Buckaroo Bugs

Funny Bugs Bunny short, directed by Bob Clampett, that marked Bugs' official Looney Tunes debut. He had appeared up until this point as part of the Merrie Melodies series. It's also notable for being the final cartoon with an on-screen credit for Leon Schlesinger, who had sold his studio to Warner Bros. that year. It's a great cartoon with lots of wackiness and references to pop culture and topical events of the time, common traits of Bob Clampett's work. It's a western spoof with Bugs as a carrot thief called the Masked Marauder being pursued by "Brooklyn's famous fighting cowboy," Red Hot Ryder. Red Hot Ryder is a dimwit, of course, and Bugs outsmarts him at every turn. Many funny gags and lines, beautiful animation, and exciting music are what makes this one great. It's fun to watch Bugs in the earlier cartoons when he was more aggressive and, frankly, mean.

Looney Tunes has made a big hit featuring Bugs Bunny in groundbreaking Buckaroo Bugs. After Bosko and Buddy(the classics from 1930s') Looney Tunes gains acceleration with Bugs; within more vivacious, more musical, more compositional series.

Bugs has innovations for himself: For the first time, he plays a cowboy, a thief,i.e. a villain character; though he plays more Bugs Bunnily than before, eats more carrots and makes more jokes than usual. He's well known as a carrot thief in an old west town. Hence a cowboy named Red Hot Ryder goes after him. Bugs feigns ignorance to different characters such as a newsboy and a postman, but never reveals his true identity till Red's horse realizes him. It's both funny and dully that the horse is more brainy than the cowboy who rides it.

Impersonating a horse is surely a good idea, but mainly there is more bleakness than the appealing facts. In the first place, Lou Lilly's story and script is very plain and tasteless. William Tell overture has used nicely to introduce the larger-than-life cowboy character at the beginning; yet in a matter of minutes this mood becomes very placid. Some more action sequences could have been used to boost it, like in the episodes with Yosemite Sam.

Bugs Bunny's first Western fails to find(or create) the right cartoon character to accompany him. Our eyes were looking for Yosemite Sam; for Bugs needs better challenges. This episode is more addressed to preschool children.

By far, this is one of my favorite bugs bunny cartoons, because it is incredibly funny, instead of elmer fudd, bugs' rival is a cowboy hunter sheriff, who's even more dimwitted than elmer fudd and his stupidity is really funny.

Catchy music by Carl Stalling (along with his arrangements of the william overture finale)

There are lots of funny gags and jokes in this short that never fail to make us laugh, and with this, the cartoon is really entertaining and timeless.

Overall, this cartoon is amazing and hilarious, you can invite your friends to see cartoons with you and this is one of them that you should see with them.

I'm wondering how the Devil they got this cartoon past the censors. Of course,the seldom shown ALL THIS AND RABBIT STEW also had Bugs stripping a hunter nude,but at least that one was hiding behind a bush.

You might notice that the most obvious things a magnet can steal--- Red Hot Ryder's GUNS--mysteriously disappear just before the magnet goes to town on him---on both occasions.

I'd love to see the magnet scenes in slow-motion camera.

Ryder DID get to use the "Whoa,Horsie!" bit a few years before Yosemite Sam made it his own special gag.

And remember--Ryder yelling WHOA! As they fall into The Grand Canyon;as if he could somehow defy the law of gravity.

When the West was won, pioneers settle down to make their homes. However one such town is ravaged by the Masked Marauder, a thief who robs the gardens of their carrots. One man is called in to stop the thief – the Red Hot Ryder. However will he be enough to stop Bugs?

The weakness in this cartoon is the normal one in average Bugs cartoons – lack of a really good foil, in fact Bugs himself describes Red Hot Ryder as `a fugitive from the funny papers'. However despite the slightly dopey sidekick, Bugs doing his usual stuff is more than enough to make the cartoon funny. He totally confuses Red and it is very funny to watch.

Red is OK but he isn't up to the standard of the other cowboy character (who I expected to be in this) and all he does is be a bit silly and dopey. It speaks volumes that I actually laughed more at his horse than I did at his antics. Bugs is on good form though and he keeps everything moving really well.

Overall this is further proof that Bugs is best with a strong sidekick but that he can make a cartoon work even without one. Very funny short with Bugs' usual wit and attitude.