Hillbilly Hare

Hillbilly Hare is a Merrie Melodies cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny, produced and released by Warner Bros. Pictures.[2] It was directed by Robert McKimson and released on August 12, 1950.[3]

Hillbilly Hare
Directed byRobert McKimson
Produced byEdward Selzer
Story byTedd Pierce
Starring
Music byCarl Stalling
Animation by
Layouts byCornett Wood
Backgrounds byRichard H. Thomas
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • August 12, 1950 (1950-08-12)
Running time
7:22
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Bugs Bunny is vacationing in the Ozarks and stumbles into the territory of two hillbilly brothers, Curt and Punkinhead Martin. The brothers figure Bugs as being a member of the clan they are feuding with and make several attempts to shoot him. Bugs foils them each time. Curt and Punkinhead are determined to get revenge on Bugs for their humiliation. Bugs easily outsmarts them and eventually, dressed as an attractive hillbilly girl, tricks them into doing a square dance. The dance tune starts as a straightforward version of "Skip to My Lou" played and called by the jukebox band, "The Sour Belly Trio". Shortly into it, Bugs deliberately unplugs the jukebox, removes the dress and takes over fiddling and square dance calling, still to the melody and rhythm of the song, but manipulating the Martins through a series of slapstick comedy gags. Bugs proceeds to assign the Martins increasingly bizarre and violent directives, which the brothers unquestioningly follow with hilarious results. Finally, with the Martins having promenaded off a cliff, Bugs finishes the dance by having the Martins groggily bow to each other (before collapsing due to exhaustion from the whole "dance") and saying, "And THAT is all!" and playing six final notes on the fiddle, before the cartoon ends.

Censorship
  • This cartoon saw major editing when aired on ABC due to violent content. The following scenes were edited:
    • The scene where Bugs mistakes Curt's gun for a camera and has his carrot shot full of holes was cut.
    • The scene where Curt unties his rifle barrel, gets blasted in the face, was cut.
    • The scene where Bugs meets up with Punkinhead, and Bugs reverses the gun barrel so that the second hillbilly is blown up was cut.
    • The aftermath of the explosion in the dynamite shack sequence where Curt comes out with Bugs' lit lighter and says, "I think y'all are usin' too strong a fluid!" was also cut.[4]
    • The line during the square-dance ending that goes: Grab a fence post/Hold it tight/Whomp yer partner/Wit' all yer might/Hit 'im in the shin/Hit 'im in the head/Hit 'im again/The critter ain't dead/Whomp 'im low and whomp 'im high/Stick yer finger in his eye/Pretty l'il rhythm/Pretty l'il sound/Bang yer head against the ground (and the ensuing comic violence that follows) was also cut.

Appearance in pop culture

The hillbillies in Hillbilly Hare have appeared in the DC Looney Tunes comic book series, and had a cameo along with Bugs in the Histeria! episode "Great Heroes of France". They also make a brief cameo in Space Jam (they are briefly seen with the other Looney Tunes characters watching the basketball game between the Tune Squad and the Monstars).

Reception

Animation historian Mike Mallory writes, "With Hillbilly Hare, director Robert McKimson, story man Ted Pierce, and composer Carl Stalling combined to create a comedic perfect storm: the picture without the soundtrack is funny; the soundtrack without the picture is funny; and the music by itself is funny... What elevates Hillbilly Hare to the top rank of Looney Tunes cartoons is its second half, a relentless, hilariously insane square dance called by Bugs (channeling the Western swing musician Bob Wills). The rabbit's instructions are religiously carried out by the hillbillies, who bludgeon each other senseless in the process. This three-minute crescendo of slapstick is one of the greatest sustained pieces of comedy ever drawn."[5]

Availability

References
  1. "Tralfaz: The Animators of Hillbilly Hare". December 2, 2011.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60-61. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  3. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 213. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  4. "The Censored Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Guide: H". www.intanibase.com.
  5. Beck, Jerry, ed. (2020). The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. Insight Editions. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-64722-137-9.
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feDoeuWDCjc
Preceded by
8 Ball Bunny		 Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1950		 Succeeded by
Bunker Hill Bunny
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