awful accents couldnt using roughly the same premise.

Back to Wile E, I'd completely forgotten this piece of pure genius:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz65AOjabtM

I was listening to Radio Classics on Sirius XM one day, and I heard that guy on there--I think he's called something like Mayor Claghorn on The Fred Allen show. I was listening sort of absent-mindedly, then all of the sudden I perked up and was like, "That's Foghorn Leghorn!"

And I still do the "That's a joke, son! I'm pitchin' 'em, but you just ain't swingin'!" to my son and his friends all the time when they don't realize I'm kidding with them.

I don't care much for the old musical cartoons, but I do like "I Wanna Singa", maybe because it's so damn catchy.

I love all of you right now. Many of my personal favorites have already been named, so here are some of my favorite moments:

Duck Amuck-"Sound please!" and the chaos that ensues.

Robin Hood Daffy-"Yoinks and away!" THUD!

Duck Dodgers-After Daffy's long-winded explanation of how to get to Planet X, he asks Porky if he understands: "Y-y-y-Oh sure." Daffy gets this hilarious bug-eyed look and wildly looks back at the chart, and the combination of the music and the animation kills me every time.

Duck! Rabbit, Duck!-Daffy's beautiful mental breakdown: "Shoot me again! I enjoy it! I love the smell of burnt feathers, and gunpowder, and cordite! I'm an elk! Shoot me, go on! It's elk season! I'm a fiddler crab! Why don't you shoot me? It's fiddler crab season!"

In case you can't tell, Daffy's my favorite, followed by Bugs or Porky.

I had a really good time last night when I finally got around to showing my kids (8 and 6) Duck Amuck...along with several other cartoons mentioned above.

It holds up even for young kids. Extremely well. We watched it twice in a row, and I think they laughed harder the second time. I feel like I've done my part in passing on Chuck Jones and the gang to the next generation. They're hooked.

Robin Hood Daffy tonight!

Just do them a favor: When youre walking through a store one day, and one of them asks about some movie they just saw on the shelf with Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan? Tell them they're just seeing things. And maybe, bribe them with candy.

You have my word on it.

And then you show them Looney Tunes: Back in Action, which kicks SJ's ass six ways from Sunday. It's not perfect, no, but the animation, voicework and classic Looney Tunes gags are all top notch. Hell, even the humans aren't bad, especially Brendan Fraser. Plus, it's Joe Dante, and one rarely goes wrong with Joe Dante.

And one of the best musical jokes ever put on film.