Dumb Patrol

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Dumb Patrol Looney Tunes series
Directed by	Gerry Chiniquy
Story by	John Dunn
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Bill Lava
Animation by	Bob Matz Virgil Ross
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	January 18, 1964
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7 min.
IMDb profile

Dumb Patrol is a Looney Tunes cartoon short released 18 January 1964 starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. This cartoon short was directed by Gerry Chiniquy who is not one of the usual directors of Bugs Bunny cartoons. 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.

The commanding officer states that straws must be drawn in order to determine which pilot will take on the Red Baron, "Sam Von Spamm", played by Yosemite Sam. Porky Pig picks the long straw, but while he is preparing in the locker room, Bugs Bunny is lying in wait to take his place, because Porky apparently has a family.

Bugs' airplane has a carrot as an emblem. Before the dogfight, Yosemite Sam treats his plane as if it were one the horses he rides in his other shorts. He tries sweet talking as well as yelling at his plane in order to get it to start. It finally rushes off without him. Another time, Sam tries to shoot down Bugs, but ends up shooting his own plane to pieces. In the end, Sam tries to get Bugs with an airplane bristling with machine guns, but ends up literally becoming a "Hell's Angel".

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.

[edit] 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.

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 spellt with a little "b." A P.S. adds that Bugs wrote the big "B" in Sam's flowers. When Sam looks at the flowers, an angry bee flies out and stings Sam on the nose.

Angered, Sam tries to take off, but his stubborn plane won't "contact" on que, and when Sam hits it with a mallet, it won't "whoa" on que. 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 ten, 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 everytime. 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. 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 Devils but he's never heard of Hell's Angels. The final scene then shows Sam (in a devil's suit, under an angel ring and playing a harp) floating skyward.