Mutiny on the Bunny

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Mutiny On The Bunny Looney Tunes series
Directed by	Friz Freleng
Produced by	Friz Freleng
Story by	Tedd Pierce
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Carl W. Stalling
Animation by	Ken Champin Gerry Chiniquy Arthur Davis Virgil Ross
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	1950 (USA premiere)
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7 min. (one reel)
IMDb profile

Mutiny On The Bunny is a 1948 Looney Tunes cartoon short released in 1950, which is directed by Friz Freleng and written by Tedd Pierce. The story, Shanghai Sam tricks Bugs Bunny into boarding his ship as his only crew member with a bogus free trip around the world.

The title is a reference to the film Mutiny on the Bounty.

[edit] Storyline

In 18th Century England, the "Sad Sack" (formerly the "Jolly Roger") sits at the docks. The silence is broken when Yosemite Sam's former crew, a bearded and dishevelled man who looks half-insane from privation and possibly torture, escapes (pausing only to say to the audience, "I was a human being once!"). Willing to sail at high tide, Sam vows to recruit him a new crew, or his name ain't Shanghai Sam (which it ain't, but that's how he addresses himself in this cartoon). Catching sight of Bugs Bunny, Sam quickly sets up a fake deal for a free trip around the world. This catches Bugs' interest and he goes on board. During the Sad Sack's departure, Bugs waves goodbye to a cheering crowd and a Irish speaking mouse ("He's not long for this world!"), and is knocked out when Sam conks him over the head with a cosh.

Next morning, Bugs recovers to find himself rowing with the ship's oars and with an iron ball chained to his foot. He storms up to Sam and demands he get rid of it. Sam chucks the iron ball, plus Bugs, overboard. Angered, Bugs storms up to Sam again, but Sam orders Bugs to swab the deck. A short argument ensues, ending with Bugs swabbing the deck. As payback, Bugs writes insulting messages on the deck, which prompt Sam to try and wipe them off.

Right after Bugs gives compliments to Sam on "keeping your ship so 'Spic and Span'", Sam aims a pistol at Bugs and threatens to blow him to Kingdom Come. Bugs immediately tricks Sam into thinking the ship is sinking. Sam jumps into the lifeboat, but Bugs pulls him out and reminds him "The captain goes down with the ship." Sam resigns right away and makes Bugs the captain. A short fight ensues, until Sam promotes Bugs to captain. Bugs finally accepts it, but when Sam gets back on the lifeboat, Bugs pulls him out again and reminds him "Women and children first." Realizing there's no women and children on the ship, Sam disguises himself as an old lady. Bugs finally puts Sam in the lifeboat and drops it into the water. Just as Sam starts to row away, Bugs disguises the ship's anchor as a baby, calls Sam back, and throws the anchor overboard, which sinks Sam and the lifeboat.

Back on the ship, Sam discovers Bugs taking some digging tools, and when asked what's he doing with them, Bugs explains he's going to a land where he might be rich and dig for buried treasure. This arouses Sam's interest, so he takes the map from Bugs. The clues on the map take Sam "10 paces Northeast from the mizzenmast, 27 steps down to the hold, and 5 paces to the right." When Sam comes upon the X, he starts chopping, only to break the hull and sink the Sad Sack.

Back at the docks, Sam builds the Sad Sack II and gives it extra wood. Right after launch, Sam takes a cannon and looks for Bugs, so he can pay him back for what he did. He finds Bugs in the cargo hold, and when Sam aims the cannon into the hold and lights the fuse, Bugs somehow appears behind him. Panicing at what's going to happen next, Sam tries to extinguish the fuse, but his actions only make it go closer to the cannon. The cannon then fires into the hull, blasting a hole in it, and sinking the Sad Sack II.

Back at the docks again, Sam builds the Sad Sack III and gives it extra wood. Right after launch, Sam takes a cannon and looks for Bugs again. He finds him up in the main mast. Sam aims the cannon upward, but when he fires a cannonball up to Bugs, the cannonball falls back and crashes down on Sam, pushing him through the hull. Underwater, a lump appears on Sam's head, and the Sad Sack III lands on top of him.

Back at the docks yet again, Sam builds the Sad Sack IV and gives it extra wood. This time, Bugs decides to teach Sam a lesson and ties the ship to the slipway. During launch, the ship's exterior is ripped off, leaving only the frames and Sam to go sliding down the slipway into the water. After Sam sinks a fourth time, he waves a white flag in surrender.

Several days later, Bugs and Sam are in a single rowboat. Bugs is in a deck chair and dressed as a typical passenger on a ship, while Sam is rowing the boat and giving Bugs the free trip around the world. Bugs laments on the places they've been and the things they've seen, and orders Sam to step on it so they can still make it to Rio de Janerio. The final shot shows them sailing off into the sunset as the iris out comes in.

[edit] Facts

• "Sad Sack" refers to somebody whose sad all the time, while the "Jolly Roger" refers to the skull and crossbones flag flown on pirate ships.

• Second time in a Looney Tunes cartoon we see the star background and hear "Oh, hooray for the red, white, and blue" in the background.

• Second time Yosemite Sam is involved with the sea.

• The messages Bugs wrote on the deck were "The Captain's wife wears army shoes," "The Captain loves Gravel Gertie," and "The Captain is a shnook."

• "The captain goes down with his ship" and "women and children first" are typical traditions on board ships whenever there's trouble.

• Animation from the 1948 Looney Tune "Buccaneer Bunny" is reused during the scenes where Sam's first two ships sink.

• Second time we see Yosemite Sam underwater.

• When Sam reads the clue "...and 5 paces to the right and dig at spot marked X" and follows the directions, he's actually going to his left, but the directions refer to the right side of the movie screen.

[edit] Censorship

• The part where Bugs gets clubbed in the head by Sam before it cuts to Bugs shackled and rowing the boat was cut when aired on ABC. Also cut was Sam pointing his gun in Bugs's face.

Preceded by Hurdy-Gurdy Hare

Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1950

Succeeded by Homeless Hare