The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
| The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Production company | Warner Bros. Animation |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. |
| Release date | November 20, 1981 |
| Run time | 79 minutes |
| Starring | Mel Blanc June Foray Frank Welker Frank Nelson Ralph James |
| Producer(s) | Friz Freling |
| Music composed by | Rob Walsh Don McGinnis Carl Stalling Milt Franklyn William Lava Shorty Rogers |
| Story by | George W. Dunn David Detiege Friz Freling |
| Director(s) | Friz Freling |
The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (or Friz Freleng's Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie) is an American animated package film produced and directed by Friz Freleng. It is a compilation of the theatrical Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences by Freleng, and hosted by Bugs Bunny. The new footage was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and is the first Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies compilation film to be produced by the studio. It was released on November 20, 1981.
Detailed summary
The film starts with a showing of the 1958 award-winning cartoon "Knighty Knight Bugs", before going into its opening credits. This is followed up by Bugs narrating how Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies immediately replaced "baggy-pants comedy" before introducing us to "a warm-hearted humble little introvert called Yosemite Sam".
The movie then plays out in three acts:
Act 1: Satan's Waitin'
In a shot-for-shot remake of Satan's Waitin', Yosemite Sam courts Granny with evil intentions for the $50,000,000 she has inherited, but Bugs overhears his schemings and thwarts Sam under the guise of another suitor and later Granny herself. In the end, Sam dies after being crushed by a safe that Bugs drops on him and lands in Hell. Satan offers to give Sam another chance in life provided he sends someone in his place. Sam agrees to this and—through many lives as a Roman guard captain, a Saudi Arabian, and in his usual cowboy guise—attempts to kill Bugs. His attempts are unsuccessful, but when Satan keeps offering him one more chance, Sam refuses, stating Satan should get the rabbit himself and decides to stay.
Act 2: The Unmentionables
Bugs Bunny explains about cops and robbers, as well as gangster films. In Act 2, there are three cartoons dedicated to the gangster characters, Rocky and Mugsy.
After becoming a police detective (with the codename "Elegant Mess"), Bugs is captured by Rocky and his gang, who try to drown him. Bugs quickly escapes this fate and then infiltrates Rocky's birthday party that night, disguised as a showgirl. Rocky soon sees through Bugs' disguise and (along by Mugsy) chases him into a cereal factory, where Bugs traps the pair on the cereal manufacturing machine. Afterwards, he brings Rocky to court, but thanks to some manipulations and obfuscating legalese by Rocky's sleazy and unethical lawyer at his trial, the mobster is free to go, only for him to go back to his criminal-like activities.
Bugs has problems finding Rocky's new hideout until word breaks out of farmer Porky Pig's golden egg, which was apparently laid by Daffy Duck. Upon reading of the news, Rocky and his men capture Daffy and demand him to lay a golden egg. He eventually does after Rocky shoots him in the head, and is then ordered to lay more to fill up their collection of egg cartons. Bugs and the police suddenly bust in and arrest Rocky's troop. But another law loophole sets Rocky free again.
Rocky then captures Tweety and holds him for ransom, and Bugs appoints Sylvester to find Tweety and pins a badge on his chest leaving him yelping in pain. Sure enough, the pussycat finds Tweety in Rocky's hideout. After several failed attempts by Sylvester to get Tweety out of here, the police show up and surround Rocky's hideout. Sylvester ends up being hailed as a hero for having seemingly rescued Tweety, and Bugs brings Rocky to justice, but is forced to go to jail with him and Mugsy (who was likely arrested too) because like in the ending of the original cartoon, he lost the keys to his handcuffs.
Act 3: The Oswald Awards
In the third and final act, Bugs introduces us to the Oswald Awards, an award ceremony created by Friz for cartoon characters. He then hosts the ceremony himself, announcing the nominees - the Wolf and Three Little Pigs from Three Little Bops, Sylvester & Tweety, and himself. During Bugs' show, Daffy talks to an impressed Yosemite Sam, who then yells at him to shut up, which sends Daffy right into Granny's arms who glares at an angry Sam. During all this, Daffy Duck continually gripes about the fact that he has not been nominated. When Bugs wins the award, Daffy becomes furious and challenges Bugs to a showbiz showdown. Bugs seems to have the audience's favor, but Daffy eventually wins their applause by blowing himself up. Bugs gives the now-ghostly Daffy the award, with the duck responding, "It just goes to show you, you gotta kill yourself to win an Oswald in this town!"
"That's all Folks!"
There was no outro/send-off for the film, because after the third and final act ends, Bugs Bunny, at first, appears in the color rings and says the usual "That's all, folks!" sendoff, but then Porky tells Bugs that it was his line. Bugs then allows Porky to do the send off, but right before he does so, the Iris-Door used in the opening credits of the movie instantly closes on him. Porky just grumbles and says, "D-D-Dirty Guys" as the film fades out without a proper outro.
Featured cartoons
Introduction
- Knighty Knight Bugs (Used in introduction. Full episode. But instead of the title sequence, the Merrie Melodies intro theme music is used instead of Looney Tunes music and red rings used instead of blue rings, no credits and end card removed. The intro sequence was taken from "The Million Hare". The Other cartoons are directed by Friz Freleng)
- Clips from Little Red Rodent Hood, Speedy Gonzales, and A Pizza Tweety-Pie are shown.
Act 1: Satan's Waitin'
- Hare Trimmed
- Satan's Waitin' (brief snippet of Satanic bulldogs originally barking at Sylvester)
- Devil's Feud Cake (Note: Uses the same premise of that short, but features a different Satan design/voice and new animation and dialogue; The lions pursue him to a cliff, with a river below. Faced with an awkward dilemma of falling to his death [again] or being eaten by the lions, Sam hastily jumps, hoping to land in the river, but is killed again and ends up back in Hell and Sam does say "I'm staying" and wickedly laughs dressed as the devil that are re-used from Devil's Feud Cake.)
- Roman Legion-Hare
- Sahara Hare
- Wild and Woolly Hare
Act 2: The Unmentionables
Act 3: The Oswald Awards
Memorable Quotes
Characters
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Behind the scenes
- The working title of the film was "The Daffy Daffy Daffy World of Bugs Bunny".[1]
Home Video
The film was released on VHS in 1982 by WCI Home Video. The film was re-released on VHS on October 26, 1999, and on DVD in the USA on April 28, 2009 from Warner Home Video. Special features for the DVD release included three bonus animated shorts: Box-Office Bunny, From Hare to Eternity and Pullet Surprise.
