Rabbit Punch
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| Rabbit Punch | |
|---|---|
| Production company | Warner Bros. Cartoons |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date | April 10, 1948 |
| Starring | Mel Blanc |
| Producer(s) | Edward Selzer |
| Music composed by | Carl Stalling |
| Story by | Tedd Pierce Michael Maltese |
| Animation | Philip Monroe Ken Harris Lloyd Vaughan Ben Washam |
| Director(s) | Charles M. Jones |
| Series navigation | |
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| Title card | |
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Rabbit Punch is the two hundred and eighty-fifth Merrie Melodies theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on April 10, 1948. It was written by Tedd Pierce and Michael Maltese, produced by Edward Selzer, and directed by Chuck Jones.
It's the fight of the century for Bugs Bunny when he calls out Battling McGook for playing dirty and even calls him out to pick someone his own size.
Detailed summary
Memorable quotes
Bugs: Ladies and gentlemen, due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to continue with with dis picture. But eh... Confidentially, the film didn't exactly break.
Characters
In order of appearance: | ||||||||||
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Locations
- Earth
- United States
- Boxing arena
- Bugs' residence
- United States
Objects
- Brick wall glove
- Axle grease
- Explosive popcorn
- Slingshot
- Archer's bow
- Cannon
- Scissors
Vehicles
- Steam train
Production
Development
Music
The music was composed by Carl W. Stalling.
Release
Dates are in order of release:
- United States: April 10, 1948
Behind the scenes
- The title is based on the then-recently banned boxing move, the rabbit punch, which is a punch on the back of the head.
- Dyspectic McPlaster resembles an emaciated, stretched version of Private Snafu.
- The gag where Bugs gets hit to the corner and comes back with encouragement for his adversary was last used in 1946's Baseball Bugs and would be used again in the 1949 Merrie Melodies entry Knights Must Fall. Additionally, the beginning of the cartoon where Bugs is booing and calling out on the Crusher for the latter's foul play on McPlaster, only for the Crusher to put Bugs in the boxing ring in place of his rival was also re-used from the beginning of Baseball Bugs.
- This is the first time Bugs tries his hand at boxing.
- The cut film gag was last used in the Daffy Duck and Porky Pig cartoon My Favorite Duck. In this cartoon, Bugs does not disclose how the ending of the cartoon came out, leaving viewers to determine how the film would end.
- The ending of the short is likewise similar to the end of Friz Freleng's short Hare Trigger, with Bugs somehow escaping a cliffhanger ending but not disclosing what actually happened.
- This is the second time voice actor Billy Bletcher uses his voice in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and it was the first and only time he voices the Crusher.
- During production of this cartoon, Tedd Pierce and Michael Maltese originally intended to include a referee who could interact with Bugs Bunny and the Crusher during the cartoon (it is unknown if he was intended to be as jolly and plump as the one from 1943's To Duck... or not To Duck or different from that character). Chuck Jones, however, decided not to include the referee in order to save production money.
- The steam locomotive (No. 1043) that the Crusher uses mirrors the articulated steam locomotives that ran on American railroads during the 1940s and 1950s, and also a 6-8-4-4-6 type engine. The number also refers to the production number of this short.
Errors
- During the scene when Bugs flies out of the dressing room in his boxing gear, his boxing gloves look more like his ordinary gloves; they return to normal when Bugs lands in his corner.
- During the axe-grease skating scene, when Bugs comes up to the Crusher, he is not wearing his boxing gloves, but when he punches the Crusher in the face, the boxing gloves appear on his hands and then vanish.
Legacy
- The Crusher would return in the 1951 Merrie Melodies short, Bunny Hugged, a remake of this cartoon, but this time the theme would be wrestling.
- Bugs would use the slingshot gag again on Toro the Bull in the 1953 Looney Tunes cartoon, Bully for Bugs.
- Most of Bugs' moves from this short would be reused in his 'Masked Terror' persona in the video game, Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem.
