2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.
Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.
Racketeer Rabbit (1946)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Written by Michael Maltese
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy
I must have spent a majority of my childhood running around going “It’s coitans for you, Rocky! Coitains!” in the patented Brooklyn accent. I gained so much of my knowledge about mobster movies and old time gangster movies from Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes believe it or not. Whenever Bugs referenced something about gangster movies, I always kind of went to the source to understand what they were lampooning. From there I learned to really dig my heels in to the classics. With “Racketeer Rabbit,” we’re given one of the funniest one and done villains of the Bugs repertoire with Rocky.
Although he’s a one and done, he’s not actually the only gangster villains as we’ll come to see in the future. That said, Rocky is a full blown Edward G. Robinson spoof who becomes the unwitting victim of Bugs’ shenanigans. Dick Nelson, who is uncredited, does a great job of lampooning Robinson, offering up a boisterous but fun impersonation that has to pair wits with Bugs at every turn.
Bugs is wandering down the road until he enters in to an abandoned house and decides to make it his home for the night. Little does he know that it’s a hide out spot for a pair of gangsters Rocky and Hugo. After getting in to a shoot out with the police, Bugs manages to horn in on their sorting of their loot prompting Rocky to try to murder him. He fails, despite his best efforts, and Bugs manages to evade his every plan, all of which comes full circle to the hilarious scene involving Mugsy hiding in a trunk.
“Racketeer Rabbit” is easily one of my top ten Bugs Bunny shorts of all time, bar none. It’s hysterical; it’s infinitely quotable, and filled with so much of what Bugs Bunny is good at. He really knows how to roll with the punches here and even kind of plays a superhero to the point where he busts a terrible criminal, who by the time the short ends is literally begging the police to take him in to custody.
Rocky was apparently made as a way to give Bugs a villain to work off of who was stronger and smarter than Bugs’ usual gallery. They allegedly felt people like Elmer and or Yosemite Sam were too “pathetic” to really go up against Bugs, which is a shame because they all ended up having a lot more staying power than Rocky. Rocky is great but he can only go so far, while Elmer and Yosemite Sam manage to appear in different forms and professions. They’re so much more multi-faceted, and flexible when it comes to matching wits with Bugs Bunny. They’re not exactly smart, but they’re by no means pathetic.
One thing I love about “Racketeer Rabbit” is that the short really does go in to full pace, while also throwing so many hilarious gags at us. Whether it’s the great spoof of Peter Lorre, or the way Bugs seems genuinely unphased by shoot out, or the hysterical scene where Bugs switches in to various costumes to get a part of Mugsy’s loot, there’s just so much here to enjoy. I especially love the nods to Bugsy Siegel, and “Scarface.” The big finale with the trunk is a genuine bit of genius comedy proving Bugs’ ability to think on his feet, while also beating his villains by driving them genuinely insane.
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