Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Wild and Woolly Hare (1959)

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Phil Hall

Wild and Woolly Hare (1959)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy, Art Davis
Music by Milt Franklyn

“Wild and Woolly Hare” starts off with a wonderful parody of “High Noon” as the scruffy denizens of an Old West saloon nervously await the arrival of a gunslinging villain – in this case, it is Yosemite Sam in his first cowboy cartoon since “High Diving Hare” in 1949. The bellicose Sam declares his presence by bellowing, “Any one of you lily-livered, bow-legged varmints care to slap leather with me? In case any of you get any idee-ers, ya better know yer dealin’ with. I’m the hootinest, tootinest, shootinest, bobtail wildcat in the West! I’m the fastest gun north, south, east annnnnnnd west of the Pecos!”
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Backwoods Bunny (1959)

Posted on January 7, 2026 by Phil Hall

Backwoods Bunny (1959)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Warren Batchelder, Tom Ray, George Grandpré, Ted Bonnicksen
Music by Milt Franklyn

Bugs Bunny accidentally burrows his way into the Ozarks and decides it would be a fine place for a vacation. His arrival is detected by Pappy and Elvis, a father-and-son pair of buzzards. Pappy is a lazy, obese thing with flies swarming around him, while Elvis is a cheerful dimwit. Elvis volunteers to shoot the “eating rabbit” that turned up, but he is too stupid for the task and Bugs repeatedly humiliates him, to the point of tricking Elvis to repeatedly shoot Pappy.

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Apes of Wrath (1959)

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Phil Hall

Apes of Wrath (1959)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Arthur Davis, Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy
Music by Milt Franklyn

A drunk stork tasked with delivering a baby gorilla to his impatient parents loses the simian infant during a jungle stop. Unwilling to admit his negligence, the stork knocks out Bugs Bunny, dresses him in a diaper and baby bonnet, and delivers him to the gorillas. The father gorilla (named Elvis, for some reason) is appalled by the sight of Bugs as his baby and grabs a mallet to pulverize the decidedly non-gorilla-looking infant. But the mother gorilla (who has no given name) is in love with her new baby and chastises her husband (with a rolling pin to the head) for being an unkind father. Bugs decides to take advantage of this unlikely situation and antagonize the ill-tempered gorilla father, until the stork delivers the real baby and Bugs is forced to escape from the revenge-hungry gorilla that he ruthlessly annoyed.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Hare-abian Nights (1959)

Posted on December 24, 2025 by Phil Hall

“Hare-abian Nights” (1959)
Directed by Ken Harris
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris and Ben Washam
Music by Milt Franklyn

Bugs Bunny is burrowing underground on his way to Perth Amboy, only to arrive in an Arabian sultan’s palace – a mistake he blames on failing to make a left turn in Des Moines. He thinks he is in a movie theater, but quickly discovers he is part of a line-up of would-be entertainers ordered to amuse the sultan. The performers work on an elevated stage with a trap door. If the sultan is not entertained, he pushes a button that drops the unlucky performers into a crocodile pit. Bugs is introduced as a “teller of tales” and quickly endeavors to stay out of the crocodile pit by recalling a few of his unlikely comic adventures.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Baton Bunny (1959)

Posted on December 17, 2025 by Phil Hall

Baton Bunny (1959)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Ben Washam
Music by Milt Franklyn

Okay, raise your hand if your first introduction to classical music came while watching Bugs Bunny cartoons. Fine, you can put your hand down now. That kind of impact is something special when you consider that only six of the Bugs Bunny cartoons incorporated symphonic compositions or operas into their stories: “A Corny Concerto” (1943), “Rhapsody Rabbit” (1946), “Long-Haired Hare” (1949), “Rabbit of Seville” (1950), “What’s Opera, Doc?” (1957), and today’s offering “Baton Bunny” (1959).
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Pre-Hysterical Hare (1958)

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Phil Hall

Pre-Hysterical Hare (1958)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Warren Batchelder, Tom Ray, George Grandpré
Music by John Seely

It’s rabbit season and Bugs Bunny tries to evade rifle-toting Elmer Fudd. Bugs balls into an underground cave with prehistoric wall paintings and a giant powder horn that serves as a time capsule from 10,000 BC, with instructions for an opening in 1960 AD. Bugs opens the powder horn and finds a reel of film. Bugs returns to his hole-in-the-ground residence and loads the film into a projector. The film opens with title credits announcing “A Micronesian Film Documentary in Breathtaking Cro-Magnonscope. Color by Neanderthal Color.” To Bugs’ surprise, the film focuses on his prehistoric ancestor, a saber-toothed rabbit, who is being pursued by the caveman Elmer Fuddstone.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Knighty Knight Bugs

Posted on December 3, 2025 by Phil Hall

Knighty Knight Bugs (1958)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Arthur Davis, Virgil Ross
Music by Milt Franklyn

When you consider how many cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny are now celebrated as animation classics, it is bizarre to realize that only three cartoons featuring the top star of the Warner Bros. animation studio were nominated for the Academy Award. Even more peculiar was the fact the three cartoons that were nominated – “A Wild Hare” (1940), “Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt” (1941), and “Knight Knight Bugs” (1958) – were far from the best of the Bugs Bunny series.

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