talarisw Review of Buckaroo Bugs

Buckaroo Bugs (1944)

Someone is stealing carrots from a victory garden, it's Bugs Bunny! and it's up to Red hot rider to stop him!

[10/10 · 20 January 2012]

One of the best bugs bunny cartoons of all time! Hardcore fans of looney tunes know that all the major directors at Warner bros. had a slightly different take on Bugs, and this is the best example of Bob Clampett's take on bugs. Bob's was Warner bro's "looniest" animator and he made bugs more screwy and more mischievous than the other cartoonist. In several of his cartoons bugs was the instigator, while the other cartoonist generally made bugs a victim who fought back. In this cartoon bugs is flat out the villain/antagonist and his nemesis, Red hot rider, is actually the hero/protagonist. But the great thing about this cartoon is even as the bad guy bugs still comes off as likable and you still root for him to win. I like the setting of the wild west where bugs is like billy the kid and red hot is a dumb Pat Garret. I love the over dramatic opening, it's a great parody on western movies. I love the woman saying "he pinched me!" in the opening, one of the best openings ever! that ends with the hilarious intro for Red hot. I love Red Hot Rider! he is one of the best enemies Bugs ever faced, and I wish Bob or someone else would of brought him back to face bugs some more times. Red hot might be the only person dumber then Elmer Fudd! I love how "cartoony" this is and Bob always has the best gags. I also love the lack of logic in this cartoon, like when bugs robs red hot twice. The first time bugs uses a magnet to take all his medals and golds causing his pants to drop, showing his women's bloomers but the 2nd time bugs uses a magnet to rob him of the same stuff he took from him before(how did he get his stuff back after bugs robed him the 1st time?) causing his pants to drop and this time he has no bloomers, just a leaf to cover his privates. So how could've he change his under garments? There's no logic here just pure wacky humor. I love when red hot dosen't realize that he's riding a piece of wood not his horse and his horse waits patiently for him to realize it. I love the way in which bugs is playing red hot, pretending to help him locate the outlaw while at the same time robbing him and playing tricks on him, with red hot being too stupid to realize it's the same person. Kind of a take on how Elmer would tells bugs he's hunting wabbits and bugs pretending he dosen't know what a rabbit looks like. I also like the clever way in which bugs gets red hot to jump over cliffs until he jumps into the grand canyon, that could of fooled even a smart person. I love the reaction of the horse when he sees he's falling into the grand canyon and then desperately tries to get back on the cliff. Only at the end bugs reveals to red hot that he's the outlaw known as the mask marauder. The animation's great and lively. The gags are great, this is what you call laugh out loud funny. I like the western music by Carl Starling and Mel Blanc's voice as bugs and red hot. A bugs bunny classic!