{"id":51349,"date":"2026-01-14T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=51349"},"modified":"2026-01-12T18:02:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T23:02:04","slug":"every-bugs-bunny-ever-wild-and-woolly-hare-1959","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/14\/every-bugs-bunny-ever-wild-and-woolly-hare-1959\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Wild and Woolly Hare (1959)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wild and Woolly Hare<\/strong> (1959)
\nDirected by Friz Freleng
\nStory by Warren Foster
\nAnimation by Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy, Art Davis
\nMusic by Milt Franklyn<\/p>\n

\u201cWild and Woolly Hare\u201d starts off with a wonderful parody of \u201cHigh Noon\u201d as the scruffy denizens of an Old West saloon nervously await the arrival of a gunslinging villain \u2013 in this case, it is Yosemite Sam in his first cowboy cartoon since \u201cHigh Diving Hare\u201d in 1949. The bellicose Sam declares his presence by bellowing, \u201cAny 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!\u201d
\n<\/p>\n

But his arrival is denigrated by Bugs Bunny, dressed in full cowboy garb (a first for the character) and doing a parody of Gary Cooper\u2019s monosyllabic persona. Sam and Bugs engage in some wildly funny gunfire in the saloon, with brilliant sight gags and sharp dialogue \u2013 especially when Sam is concerned that gentlemanly behavior goes against his principles. <\/p>\n

In its first two-thirds, \u201cWild and Woolly Hare\u201d plays like a classic Looney Tunes romp, but unfortunately the fun and energy abruptly dissipate when the plot switches to Sam trying to rob a train and Bugs being equally determined to stop him. The comedy becomes predictable when Sam announces that he will shoot Bugs at the count of a specific number, only to undergo some silly catastrophe before his count ends. <\/p>\n

If there is a real problem with \u201cWild and Woolly Hare,\u201d it would be the uneven animation style, with minimalist UPA-level backgrounds (some settings look like pencil test sketches) that don\u2019t mesh with the traditional Looney Tunes character animation. And Sam\u2019s bizarre-looking horse is utterly weird \u2013 it gives the impression of being drawn by a child. <\/p>\n

For many years, \u201cWild and Woolly Hare\u201d underwent TV censorship for a saloon scene where an indigenous character identified as Injun Joe announces he will take down Sam. Joe hands a mug of brew to a raggedly barfly and says, \u201cHere, holdum beer\u201d before walking offscreen, where a gunshot is heard. Joe is obviously taken down by Sam, enabling the barfly to consume the mug\u2019s contents and declare, \u201cYep, I get more free beer this-a way.\u201d Considering some of the stuff that children are exposed to on television, censoring that benign gag is baffling.<\/p>\n