Bully for Bugs
Bugs Bunny once again making that "wrong turn at Albuquerque" burrows into a bullring, where a magnificent bull is making short work of a toreador. The bull bucks Bugs out of the arena, prompting the bunny to declare "Of course you realize, this means war!" The deft Bugs' arsenal comes plenty packed, as he uses anvils, well-placed face slaps and the bull's horns as a slingshot. The bull fights back, using his horns as a shotgun barrel. The bull's comeback is short-lived; just after Bugs makes out his will, he lures the bull out of the arena, just in time to set up a rube-like device that leads to the bull's defeat.
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- Cast:
- Mel Blanc
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Reviews
Good movie but grossly overrated
best movie i've ever seen.
It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Fun Bugs Bunny short, directed by the great Chuck Jones and written by the also great Michael Maltese. Bugs, after failing yet again to make that left turn at Albuquerque, winds up in a bullfighting arena with a particular nasty bull named Toro. Excellent voice work from the incomparable Mel Blanc. Lively music from Carl Stalling. The animation is crisp and colorful. There's plenty of funny gags and lines, including the classic "Of course you know, this means war." It's a textbook Bugs cartoon from the '50s in many ways. About the only thing missing is that Bugs never dresses up as a female bull. This cartoon is part of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner movie, which was how I first saw it as a kid. Nostalgia may be affecting my opinion a little but I think this is a great Bugs cartoon and ranks high on the list of those shorts he did without any of his usual nemeses like Elmer, Yosemite Sam, and Daffy.
"Bully for Bugs" is a very good Bugs Bunny cartoon--which is no surprise since the franchise was going very strong at the time. Receiving a score lower than 8 actually would have been a surprise--these films were that consistently good. However, in one way this isn't exactly the typical sort of Bugs Bunny cartoon--as his nemesis is a lot more successful against him than normal.The film begins in a bull ring in Mexico. After dispatching the matador, the bull is ready for another fight when, suddenly, up pops Bugs. He naturally made a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ended up in the ring. As I mentioned above, however, the bull often gets the best of Bugs...that is, until the end. Overall, it's a high quality cartoon--with nice animation and plenty of laughs. Worth seeing.
Bugs is on his way to a carrot convention, but a wrong turn along the way means that he accidentally turns up in Spain, popping up in the middle of a bull fight. When he gets charged out of the building, bugs declares war on the bull and returns to get revenge.Yet again, Bugs takes a wrong turn at the same place and this time ends up getting his tail steamed up by a bull. When he smacks the bull off him it just kicks things off and the fun begins. The trickery Bugs uses here is very much of a more physical nature than when he uses word play and characters to trick his way around the bull. While I prefer a mix of humour, all the physical stuff is still very funny.The bull is a pretty good support character for Bugs as he tries to give as good as he gets. He may just be a big bull but that is what is needed where most of the humour is physical. Bugs may not get to play other roles but he is still good with his physical work here - he is on good form and he makes the material funnier.Overall, not Bugs best as it is just not as clever as some of his wittier stuff; but for out and out physical comedy this is a good example of Bugs at work.
Famed cartoon director Chuck Jones has said that this cartoon came about because his then-producer, Edward Selzer, caught him doodling a drawing of a bull one day and told Jones that he was *not* to make cartoon about bullfighting. Of such defiant acts are great cartoons made. This is one of the all-time great Looney Tunes, with great camera angles (note the ant's-eye view of a confident Bugs as the bull gains ground on him), hilarious give-and-take between Bugs and his adversary, and a gut-busting ending (beautifully scored by Carl Stalling). For years, CBS was stupid enough to broadcast this cartoon with its fantastic climax cruelly edited. You can now find the whole thing intact in Jones' The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie and on the Jones compilation videocassette From Hare to Eternity, as well as in intermittent broadcasts on Cartoon Network