| Bugs Bunny Superstar | |
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title card |
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| Directed by | Larry Jackson |
| Produced by | Larry Jackson |
| Narrated by | Orson Welles |
| Starring | Bob Clampett Tex Avery Friz Freleng |
| Music by | Ian Whitcomb |
| Cinematography | Gary Graver |
| Editing by | Brian King |
| Distributed by | Hare-Raising Films United Artists |
| Release date(s) | December 19, 1975 (premiere) |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Bugs Bunny: Superstar is a 1975 Looney Tunes documentary film, narrated by Orson Welles and produced and directed by Larry Jackson.
The film includes nine Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons which were previously released during the 1940s (thus, this can also be considered an anthology film) :
It also includes interviews with some legendary Warner Bros. animation directors of that period: Friz Freleng, Tex Avery and especially Bob Clampett, who has the most screen time. Some contemporary critics pointed out that Clampett's important role, as one of the primary developers of the early Warner cartoons, was slanted to some degree, due to his prominent presence in this film. The documentary infuriated many of the Warner Bros. artists as Clampett liberally took credit for much of the Warner creations. For this reason, Chuck Jones (who angrily had a strong dislike for Clampett) left out Clampett's name in the 1979 compilation film The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie when Bugs discusses about his fathers (where Chuck and other Warners directors were being listed) and his 1989 autobiography Chuck Amuck.
Bugs Bunny: Superstar was the first of a series of Warner cartoon compilation movies released in the 1970s and 1980s. However, as a documentary, it does not fit the mould of the totally-animated Warner Bros. compilation movies that began with 1979's The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie. This film was not included because it was not produced by Warner Bros. (it was produced by Hare-Raising Films) and the cartoons were controlled by United Artists at that time as part of the Associated Artists Productions library of pre-1950[1][2] Warner Bros. films.
Bugs Bunny: Superstar was first released in theaters in late-1975. It was also available on laserdisc and VHS format during the late 1980s but both versions had been discontinued since 1999 when MGM/UA Home Video lost the distribution rights to MGM and a.a.p. titles owned by Turner Entertainment to Warner Home Video.
It was re-released on DVD on November 14, 2006, as a two-part special feature in the box set Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4. Most of the cartoons were previously released as separate, refurbished entries in the DVD collection. This film is presented pretty much "as is", with some age-wear apparent here and there. Most of the prints of the cartoons used were the Turner dubbed versions, replacing the original prints from the 1975 release. The Old Grey Hare on the DVD used an original a.a.p. print (as part of the a.a.p. open soundtrack can be heard at the beginning of that cartoon) to preserve the final gag involving the "That's all, Folks" title card, which was lost in the Turner dubbed version of that cartoon. I Taw a Putty Tat is the other that was sourced from an a.a.p. print as the Turner dubbed version, which has an edit to remove a blackface gag.
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