Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Compressed Hare (1961)

Posted on March 25, 2026 by Phil Hall

Compressed Hare (1961)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble
Story by Dave Detiege
Animation by Bob Bransford, Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Tom Ray, Harry Love
Music by Milt Franklyn

“Compressed Hare” is one of the stronger Bugs Bunny cartoons to emerge in the early 1960s, with inventive gags and stylish animation that harkened back to the series’ halcyon days in the late 1940s and early 1950s. There is even a sampling of Raymond Scott’s instrumental “Powerhouse” that had been missing from the cartoon soundtracks for too many years.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: The Abominable Snow Rabbit (1961)

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Phil Hall

The Abominable Snow Rabbit (1961)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble
Story by Tedd Pierce
Animation by Ken Harris, Tom Ray, Richard Thompson, Bob Bransford, David R. Green
Music by Milt Franklyn

Bugs Bunny burrows underground on a trip to Palm Springs, with Daffy Duck following him. Somehow, they wind up in the Himalayas. Daffy is exasperated by Bugs’ poor sense of direction and decides to burrow his way home, but winds up encountering the Abominable Snowman. This oversized creature is strong but cheerfully dimwitted, and he is too eager to have a pet rabbit that he wants to name George.
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Conrad the Sailor (1942)

Posted on March 2, 2026 by Phil Hall

For every Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck that becomes a pop culture icon, there are countless cartoon characters that get tested in one or a few shorts before being dropped for lacking versatility and viability. Conrad the Cat, a yellow bipedal feline created by Chuck Jones, is an example of a character that was jettisoned after failing to immediately click on the screen.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Rabbit’s Feat (1960)

Posted on February 25, 2026 by Phil Hall

Rabbit’s Feat (1960)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese (uncredited)
Animation by Ken Harris, Richard Thompson
Music by Milt Franklyn

Wile E. Coyote – the talking version with the supercilious Mid-Atlantic accent – returns to pursue “rabbitus idioticus delicious.” As with his previous attempts to secure Bugs Bunny for his meal, the self-important coyote winds up falling victim to his cockamamie schemes and traps.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Hare-Way to the Stars (1958)

Posted on November 19, 2025 by Phil Hall

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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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: What’s Opera, Doc? (1957)

Posted on October 15, 2025 by Phil Hall

What’s Opera, Doc? (1957)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Abe Levitow
Music by Richard Wagner, arranged by Milt Franklyn

There are many people who believe “What’s Opera, Doc?” is the greatest cartoon of all time. I am not one of them. That’s not say I hate the film – I don’t. But at the same time, I don’t share the opinion that this represents the apex of animation. In fact, I wouldn’t even list it in the top 20 of all Bugs Bunny cartoons.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Ali Baba Bunny (1957)

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Phil Hall

Ali Baba Bunny (1957)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Music by Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn
Animation by Richard Thompson, Ken Harris, Abe Levitow, Ben Washam and Harry Love

The major problem with the Bugs Bunny-Daffy Duck frenemy cartoons is the surplus amount gags focused on Daffy, with Bugs serving mostly as a polite onlooker to the violent humiliation generated by his web-footed friend’s self-destructive greed, jealousy, and rudeness. “Ali Baba Bunny” is the best of these pairings because Bugs shares an equal load of generated laughs with Daffy, and the two work in unison in dealing with a memorable adversary. The result is one of the very best of the Bugs Bunny series, as well as one of the most comically satisfying cartoons ever made.
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