Author Archives: Phil Hall

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Bud and Lou (1978)

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Biopics of legendary entertainers rarely work, if only because it requires actors to achieve the impossible effect of duplicating the charisma and nuances of the stars they are supposed to be imitating. The classics of this genre work when the headliners give their own personalities and quirks into their roles rather than trying to create a reasonable facsimile of the stars they were hired to reenact. Thus, James Cagney did a great James Cagney in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” while Barbra Streisand was the perfect Barbra Streisand in “Funny Girl” – no one ever confused them for George M. Cohan and Fanny Brice, even though they were supposed to be recreated the performing styles of those respective talents.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Now, Hare This (1958)

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Now, Hare This (1958)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Tom Ray, George Grandpre, Ted Bonnicksen, and Warren Batchelder
Music by Milt Franklyn

B.B. Wolf wants to have a rabbit for dinner but lacks the brains and skills to catch Bugs Bunny through traditional means. He conspires with his giggly little nephew to outsmart the rabbit through fairy tale scenarios. The wolves first try to trick Bugs into participating in the Little Red Riding Hood story, and when that fails they seek to use the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story to trap him. Of course, Bugs is too smart to be fooled and B.B. gets battered as his plans go badly awry. In the end, B.B. manages to have a rabbit for dinner – with Bugs sharing a meal at the dining room table with a disgruntled B.B. and his giddy nephew.
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I’ve Got to Sing a Torch Song (1933)

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During the 1930s, several animated shorts presented silly caricatures of celebrities in unlikely situations. The 1933 Warner Bros. offering “I’ve Got to Sing a Torch Song” is among the most interesting of this mini-genre, with some genuinely amusing gags involving the big names of the day.

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Hare-Way to the Stars (1958)

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Hare-Way to the Stars (1958)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Richard Thompson, Ken Harris, Abe Levitow, Harry Love
Music by Milt Franklyn

A half-asleep Bugs Bunny, hungover from mixing carrot juice and radish juice the night before, climbs up the ladder of his underground residence to take his morning bath in a nearby pond, unaware that a space agency parked a rocket ship directly above his hole in the ground. Bugs keeps climbing from the hole into the rocket, which blasts off from the Earth. Bugs only realizes his predicament when he unscrews the rocket’s cap and gets knocked off by a speeding satellite that lands him the lair of Marvin the Martian, who is planning to blow up the Earth with his “Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator” because it obscures his view of Venus. Bugs steals the “Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator” and Marvin dispatches a squad of Martians to capture him.
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Pecos Pest (1955)

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I don’t know how many people would agree with me on this, but I think that “Pecos Pest” is the greatest of the Golden Age Tom and Jerry cartoons. I am enthralled with this short because it deviates from the usual knockabout of the series with the inclusion of an audacious new character who shakes up the comedy with inventive humor.
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The Bootleg Files: No Indians Please!

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BOOTLEG FILES 922: “No Indians Please!” (1948 silent truncated version of Abbott and Costello’s “Ride ‘Em Cowboy”).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No perceived commercial value.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nope, sorry.

If you’ve been following this column, you may recall that I’ve been on a mini-Abbott and Costello kick. Two weeks ago, I reviewed the new AI-fueled parody “Abbott and Costello Meets the Exorcist” and last week I dug up a video record of a Texas theater company’s 1984 live stage production of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.” I was going to put Bud and Lou back on the shelf until I saw a notice announcing that November is Native American Heritage Month – and that seemed like the perfect cue to unspool the team’s 1948 release of “No Indians Please!”
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Hare-Less Wolf (1958)

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Hare-Less Wolf (1958)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Art Davis, Virgil Ross
Music by Milt Franklyn

One of the most inspired one-shot characters in the Bugs Bunny series is Charles M. Wolf, a genial lupine slob who is yanked out a relaxing afternoon watching a baseball game on television by his harridan wife who orders him to hunt a rabbit for dinner. As he exits his cave residence with a rifle, Charles looks to the viewer and angrily whispers, “I hate her” – a declaration that is punctuated by his off-screen wife throwing a pot directly at his head.
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