Bill of Hare (1962)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Warren Batchelder, George Grandpré, Keith Darling
Music by Milt Franklyn
The Snodgrass Scientific Expedition has returned by cargo ship from Australia with the Tasmanian Devil in a crate. However, the net that holds the crate breaks during the offloading process. The crate smashes open and the Tasmanian Devil is free to sink to the ship. Once on the land, Taz comes across Bugs Bunny preparing a meal. Taz tries to make Bugs the main course, but the rascally rabbit continuously outsmarts the antipodean omnivore.
“Bill of Hare” is a cute short with plenty of clever humor, beginning with the opening credit with the creative talent listed on an invoice (the “bill of fare” that inspired the punny title). Among the more memorable highlights are gags with Taz scaring a shark out of the water, Bugs’ magical (off-screen) ability to turn a rotisserie into a truck engine crank, Bugs trying to teach Taz how to catch a moose at a railroad tunnel (the too-trusting Taz is run over by trains and by Bugs riding a moose), and Taz eating a shish kabob consisting of TNT sticks on a skewer.
One could quibble that Bugs breaks the fourth wall too many times, but that’s understandable given Taz’s limited dialogue – although the befuddled beast has his own fourth wall breakage when he cannot comprehend how Bugs became a lady taking a shower in a boiling cauldron.
“Bill of Hare” marked the final Bugs Bunny short scored by Milt Franklyn, who passed away two months prior to the film’s theatrical release. While Franklyn never equaled the musical imagination of Carl Stalling, his scores were often subtle and nicely framed the cartoon action without creating unnecessary distraction.