Duck! Rabbit, Duck!

...lies a 10/10 classic. Do you recall watching shorts like this? I still do, and so do most of you. This is basically in the woods where Elmer is hunting and threatens Bugs with his "elephant gun" until Daffy comes along and Elmer is too dazed to decide who to shoot and come home with. Simple but effective.

This is a funny short but it's the worst of the three because basically all three shorts are exactly the same thing!!!! What sets them apart is the dialogue and gimmicks. Rabbit Fire had the Joe Besser a/k/a Elephant spoof and Rabbit Seasoning had the clever dialogue. This one in the other hand really doesn't have anything! It just features the basics! The only funny thing about it is Daffy Duck screaming all those different animals and getting shot!

The third in the classic hunting trilogy featuring Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer. The premise is simple but effective. Elmer goes hunting during duck season. Daffy tries to convince him it's rabbit season and goads him into going after Bugs. But, of course, Bugs is too smart for that and points Elmer back in Daffy's direction. It's back and forth throughout the short about whether it's duck, rabbit, goat, skunk, pigeon, or mongoose season! Full of hilarious lines and gags like "fricasseeing rabbit" and "Good heavens! He disintegwated!" This is one of the all-time classics from Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Great voicework from Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan. No matter how many times I've seen this one, it never gets old.

From the whole Bugs/Daffy/Elmer hunting trilogy, this is without a doubt my favorite. Even though "Rabbit Fire" and "Rabbit Seasoning" are very good too, the reason why this one stands out is because it's an awesome combination of the previous two. While "Rabbit Fire" focused more on the visual gags, and "Rabbit Seasoning" more on the word games. This one had both visual jokes ("It's baseball season" LOL!) and word games, like when Daffy writes Elmer's "permit" to hunt rabbits (D-U-C-K). This a true masterpiece from writer Mike Maltese and director Chuck Jones, a definitely must see.

The "Hunting Trilogy" of Rabbit Fire (1951), Rabbit Seasoning (1952), and Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (1953) should be considered the comedic high water mark of the Chuck Jones-Michael Maltese collaboration. While they are seldom mentioned in lists of the "greatest" or "most important" cartoons in the history of animation, they are certainly THE FUNNIEST cartoons I've ever seen. Michael Maltese never got the credit that directors like Jones, Freleng or Avery got, but it's his dialogue and situations that make Warner Bros. cartoons, and these three in particular, some of the FUNNIEST ever made.