Every Bugs Bunny Ever: This is a Life? (1955)

Posted on June 25, 2025 by Phil Hall

This is a Life? (1955)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Arthur Davis
Music by Milt Franklyn

This offering is a hilarious riff on “This is Your Life,” a very 1950s popular program hosted by Ralph Edwards that surprised people with retrospectives of their life. The show was staged in front of a studio audience, and sometimes unsuspecting people would be taken from the audience and led to the stage. The concept of “This is Your Life” had already been brilliantly spoofed on “Your Show of Shows” in 1954, but screenwriter Warren Foster and director Friz Freleng opted to put their spin on the subject using the Looney Tunes characters.

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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Rabbit Rampage (1955)

Posted on June 18, 2025 by Phil Hall

Rabbit Rampage (1955)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ben Washam
Music by Milt Franklyn

In my opinion, “Rabbit Rampage” is the worst of the Bugs Bunny cartoons – which is curious since it is a sequel to “Duck Amuck,” which is my choice as being the best of all the Warner Bros. cartoons.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Hare Brush (1955)

Posted on June 11, 2025 by Phil Hall

Hare Brush (1955)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Art Davis, Gerry Chiniquy
Music by Milt Franklyn

Not unlike last week’s entry “Sahara Hare,” “Hare Brush” gets off to a great start with original humor but strangely falls flat midway through with dull and tired gags.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Beanstalk Bunny (1955)

Posted on May 28, 2025 by Phil Hall

Beanstalk Bunny (1955)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Abe Levitow, Keith Darling
Music by Carl Stalling

A cute idea with a meh execution, “Beanstalk Bunny” reimagines the fairy tale with Daffy Duck as Jack, Elmer Fudd as the giant, and Bugs Bunny as an interloper who joins in the mayhem. Bugs went up the beanstalk before with “Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk” (1943) and found himself in a land of giants when he challenged Paul Bunyan’s dog in “Lumber Jack-Rabbit” (1953), so it was a bit strange to have him back for a third time in this type of a setting.
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The Bootleg Files: Rabbit Habit

Posted on May 23, 2025 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 908: “Rabbit Habit” (1975 parody of the Warner Bros. cartoons).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube and Internet Archive.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A wildly unauthorized use of copyright protected material.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

Over the years, this column has occasionally featured underground cartoons that wickedly parodied beloved animated characters – “Apocalypse Pooh,” “Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown,” “A Charlie Brown Kwanzaa” and “Mickey Mouse in Vietnam” were among best titles that I’ve celebrated. However, I must apologize for taking so long to highlight a true masterpiece of this micro-genre: the 1975 “Rabbit Habit,” which imagines the Looney Tunes icons as drug dealers and addicts.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Robot Rabbit (1953)

Posted on April 2, 2025 by Phil Hall

Robot Rabbit (1953)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Ken Champin, Manuel Perez, Arthur Davis, Virgil Ross
Music by Carl Stalling

Carrot farmer Elmer Fudd is frustrated at having Bugs Bunny pilfering his harvest, but his attempts to fatally shoot the long-eared miscreant amounts to naught. Elmer places a call to Acme Pest Control and quickly receives a robot designed to obliterate irritating varmints. The robot initially gets the best of Bugs with a solid punch to the face and by digging him out of his hole, the rascally rabbit uses a mix of old and new tricks to speed the demise of his metallic foe.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (1953)

Posted on March 26, 2025 by Phil Hall

Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (1953)
Directed by Charles M. Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Abe Levitow, Richard Thompson, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam
Music by Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn

The final entry in the “Hunting Trilogy” that pits Bugs Bunny against Daffy Duck against Elmer Fudd, “Duck! Rabbit! Duck!” is the weakest of the three films due to joke repetition and an uneven balance among the characters.
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