Buckaroo Bugs

1944 short animated film by Bob Clampett

August 26, 1944 (1944-08-26)

Running time

8:44LanguageEnglish

Buckaroo Bugs is a 1944 American Western Looney Tunes cartoon film directed by Bob Clampett.^[1] The cartoon was released on August 26, 1944, and features Bugs Bunny in his official Looney Tunes debut.^[2]

Plot

In the quaint town of San Fernando Alley, Bugs Bunny assumes the role of the Masked Marauder, a notorious carrot thief. Red Hot Ryder, tasked with apprehending the Marauder, repeatedly fails due to his inability to discern Bugs Bunny from the actual culprit. Despite eventually catching on, Ryder remains outsmarted by Bugs, who cleverly tricks him and his horse into plunging into the Grand Canyon. As the dust settles, Ryder finally realizes Bugs's true identity, culminating in a humorous revelation.^[3]^[4]

Crew

Direction: Robert Clampett
Story: Lou Lilly
Animation: Manny Gould (As M. Gould)
Additional Animation: Robert McKimson, Rod Scribner, Basil Davidovich, A.C. Gamer (effects)
Layouts and Backgrounds: Thomas McKimson and Michael Sasanoff
Voice Actors: Mel Blanc, Robert C. Bruce
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling
Producer: Leon Schlesinger

Home media

VHS - Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Bugs Bunny Cartoon Festival Featuring "Hold the Lion, Please"
VHS - Bugs Bunny Collection: Bugs Bunny on Parade
LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 2, Side 5: Bob Clampett
VHS - Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 7: Welcome To Wackyland
DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5, Disc 3 (with two commentary tracks: one by Michael Barrier and the other by Spumco workers John Kricfalusi, Eddie Fitzgerald, and Kali Fontecchio)
Blu-ray/DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 1 (with two commentary tracks: one by Michael Barrier and the other by Spumco workers John Kricfalusi, Eddie Fitzgerald, and Kali Fontecchio)

Production notes

Buckaroo Bugs and The Old Grey Hare share the same opening title font and were both directed by Clampett in the same year. Buckaroo Bugs served as Bugs Bunny's inaugural short in the Looney Tunes series, coinciding with a period where both Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes were converging in style. Additionally, the Looney Tunes series transitioned to full-time three-hue Technicolor in 1944.

This marked Leon Schlesinger's final Warner Bros. cartoon as producer, as he sold the studio to Warner Bros. around the time of its release. Despite this, Schlesinger remained involved in marketing the characters until his death on December 25, 1949.

References

^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 153. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60–61. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
^ Shull, Wilt (2004), p. 165
^ Young, Young (2010), p. 746

External links

Buckaroo Bugs at IMDb

Preceded by

Hare Force

Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1944

Succeeded by

The Old Grey Hare

Bugs Bunny in animation

List of Bugs Bunny cartoons

Looney Tunes
short films

1930s	Porky's Hare Hunt (1938)
1940s	Patient Porky (1940; cameo) Porky Pig's Feat (1943; cameo) Buckaroo Bugs (1944) Hare Conditioned (1945) Hare Tonic (1945) Baseball Bugs (1946) Acrobatty Bunny (1946) Racketeer Rabbit (1946) The Big Snooze (1946) Rabbit Transit (1947) Easter Yeggs (1947) Gorilla My Dreams (1948) A Feather in His Hare (1948) Buccaneer Bunny (1948) Haredevil Hare (1948) A-Lad-In His Lamp (1948) Mississippi Hare (1949) High Diving Hare (1949) Long-Haired Hare (1949) The Grey Hounded Hare (1949) The Windblown Hare (1949) Rabbit Hood (1949)
1950s	Mutiny on the Bunny (1950) Big House Bunny (1950) What's Up, Doc? (1950) 8 Ball Bunny (1950) Bushy Hare (1950) Rabbit of Seville (1950) Rabbit Every Monday (1951) The Fair-Haired Hare (1951) Rabbit Fire (1951) His Hare-Raising Tale (1951) Operation: Rabbit (1952) 14 Carrot Rabbit (1952) Water, Water Every Hare (1952) The Hasty Hare (1952) Hare Lift (1952) Forward March Hare (1953) Southern Fried Rabbit (1953) Bully for Bugs (1953) Lumber Jack-Rabbit (1953) Robot Rabbit (1953) Bugs and Thugs (1954) No Parking Hare (1954) Devil May Hare (1954) Bewitched Bunny (1954) Yankee Doodle Bugs (1954) Sahara Hare (1955) Rabbit Rampage (1955) Hyde and Hare (1955) Roman Legion-Hare (1955) Broom-Stick Bunny (1956) Rabbitson Crusoe (1956) Barbary Coast Bunny (1956) A Star Is Bored (1956) Piker's Peak (1957) Bugsy and Mugsy (1957) Show Biz Bugs (1957) Hare-Way to the Stars (1958) Now Hare This (1958) Knighty Knight Bugs (1958) Pre-Hysterical Hare (1958) Baton Bunny (1959) Wild and Woolly Hare (1959) A Witch's Tangled Hare (1959)
1960s	Horse Hare (1960) Rabbit's Feat (1960) The Abominable Snow Rabbit (1961) Prince Violent (1961) Wet Hare (1962) Shishkabugs (1962) The Million Hare (1963) Hare-Breadth Hurry (1963) Dumb Patrol (1964) The Iceman Ducketh (1964) False Hare (1964)
1990s	Box-Office Bunny (1991) Carrotblanca (1995) From Hare to Eternity (1997)

Merrie Melodies
short films

1930s	Prest-O Change-O (1939) Hare-um Scare-um (1939)
1940s	Elmer's Candid Camera (1940) A Wild Hare (1940) Elmer's Pet Rabbit (1941) Tortoise Beats Hare (1941) Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941) The Heckling Hare (1941) All This and Rabbit Stew (1941) Wabbit Twouble (1941) The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (1942) The Wacky Wabbit (1942) Hold the Lion, Please (1942) Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid (1942) Fresh Hare (1942) The Hare-Brained Hypnotist (1942) Case of the Missing Hare (1942) Tortoise Wins by a Hare (1943) Super-Rabbit (1943) Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk (1943) Wackiki Wabbit (1943) A Corny Concerto (1943) Falling Hare (1943) Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944) What's Cookin' Doc? (1944) Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (1944) Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944) Hare Ribbin' (1944) Hare Force (1944) The Old Grey Hare (1944) Stage Door Cartoon (1944) Herr Meets Hare (1945) The Unruly Hare (1945) Hare Trigger (1945) Hare Remover (1946) Hair-Raising Hare (1946) Rhapsody Rabbit (1946) A Hare Grows in Manhattan (1947) Slick Hare (1947) Rabbit Punch (1948) Bugs Bunny Rides Again (1948) Hot Cross Bunny (1948) Hare Splitter (1948) My Bunny Lies over the Sea (1948) Hare Do (1949) Rebel Rabbit (1949) Bowery Bugs (1949) Knights Must Fall (1949) Frigid Hare (1949) Rabbit Hood (1949)
1950s	Hurdy-Gurdy Hare (1950) Homeless Hare (1950) Hillbilly Hare (1950) Bunker Hill Bunny (1950) Hare We Go (1951) Bunny Hugged (1951) French Rarebit (1951) Ballot Box Bunny (1951) Big Top Bunny (1951) Foxy by Proxy (1952) Oily Hare (1952) Rabbit Seasoning (1952) Rabbit's Kin (1952) Duck Amuck (1953; cameo) Upswept Hare (1953) Hare Trimmed (1953) Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953) Captain Hareblower (1954) Baby Buggy Bunny (1954) Beanstalk Bunny (1955) Hare Brush (1955) This Is a Life? (1955) Knight-mare Hare (1955) Bugs' Bonnets (1956) Napoleon Bunny-Part (1956) Half-Fare Hare (1956) Wideo Wabbit (1956) To Hare Is Human (1956) Ali Baba Bunny (1957) Bedevilled Rabbit (1957) What's Opera, Doc? (1957) Rabbit Romeo (1957) Hare-Less Wolf (1958) Hare-Abian Nights (1959) Apes of Wrath (1959) Backwoods Bunny (1959) Bonanza Bunny (1959) People Are Bunny (1959)
1960s	Person to Bunny (1960) From Hare to Heir (1960) Lighter Than Hare (1960) Compressed Hare (1961) Bill of Hare (1962) Devil's Feud Cake (1963) The Unmentionables (1963) Mad as a Mars Hare (1963) Transylvania 6-5000 (1963) Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare (1964)
1990s	(Blooper) Bunny (1997)

Other short films

Any Bonds Today? (1942)
Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol (1979)
The Fright Before Christmas (1979)
Spaced Out Bunny (1980)
Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers (1991)
Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas (2004)

Feature films

Theatrical	The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979) The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981) Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982) Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island (1983) Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988; cameo) Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988) Space Jam (1996) Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)
Direct-to-video	Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation (1992; cameo) Tweety's High-Flying Adventure (2000; cameo) Baby Looney Tunes' Eggs-traordinary Adventure (2003) Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006) Justice League: The New Frontier (2008; cameo) Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run (2015)