The Windblown Hare (1949)
Directed by Bob McKimson
Written by Warren Foster
Animation by John Carey
Music by Carl Stalling
I am one that was never much of a fan of cartoons like “Rocky and Bullwinkle” or “George of the Jungle.” I always found those series to feel cheap and kind of dull so I was never a fan of their fractured fairy tales. Besides, Warner bros. always set the bar high when it came to taking fairy tales and distorting them for their own twisted purposes. “The Windblown Hare” is a hilarious take on the Three Pigs and Red Riding Hood, the first confrontation with the three pigs for Bugs and his second confrontation of Red Riding Hood’s universe. While not as funny as “Red Riding Rabbit,” this visitation to the latter’s world is small but hysterical as the writers take this whole dynamic and twist it up for some prime comedic material.
This time the three pigs are a trio of obnoxious con men, the big bad wolf is a victim of circumstance, and Bugs is just an innocent bystander. He’s always at his funniest when he’s the innocent bystander who has no choice but to intervene and side with someone that he wouldn’t normally side with. It also helps that Jim Backus is back as the Big Bad Wolf, offering a hilarious supporting performance that punctuates the inherent lunacy of the short and he maintains pace with Mel Blanc without flaw. In the previous “Red Riding Hood” short, the wolf was an evil predator. This time he’s kind of a putz who is mainly attacking the three pigs because it’s his purpose in the book.
When we meet the wolf he’s following the instructions of the fairy tale, all the while the trio of brothers that have also read the famed fairy tale, have decided to sell their hay and wooden houses and hide out in the brick house. Along comes Bugs who seeks a new house and ends up buying the hay house. Much to his shock the wolf comes along blowing it down, forcing Bugs to buy the wooden house. While the pigs celebrate, Bugs is forced to buy the wooden house and along comes the wolf who blows his house down. Infuriated, Bugs derails the entire direction of the narrative taking on the persona of Red Riding Hood.
This prompts the wolf to follow suit, leading in to a hilarious series of gags where he reads the entire story in high speed on screen. He then bolts to Red’s house where he spots her grandma (Bea Benaderet returns!) and shoos her out of the house. Despite her protests, he forces her out of the house and takes her place in the bed. “The Windblown Hare” really feels a lot like two shorts slapped together and it works, because it gives the whole series of shenanigans a real sense of energy to them. The three pigs have a seemingly easy plot to con someone as well as defeat the big bad wolf, but they just end up selling their property to Bugs. Sadly, Bugs is not one who likes to be trifled with and he uses a potential enemy and turns him to an unwitting pawn in his own scheme to get back at the pigs.
Despite driving the wolf crazy in his charade as being the grandma, Bugs encourages him to try to blow down the brick house, prompting him to blow to smithereens. As a final bit of slick payback, the wolf and the pigs are shocked to see he’d blown down the brick house, but Bugs and his load of TNT aren’t. It’s such a hilarious end to a short where the point of view constantly changes and the comedy is rapid fire from beginning to end. This, oddly enough, wouldn’t be the last we’d see of Bugs and the Big Bad Wolf crossing paths, and the Big Bad Wolf was good enough to warrant a few of his own spin off shorts.
That said “The Windblown Hare” is a great second chapter in the Bugs and “Red Riding Hood” universe crossover.
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