HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Captain Hareblower'' is a 1954
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. D ...
'' Merrie Melodies'' theatrical cartoon short directed by Friz Freleng and written by
Warren Foster Warren Foster (October 24, 1904 – December 13, 1971) was an American writer, cartoonist and composer for the animation division of Warner Brothers and later with Hanna-Barbera. Early life He was born in Brooklyn, New York to Marion B. Fos ...
. The short was released on January 16, 1954, and stars
Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring role ...
and
Yosemite Sam Yosemite Sam ( /joʊˈsɛmɪti/ ''yoh-SEM-ih-tee'') is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bugs ...
. This is the third of the three Warner Bros. shorts (the others being ''
Buccaneer Bunny ''Buccaneer Bunny'' is a 1948 ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on May 8, 1948, and features Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. Plot The cartoon opens with titles featuring an instrumental of "The Sailor's Hornp ...
'' and ''
Mutiny on the Bunny ''Mutiny on the Bunny'' is a 1950 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on February 11, 1950, and stars Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. It is one of three nautical-themed shorts with Sam as a pirate, ...
'') in which Yosemite Sam is featured as a pirate, as well as the only one that is in the Merrie Melodies series. It is the only cartoon of the three in which both Bugs and Sam lose.


Plot

A one-man
Pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
crew Captain Yosemite Sam is sailing over an ocean on his ship singing "
Blow the Man Down "Blow the Man Down" is an English sea shanty, listed as 2624 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The lyric "Blow the man down" can be interpreted in a number of ways. Some see it as a reference to a sailor being struck with a fist. Given the shanty's ...
." Sam looks through a telescope and sees a trading sailship nearby. Captain Yosemite Sam reveals his new desire to steal the ship for himself. He fires a warning shot from his cannon and lines up side-by-side with the ship ordering its surrender. Since Sam is a legendary intimidating pirate, the crew on the other ship surrender and abandon it. The captain and crew flee in fear at seeing "Sam the Pirate". Bugs Bunny, lying in a box filled with carrots, hears the commotion on the ship and says to himself jokingly "Sam the Pirate", as that does not sound like a very intimidating name. Sam boards and Bugs says "Ahoy there! What's up doc?" Sam orders Bugs to surrender the ship. Bugs replies with "Surrender? Never hoid of the woid. So you'll have to try to take the ship!" Sam simply responds with a warning shot through Bugs' Napoleonic hat and between his ears, leaving a lump on Bugs' head ("Now, he should know better than ''that''!"). Bugs and Captain Sam battle each other in a fierce duel. Bugs first manages to find and shoot Sam first ("Blast, ya rabbit! Two can play that game!"), and when Sam tries to himself, he ends up being shot again, much to his annoyance. When Sam is filling his cannons and firing them, Bugs wanders onto Sam's ship and shoots Sam as he is filling one, turning Sam into a pile of rubble. Later, Sam tries the same method on Bugs but this time, the cannon instead launches backwards into Sam, shooting himself out of the ship's side. Next, Sam then tries to swing aboard Bugs' ship. ("Prepare to defend yourself, rabbit, cuz I'm a-boarding your ship! Charge!") However, there is another cannon in Sam's path resulting in him landing in the cannon. The cannon fires as Sam tries to retreat (much like in ''
Bunker Hill Bunny ''Bunker Hill Bunny'' is a 1950 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' theatrical cartoon short directed by Friz Freleng and written by Tedd Pierce. The short was released on September 23, 1950 and stars Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam as a Hessian merc ...
''). Then, Sam then makes a model sailship using a barrel of dynamite. He lights it and blows into the sail to push the ship towards Bugs' ship. Bugs tries to blow the explosive model ship back to no avail and then uses an electric fan to blow the ship back towards Sam; when Sam tries to blow it back it explodes when it reaches his face. Then Sam dresses up in a diving suit, lights a fuse to a bomb and dives underwater (how his bomb does not light out from the water is not explained). When he is swimming towards Bugs' ship with the bomb, a
shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...
comes up from behind and eats Sam. Seconds later the bomb detonates and blows up the shark, leaving only its shock-faced skeleton behind and Sam himself burned and dazed from the explosion. Sam eventually corners Bugs on the
crow's nest A crow's nest is a structure in the upper part of the main mast of a ship or a structure that is used as a lookout point. On ships, this position ensured the widest field of view for lookouts to spot approaching hazards, other ships, or land b ...
of Bugs' ship. Sam tells Bugs to surrender but Bugs challenges Sam to climb up and get him first. Sam in reply uses an
axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...
to chop down the mast and to avoid being hurt by the falling mast Sam takes cover when it is almost completely cut apart. When it remains still balanced on its last chunk holding it up, Sam walks under the rested mast to chop the final chunk of it off but before he can react the mast falls on itself and crushes Sam. Sam eventually climbs out of the mast, gets back in shape and glares up at Bugs. He climbs up the net ladders and corners Bugs on the rigging ("A-ha! Now I got ya, ya fur-bearin' critter!"). Bugs decides to take a dive in the ocean instead of facing Sam. When Sam tries to dive after Bugs he lands head-first onto a rock and falls in the water in massive pain. Sam gives a final warning to Bugs once back on ship. Bugs Bunny tosses a lighted
match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...
into the powder room of Sam's ship. Sam frantically retrieves the match and tells Bugs "Ya doggone idjit galut! You'll blow the ship to smithereenies! And if ya does that once more, I ain't a-goin' after it!" Bugs uses this stubbornness as an advantage to throw another match into the powder room forcing Sam to stand and wait like he said he would. After a few seconds, Sam changes his mind and runs after the match but by the time he does so, the ship blows up (similar to ''
Buccaneer Bunny ''Buccaneer Bunny'' is a 1948 ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on May 8, 1948, and features Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. Plot The cartoon opens with titles featuring an instrumental of "The Sailor's Hornp ...
''). An injured, ragged, burnt Sam is blown onto Bugs' ship. To retaliate, Sam lights a match himself and tosses it into Bugs' ship powder room ("What's good for the goose is good for the gander!"). Bugs however refuses to go after it and realizing that Bugs is serious, Sam panics, dives from the ship and swims off. Bugs Bunny reveals that his powder room is actually a make-up room, commenting "I don't know what he's so excited about. Talcum powder doesn't explode." However this is proven false as after Bugs reveals the room, the ship blows up to smithereens, as well. As a defeated Bugs is tossed in the air he sadly stares as he says "I could be wrong, you know".


See also

* List of Bugs Bunny cartoons *
List of Yosemite Sam cartoons Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The character appeared in dozens of cartoons from the 1940s to the 2000s. Golden Age ...


References


External links

* *
yosemite-sam.net
{{Friz Freleng 1954 films 1954 animated films 1954 short films Pirate films Merrie Melodies short films Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films Short films directed by Friz Freleng Films scored by Carl Stalling Bugs Bunny films 1950s Warner Bros. animated short films Yosemite Sam films 1950s English-language films