Hillbilly Hare (1950)
Directed by Bob McKimson
Written by Michael Maltese
Animation by Rod Scribner
Music by Carl Stalling
Sorry we missed you last week, but I’ve been very ill as of late.
In either case, “Hillbilly Hare” further emphasizes the wonderful marriage between Looney Tunes and classic music, or in case it’s Southern music. “HillBilly Hare” isn’t anything particularly special, but it’s a great and very funny misadventure with Bugs mainly because of the wonderful musical direction. I dare say that I learned about square dancing because of “HillBilly Hare” and loved the way the short utilized it as a means of comedy. While this certainly the first comedy to take square dancing and use it as a comedy plot point or running gag, “HillBilly Hare” is just so great about.
That becomes especially true with how Bugs is able to take the gag and bring it in to a whole other new dimension that still cracks me up. He doesn’t just reduce the gag to one room, but eventually has his two foils running through the woods and up mountain tops. Bob McKimson’s work here really warrants a ton of merit as he delivers a version of Bugs who is just top tier all around. Even in the face of the foils Curt and Punkinhead Martin, two stock one and done villains for Bugs.
Granted, they fulfill their purpose of the hillbilly stereotype as needed, but they’re fairly unremarkable villains. They’re just hillbillies with different color swaps. Warner would do the same thing all over again with “French Rarebit” except with French chefs Louie and Francois. They, too, are very forgettable foils in the Bugs bunny verse Seriously, I love Warner but their animators really knew how to be lazy when they felt like it. In either case, “Hillbilly Hare” gets by thanks to the ace comic timing, excellent animation, and of course the top notch music direction.
In particular, the short ends on a big musical number with Bugs getting the brothers to dance for his attention dressed as a Southern Belle.
It then devolves in to such a hilarious competition that the writers don’t even to know how to end on. Thankfully they don’ try and close on a pretty hilarious one-liner all the way through.
Be Sure to Purchase Some Classic Bugs Bunny!
Find out what we think are the BEST and WORST Bugs Bunny shorts of all time!