Slick Hare

Slick Hare (1947)

**** (out of 4)

Elmer Fudd plays a waiter at the Mocrumbo, a restaurant with Hollywood's A-list stars. Humphrey Bogart orders rabbit but when Elmer tells him they're out the legendary tough guy demands he get one. Back in the kitchen lies Bugs Bunny but will Elmer be able to serve him up? This is a great cartoon from start to finish because of all the celebs we get to see. Not only do we have a great impression of Bogart but we also see the Marx Brothers, Frank Sinatra and a funny bit of Ray Milland in his THE LOST WEEKEND role. Bugs and Elmer are also at the top of their game as the action between the two is great as are all the jokes. One of the highlights deal with pies being thrown and Bogart taking one in the face.

Humphrey Bogart is in the Mocrumbo restaurant (a spoof of the legendary Mucombo in LA), where Elmer Fudd is working as a chef. Bogart wants fried rabbit, so Elmer chases Bugs around in hopes of making him dinner. Half the fun is the chase and all the shenanigans that entails. The other half is spotting all the personality parodies. There's Bogert, Grocho Marx, and Lauren Bacall, of course. But there's also Leopold Stokowski, Gregory Peck, Ray Milland, Frank Sinatra, Sydney Greenstreet, and Carmen Miranda. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Micheal Barrier.

My Grade: A-

While most cartoons had Bugs Bunny doing his own stuff to irk Elmer Fudd - and sometimes Daffy Duck - here he has the unexpected help of Hollywood's top stars. When Humphrey Bogart (sorry, it's not really him doing the voice) attends a fancy restaurant and orders rabbit, Elmer has to serve him within twenty minutes, or else. Sure enough, the only rabbit in the vicinity is that carrot-chomping rascal who isn't going down so easy.

All in all, "Slick Hare" makes one nostalgic for old Hollywood* in many ways: it's the era of Bogie, Ray Milland, etc., but also the era when the people behind the Looney Tunes cartoons were producing some of the greatest cartoons of all time. You just gotta see it. Because remember: what baby wants, baby gets.

*I know, Hollywood is the emptiest place on Earth, but this cartoon still makes one nostalgic for it.

For this viewer, the directors who handled Bugs Bunny best were Isadore Freleng and Robert Clampett. Art Davis did well with his one entry, and Tex Avery clocked in, but Freleng and Clampett are still best over-all.

The "Mocrumbo" in "Slick Hare" is, apparently, where the stars came to be seen--which would explain why there are so many of them here. First up is Leopold Stokowski , or in this case "Leopold and his Chifafa Five" (that 'Chifafa' being taken from the lyric of the song hit of the 40s by Nat King Cole, known as "The Frim Fram Sauce"). It's hilarious to see Leopold deposit a nickel in the juke-box, and then do a pretend conductorship of the recording. Incidentally, the song played by the orchestra in that scene is "Nagasaki", composed by Harry Warren. As Carl Stalling drums up strains of "A Gal In Calico", we see Gregory Peck, cutting up a steak with a razor, Ray Milland trading in his typewriter for drinks at the bar, Sinatra being sucked up by a straw--instead of the other way around. The action finally settles on Elmer Fudd (and in this cartoon the voice is still being done by its initiator, Arthur Q. Bryan and not Mel Blanc--yet)and on Humphrey Bogart, who demands rabbit, and gives Elmer an ultimatum. There we have the scenario that sets the pace for the rest of the cartoon. We are treated to more cameo caricatures (the Marx Brothers, Sydney Greenstreet, and even a number by Carmen Miranda, whose voice is dubbed by a singer whose name I would like to know--as well as the name of the song).

Bogie turns up the heat on Elmer, and the pressure builds. Elmer can't come through and fears the worst. But a turn of events in cartoon logic changes things at that very moment, and the ending will come as a pleasant surprise to anyone who has not seen the cartoon...and I would recommend that the cartoon be shown to as many as would care to view it. Certainly not the best Bugs Bunny cartoon, but one of the better ones.

In a slick New York club for the rich and famous, Mr Humphrey Bogart orders rabbit. Waiter Elmer Fudd is at a loss where he'll get fresh rabbit at that time of night until he finds Bugs Bunny feasting on carrots. With running out, Fudd tries to get Bugs into the pot.

Starting out with a range of topical cameos from entertainers and film stars of the period, this film risks being hit and miss in the today but happily many of them will still be recognisable to modern audiences. After these jokes we move into what is the usual Bugs/Elmer fare of chases and trickery. Most of this is pretty funny and it all moves quite slickly, some of it is a little lesser than it should be but none of it really misses.

Bugs is a god character, even if it feels like he isn't the star here. Elmer does good work as a waiter but Bogart's voice work lets him down and doesn't totally sound realistic or natural. The celebrities were pretty well caricatured and quite funny (or at least those I recognised).

Overall this was an enjoyable short apart from the unavoidable failing that I wasn't totally sure who all the celebrities were at the start.