Dumb Patrol

Dumb Patrol
Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny) series
The title card for Dumb Patrol
Directed by	Gerry Chiniquy
Produced by	David H. DePatie (unc.)
Story by	John Dunn
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Bill Lava
Animation by	Virgil Ross Bob Matz Lee Halpern Art Leonardi
Layouts by	Bob Givens
Backgrounds by	Tom O'Loughlin
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	January 18, 1964
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	6'
Language	English

"Dumb Patrol" is a Looney Tunes cartoon short released 18 January 1964 starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam with a cameo appearance by Porky Pig. This cartoon short was directed by Gerry Chiniquy, a longtime animator in Friz Freleng's unit. This cartoon short is set during World War I opening ‘somewhere in France’ in 1917.

The name of the cartoon is an allusion to The Dawn Patrol a 1930 movie by Howard Hawks that also deals with World War I pilots. The same title was also used for an unrelated, early Looney Tunes short starring Bosko, released in 1931.

This cartoon does not fall into the normal pattern found in most other Bugs Bunny cartoon shorts. Bugs Bunny is not disturbed from a serene state as in most of his other shorts. Also, he is the attacker, reversing his normal role of the victim.

Plot

In 1917, somewhere in France during World War One, the men of the French Air Force assemble to determine who must rid the skies of the German pilot, Baron Sam Von Shamm. The General decides to settle this by drawing straws, stating whoever gets the longest straw wins. The men all draw short straws, finishing with Porky Pig (addressed as Captain Smedley in this cartoon) getting the longest straw.

Next day, at dawn, while Porky is suiting up for the flight, Bugs Bunny knocks him out with a brick and takes his place, because Porky has a wife and six piglets to take care of.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Germany, Sam stands to the attention of his general and receives an Iron Cross. Sam, however, is sick of getting those things and wants a well-deserved long furlough. Bugs drops him a bunch of flowers and a note. Sam reads the note and finds it not only insulting, but the word "baron" has been spelt with a small "b." A P.S. adds that Bugs wrote the big "B" in Sam's flowers. When Sam looks at the flowers, a bee flies out and lands on Sam's nose.

Angered, Sam tries to take off, but his stubborn plane won't "contact" on cue, and when Sam hits it with a mallet, it won't "whoa" on cue. Sam catches up to Bugs, but Bugs pulls up into the clouds. While Sam tries to get Bugs to come out by the count of three, he crashes into a mountain.

Sam runs back to the airfield and grabs another plane. While he looks for Bugs, Bugs comes up behind him and buzz-saws right through Sam's plane.

Back in the sky again, Sam starts shooting at Bugs with a machine gun, but Bugs dodges every time. Sam's shooting only ends up shearing his own plane to bits, leaving only the undercarriage which becomes a unicycle when he lands.

Sam then takes to the skies in a bomber. After finding Bugs and getting him in his sights, he releases the bombs, but he falls out of his plane and gets caught in the explosion of his bombs on the ground.

Sam takes to the skies in a dinky little biplane, which at the push of a lever becomes a fierce fighting monster triplane loaded with machine guns. Once the plane's transformation is complete, Sam switches to full power, but this rips the plane into three pieces, causing Sam to fall and get blasted to bits in the ammunition dump. Bugs then comments he's heard of Hell's Angels, but he never thought he'd actually see one. The final scene then shows Sam (in a devil's suit, playing a harp) floating skyward.

Notes

• This was the one of only two Yosemite Sam cartoons in the Golden Age of American animation not to be directed by Friz Freleng; Gerry Chiniquy, however, was a longtime member of Freleng's unit which animated the short. The other cartoon, Hare-Abian Nights, was the only Yosemite Sam cartoon not animated by Freleng's unit, although a clip from Sahara Hare was used in the cartoon.
• This is one of the very few cartoons to feature both Bugs and Porky.
• This was the last original theatrical cartoon to feature Yosemite Sam.
• This was the last original theatrical cartoon to feature Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny together.
• Mademoiselle from Armentières and There's A Long Long Trail A-Winding are the background music of the cartoon.

References

• Dumb Patrol at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by Transylvania 6-5000

Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1964

Succeeded by Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare