''Backwoods Bunny'' is a 1959

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

'' cartoon, directed by

Robert McKimson Robert Porter McKimson Sr. (October 13, 1910 – September 29, 1977) was an American animator and illustrator, best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons and later DePa ...

and written by

Tedd Pierce Edward Stacey "Tedd" Pierce III (August 12, 1906 – February 19, 1972) was an American screenwriter and voice actor of animated cartoons, principally from the mid-1930s to the late 1950s. Biography Pierce was the son of a stockbroker, Samue ...

. The short was released on June 13, 1959, and stars

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

. Voiced by

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

, Bugs Bunny takes a vacation in the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...

, but he is pursued by two famished buzzards, voiced by

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Ho ...

(uncredited.)

Plot

Bugs Bunny arrives in the

, and sees it as the right place to spend his vacation. But in a small cottage placed atop a tall bare tree lives a bumpkin

buzzard Buzzard is the common name of several species of birds of prey. ''Buteo'' species * Archer's buzzard (''Buteo archeri'') * Augur buzzard (''Buteo augur'') * Broad-winged hawk (''Buteo platypterus'') * Common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') * Eastern ...

and his son Elvis. The latter spots Bugs and decides to lure him with a

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nat ...

. Bugs notices his attempt from a tree stump and decides to go again on the defensive. Bugs first puts his hand out to feel the carrot long enough to lure Elvis to the hole entrance. Elvis pulls out the hand, which turns out to be a long hose with a white glove at the end of it. Soon, the rabbit turns on the water tap, which sends Elvis back and forth between two trees, until Bugs turns off the water and Elvis falls to the ground. Bugs then asks Elvis what is going to with the "

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

". The buzzard panics, flies off toward the cottage and comes back with a

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

. When Bugs tells him there are no snakes, Elvis points his rifle at the rabbit and shoots, but misses. Bugs inches closer and Elvis, exclaiming "I'll blow your flunkin' head off!", backs away until he falls off a cliff. As Elvis starts to have another go, he falls for Bugs dressed as a pretty hillbilly lady. Very soon, however, he realises it's Bugs and shoots at him, while Bugs dives into his rabbit hole. Elvis points his rifle in the hole and demands Bugs to come out, but Bugs refuses. As Elvis gives Bugs the count of four, our hero attaches some pipes from the end of the rifle to where the father buzzard is lounging in his cottage. After the countdown is up, Elvis shoots his father in the face. A misunderstanding makes Elvis shoot his father repeatedly, and the continuity is made by Bugs, at first dressed for

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

, before walking away and singing the

Art Mooney Arthur Joseph Mooney (February 11, 1911 – September 9, 1993) was an American singer and bandleader. His biggest hits were "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" and "Baby Face" in 1948 and " Nuttin' For Christmas," with Barry Gordon, in 1955. ...

tune " I'm Lookin' over a Four (BANG!) Leaf Clover that I overlooked Before (BANG!) Before... (BANG!) Before... (BANG!) Before... (BANG!)".

Music

* "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover", (uncredited). Music by Harry M. Woods, Lyrics by Mort Dixon * "Arkansas Traveler", (uncredited). Music by Sanford Faulkner * "Oh, You Beautiful Doll", (uncredited). Music by Nat Ayer

References

External links

* 1959 films 1959 animated films 1959 short films Merrie Melodies short films Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films Films directed by Robert McKimson 1950s English-language films Films scored by Milt Franklyn Bugs Bunny films 1950s Warner Bros. animated short films Films set in the Ozarks Films about vacationing {{MerrieMelodies-stub