Bugs and Thugs

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Bugs and Thugs
series = Looney Tunes / Bugs Bunny


caption = The title card of "Bugs and Thugs".
director = I. Freleng
story_artist = Warren Foster
animator = Manuel Perez Ken Champin Virgil Ross Arthur Davis
voice_actor = Mel Blanc
musician = Milt Franklyn
producer = Eddie Selzer
distributor = Warner Bros.
The Vitaphone Corporation
release_date = March 13, 1954 (USA)
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 min (one reel)
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0046811

"Bugs and Thugs" is a 1953 animated short film in the Looney Tunes series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc and released in early 1954.

It features Bugs Bunny with Rocky and Mugsy. This is the first cartoon with Mugsy in present-day form. The film is a semi-remake of "Racketeer Rabbit", with a similar oven gag. It was directed by the creator of Bugs' antagonists, Friz Freleng. The running gag of Bugs hiding a villain in a machine which results in chaos {to the villain} is repeated in 2006's Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas wherein the villain is greedy Daffy Duck!

Plot

It begins with Bugs emerging from his hole in a city park, reading the newspaper on his way to the nearest bank, for a withdrawal from his personal repository there mash of carrots. He reads that "Rabbit Season Opens Today" and comments on his pleasure of living in a “more secure” urban environment.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Bugs, Mugsy drives up to the bank, which Rocky invades and robs of an undisclosed sum. When Bugs accidentally walks into Rocky and Mugsy's getaway car – mistaking it for a taxi – and also mistaking the giant bags of cash for laundry, Rocky asks Bugs "How much d'ya know?". Failing to realize that he is in the same vehicle as a robber who is asking him what he knows "about the hold-up", Bugs responds "Hmmmmm, I know that 2+2=4, Carson City is the capital of Nevada, George Washington was the first President of the United States." Rocky responds, "This guy knows too much." Rocky keeps telling Bugs to be quiet or he will get a pistol shot. Bugs then tells Mugsy to stop at the gas station. Bugs gets out of the car and receives a nickel from the easily fooled Mugsy so he can call on the telephone. Bugs pushes in 9-1-1 and calls the police to dial Rocky and Mugsy, but Mugsy grabs Bugs out of the telephone booth. The gag is Bugs still holding on to the telephone – and a cartoon policeman is pulled out of the telephone wire onto the road ("Operator – we've been disconnected!")

Soon, Rocky and Mugsy's car get in front of a railroad track. Rocky tells Bugs to let them know when it's clear. Bugs tells them to go and the oncoming train proceeds to smash into the car with Rocky and Mugsy still inside.

Bugs is soon forced to fix the car at gunpoint by Rocky. Bugs repairs everything except the tire and he says that they're stuck. Rocky says that Bugs is the only one stuck and forces Bugs at gunpoint to run along the car while holding the front axle (Rocky tells Mugsy to take the "scenic route"). Soon, they arrive at their cliff house, and then Rocky tells Mugsy to let Bugs have it. Mugsy is about to kill Bugs but then Bugs makes Mugsy think it is to let Bugs have the gun. Bugs then shoots Mugsy.

Soon, Rocky decides to really let Bugs have "it", but Bugs yells out a fake alarm scream that the police arrived to surround the house. Bugs hides Rocky and Mugsy in the stove when they fall for Bugs Bunny's fake alarm. Bugs pretends to be a policeman and be himself trying to hide Rocky and Mugsy. Bugs turns on the heat of the stove and throws a fire match in the oven. Then, the real policeman comes and, in an exact match of Bugs' previous ruse, asks where Rocky and Mugsy are. When Bugs is about to throw in a fire match into the oven, Rocky and Mugsy quickly run out of the stove and piteously beg the policeman to arrest them. The next day, Bugs becomes a criminal catching detective talking on the phone of arrested Rocky and Mugsy, styling himself "Bugs Bunny, Private Eyeball – Arsonists Arrested, Forgers Found, Counterfeiters Caught, etc., etc."

Bugs' oven gag

This is the gag Bugs uses that ultimately leads to Rocky and Mugsy's arrest:

Rocky (after Mugsy is shot by Bugs): "Get off!" (punches Mugsy off him, whips out pistol) “I guess I'LL have to take care o' dat rabbit meself.”

("Bugs hears the door knob moving".)

Bugs: ("wailing siren sounds")

("Rocky stops and looks round, wondering where the siren noises are coming from".)

Bugs: ("imitating car brakes") “RRRRRR! RRR-R-RR-RRRR-R-RR-R-R-RR. ("switching voice to policeman") All right, Clancy! Take the boys and surround the house!”

Bugs bursts out of the room: “Jiggers, fellas. The cops!”

Rocky (frightened): “Hide me. Hide me! Hide me quick!”

Bugs: “OK! Quick. Get in here. They'll never find you in here.” ("“Here” denotes the gas oven".)

("Rocky climbs into the stove". "Mugsy comes running in".)

Mugsy: “Hide me! Hide me too! It's not fair!! YA GOTTA HIDE ME TOO!!!!!” (sobbing.)

Bugs (to himself and the audience): “I must be dreaming. It couldn't be this easy” To Mugsy: “OK, quick! Get in here.”

("Mugsy tries to climb into the oven, but he's so big that Bugs has to shove him in with a toilet plunger".)

Bugs: “Now don't move until I tell ya to.”

("Bugs goes up to the door".)

Bugs as policeman ("banging on the door from" in"side"): “All right, open up in there! This is the police!”

("Door crashes open". "Bugs walks outside and back in".)

Bugs as policeman: “All right, rabbit, where's Rocky? Where's he hidin'?”

Bugs ("rushing to the stove"): “He's not in this stove!”

Bugs as policeman: “Oh-HO! He's hidin' in that stove, eh?”

Bugs ("mock bemused"): “Now look, would I toin on the gas if he was in there?” ("Turns on the gas".)

Bugs as policeman: “Eh, you might rabbit; you might.”

Bugs: “Well, would I throw a lighted (sic) match in there if he was in there?” ("Does so. FFFFFFFTT" – "muffled KABOOM".)

Bugs as policeman: “Well, all right, rabbit, you've convinced me. I'll go and look for Rocky in the city.”

("Bugs opens and closes the door to the house".)

Bugs: “The coast is clear, fellas. They're gone.”

("Oven door opens up". "Rocky and Mugsy climb out, looking much the worse for wear". "However, actual police cars now pull up to the house".)

Policeman: “OK, Clancy! Take the boys and surround the house!”

Bugs: “Jiggers. The cops. They're BACK!” ("Rocky and Mugsy jump back into the stove".)

Policeman: ("banging on the door from" out"side") “All right! Open up! This is the police!”

("Door crashes open". "Policeman walks in".)

Policeman: “All right, rabbit, where's Rocky? Where's he hidin'?”

Bugs ("rushing to the stove"): “He's not in this stove!” ("knowing look at camera")

Policeman: “Oh-HO! He's hidin' in that stove, eh?”

Bugs ("mock bemused"): “Now look, would I toin on the gas if he was in there?” ("Turns on the gas".)

Policeman: “Eh, you might, rabbit; you might.”

Bugs: “Would I throw a lighted match in there if he was--”

("Oven door bursts open". "Rocky and Mugsy run out".)

Mugsy: "Oh, no, ya don't!"

("Rocky and Mugsy surround the policeman". "Both speak at the same time: following lines are separated for a better understanding of what they're saying next".)

Mugsy: "Take me with you! Don't leave me here! Pleeezzze!"

Rocky: "Take me with you! Don't leave us with that screwy rabbit! I confess! I did it! Arrest me! ARREST ME!"

External links

* [http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/detailed.cgi?film=3769 Bugs and Thugs at The Big Cartoon Database]