Bugs Bunny's Cupid Capers
| Bugs Bunny's Cupid Capers | |
|---|---|
 VHS cover | |
| Production company | DePatie-Freleng Enterprises |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television |
| Release date | February 14, 1979 |
| Run time | 24 minutes |
| Starring | Mel Blanc |
| Executive producer(s) | Hal Geer |
| Music composed by | Harper MacKay |
| Story by | Hal Geer |
| Director(s) | James Davis |
| Title card | |
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Bugs Bunny's Cupid Capers, also known as Bugs Bunny's Valentine, is an animated Valentine's Day television special based on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical shorts. It was aired on February 14, 1979. It was written by Hal Geer, and directed by James Davis.
An Elmer Fudd-like cupid encounters Bugs Bunny and tries to get him to fall in love, all while Bugs tries to get his friends to fall in love too.
Like most Looney Tunes specials at the time, it is a compilation of classic theatrical shorts with newly animated segments bridging in between.
Detailed summary
In the middle of a spring forest, Cupid – who looks very similar to Elmer Fudd – frollicks through the flower fields to look for "wonesome heawts that need to fall in wove." He stumbles upon Bugs Bunny, but is reminded that Bugs doesn't need to be fallen in love, claiming that all he needed was "gorgeous nature and beautiful carrots." Before leaving, Bugs reminds Cupid to not use his bow and arrows, but this instead motivates the latter to use his arrows on him.
Bugs heads to a greyhound track (in reused footage from The Grey Hounded Hare), where he encounters a mechanical rabbit lure. Cupid shoots the arrow at Bugs to make him fall in love of it. However, when the greyhounds chase at the lure, Bugs appears to be shocked and immediately chases to kiss the lure, only to be electrocuted before it returns to its starting box. Bugs again meets Cupid, who then tells him that "for womance, even the world's gweatist womances need Cupid."
Cupid's remark transitions to the next scenario (Little Beau Pepé), where Pepé Le Pew's attempt to join the French Foreign Legion leaves nothing but the entire fleet running away from his presence. Meanwhile, Penelope Pussycat has her back painted white, leading Pepé to attempt at wooing the cat as his skunk "lover," and her running far away to an oasis. Pepé naturally tracks her down, and brings the fainted cat inside of a tent. However, Cupid—who also brought Bugs with him—shoots arrow from outside and causes Penelope to be smitten with romance, which immediately causes a role reversal with the cat chasing Pepé.
Cupid shows Bugs that "some people need help than others," as he further demonstrates by again using his arrow at Miss Prissy, who tries to impress Foghorn Leghorn with a tango dance. After Foghorn rejects Prissy's advances, Barnyard Dawg reaches to help her to convince Foghorn to falsely believe that Prissy is marrying another chicken. Although the plan worked as intended with Barnyard Dawg disguising himself as a chicken, Cupid uses an arrow filled with "jealousy" at Foghorn, causing him to barge into the dog and the two getting into a fist fight. Foghorn immediately brings Miss Prissy to a church wedding before realizing that "there must have been some way [he] could have lost."
Meanwhile, Bugs calls Cupid a "meddler" and shows him a better way to get love, which leads to him going to the island of Tasmania and encountering the Tasmanian Devil. During a brief chase scene, the rabbit calls the Tasmanian Post-Dispatch and places a singles advertisement to find a romantic partner for Taz. Soon, an airplane is dispatched brings in a Tasmanian She-Devil, which leads to Bugs holding a wedding ceremony for both the two Tasmanian devils, all whilst posing as a minister.
After telling Cupid about the plan, Bugs returns back to his rabbit hole and proclaims that he is not needed. Cupid, still not yet deterred by the "wascilly wabbit," leads to another scenario (Hare Trimmed), in which Yosemite Sam schemes to inherit $50 million by marrying Granny. Although Sam's plan appeared to be working at first, Granny is then greeted by Bugs posing as a French gentleman, causing both a feud and a gun duel between Sam and the "gentleman." Later, Bugs disguises herself as Granny and tricks Sam to carry household items from her house, leading to a money safe being dropped at Sam's head. Bugs takes Sam to a church wedding while posing as his "bride." However, his wedding gown is caught by a floor nail and is ripped apart to reveal his tail. Sam rejects the proposal upon seeing that his bride was Bugs.
Cupid is yet again determined to find a real challenge, leading to a scene where detective Daffy Duck is greeted by a sultry lady duck, whom he suspects for an alleged murder. Cupid shoots his arrow at the lady duck, who suddenly woos Daffy by kissing him on the head in spite of Daffy's suspicions. Daffy is then summoned by the lady to the couch, who confesses to him that she's innocent from the crime. Daffy becomes nervous and crashes into the door to run away, with the lady duck following suit by leaving an imprint of her silhouette.
Bugs, though somewhat impressed with Cupid's action, is yet again not amused by this, but is met by the actual Elmer Fudd, who brings him to his home for a "continental beauty who's cwazy to meet [him]." This leads to Bugs encountering a portly, female rabbit from Slobbovia and attempting to evade her from her woos. It eventually ends with Bugs tricking Elmer by slipping him in a rabbit suit, causing the Slobbovian rabbit to then fall in love with Elmer.
Meanwhile, in one final scene, a female wildcat (who seemingly has a white stripe on her) escapes from Paris via a hot air balloon, only to trap herself with Pepé Le Pew on said balloon. Pepé tries to force his kisses at the wildcat, but is instead reciprocated by being violently scratched on. Pepé caps off the special by advising the audience, "If you have not tried it, do not knock it," which Bugs agrees upon while using Cupid's arrows at the latter's rear end like a bullseye.
Cartoons in order of appearance
- Hare Splitter
- The Grey Hounded Hare
- Little Beau Pepé
- Of Rice and Hen
- Devil May Hare
- Hare Trimmed
- The Super Snooper
- Rabbit Romeo
- Wild Over You
Memorable quotes
Characters
In order of appearance: | ||||||||||
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Locations
Objects
Vehicles
Production
Development
Filming
Music
Release
Dates are in order of release:
- United States: February 14, 1979
Behind the scenes
- The Elmer-like Cupid originates from The Stupid Cupid.
Errors
Critical reception
Home availability
- In the United States:
- 1992: Warner Home Video releases Bugs Bunny's Cupid Capers on VHS.
