Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Duck! Rabbit! Duck! is a 1952 Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Bugs Bunny. It is the sequel to Rabbit Seasoning, and the third (along with Rabbit Fire) and final entry in Jones' "Hunter's trilogy" (the only major difference in format between this film and the others is that it takes place during the middle of winter). Produced by Edward Selzer for Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc., the short was released to theaters on October 3, 1952 by Warner Bros. Pictures and is widely considered among Jones' best and most important films.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
[edit] Synopsis
The cartoon, set in winter, finds Daffy Duck removing and burning every "Duck Season Open" sign he finds ("I am a duck bent on self preservationumum", he tells the audience). He then attempts to convince Elmer Fudd that it is actually Rabbit Season, prompting Bugs Bunny to use his wits to keep Elmer from shooting him. After each shot, irritated Daffy is forced to put his beak back in place. In the end, Bugs successfully convinces a thoroughly loopy Elmer that it is, in fact, Baseball Season. As Elmer goes off, shooting a baseball, Daffy finally admits that it's really Duck Season... and is promptly shot up by a dozen hunters lying in wait.
[edit] "Dirty Skunk Season"
One extended routine in this short has Bugs holding up various "animal season" signs to correspond with every figurative expression involving an animal that Daffy makes. This begins when Bugs tricks Daffy into making a hunting license that allows Elmer to shoot him (See above picture).
- Daffy: Well, I guess I'm the goat.
- [Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Goat Season Open!" and Elmer shoots Daffy].
- Daffy: You're a dirty dog.
- Bugs: And YOU are a dirty skunk!
- Daffy: I'm a dirty skunk? I'M a dirty skunk?
- [Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Dirty Skunk Season" and Elmer shoots Daffy].
- Daffy: Brother am I a pigeon.
- [Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Pigeon Season" and Elmer shoots Daffy].
- Daffy: Why, if he's dead, then I'm a mongoose!
- [Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Mongoose Season" and Elmer shoots Daffy].
Each presentation of the sign was accompanied by a brass fanfare of a fox hunting call, and of course, followed up by a gunshot. Eventually, Daffy goes completely insane, demanding Elmer keep shooting him, bounding around on all fours like an elk, and scuttling around sideways like a crab:
- Daffy: Shoot me again! I enjoy it! I love the smell of burnt feathers, and gunpowder, and cordite! I'm an elk! Shoot me, go on! It's elk season! I'm a fiddler crab! Why don't you shoot me? It's fiddler crab season!
The antics get truly confusing at the end when Elmer Fudd encounters Bugs disguised as a game warden:
- Elmer: Oh, Mister Game Warden, I hope you can help me. I've been told I can shoot rabbits and goats and pigeons and mongooses and dirty skunks and ducks. Could you tell me what season it really is?
- Bugs: Why certainly, my boy...it's baseball season!
Elmer then goes completely nuts and starts shooting at a baseball as he runs off into the distance.
[edit] Trivia
- This is the only cartoon in the trilogy where Bugs Bunny does not crossdress.
- The cartoon is present restored, remastered, unedited, and uncut on the third wave of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons Looney Tunes: Golden Collection: Volume 3, and is supplemented by an audio commentary by Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Fantasia 2000 animator Eric Goldberg.
- This cartoon features the classic Daffy Duck line "I am a duck, bent on self-preservation!"; the line was also used in the opening gag sequence of Looney Tunes: Back in Action. While Rabbit Fire appears to be the only film actually alluded to in the sequence (which uses the Duck Season/Wabbit Season dialogue switch), there is also another famous Chuck Jones cartoon referenced during the scene: Bugs Bunny, for only a few seconds, is dressed in the matador suit he wore in the memorable Bully for Bugs.
