Bunker Hill Bunny

Bunker Hill Bunny is a 1949 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short, released in 1950 and starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam as a Hessian Mercenary in the American Revolution. It was directed by Friz Freleng and written by Tedd Pierce. Hawley Pratt and Paul Julian did the layout and backgrounds, while Arthur Davis, Ken Champin, Virgil Ross and Gerry Chiniquy headed the team of animators. Mel Blanc provided voice characterizations, and Carl W. Stalling created the musical score.

Plot

Set in 1776 at the "Battle of Bagle Heights", the short pits Bugs, dressed as an American Minuteman defending a wooden fort against the red-coated Sam von Schamm (or Schmamm), the Hessian, defending a large stone fortress. Sam's fortress is heavily armored, bristling with artillery; by contrast, Bugs' defenses are rather pathetic, with only one cannon. Sam taunts Bugs with the boast that he has him "outnumbered, one to one" and, after a barrage of ineffective cannon fire, charges across the battleground rattling his saber. Several gags later it is clear that Bugs has no difficulty outwitting his opponent, who suffers repeated injury.

Sam's first charge involves only Sam beating a drum as if guiding troops. Once Sam arrives at Bug's fort door, a cannon emerges and shoots Sam. Clothes in tatters, Sam beats a quick retreat call on his drum and falls back to his fort, only to fire another salvo of cannon fire at Bugs.

Immediately following, Sam emerges, fully clothed, holding a musket, and yells "Charge!" and charges Bugs' fort. Bugs exits his fort as well, holding a musket and yells "Charge!" as well. Both run at each other and take each other's fort. The flag over Bugs' original fort is lowered from "We" to "They" and Sam's flag of "They" is lowered to Bugs' flag "We" (now shown with a carrot). Whilst Sam is tying down his flag, Bugs shouts "Yoo-Hoo, Mr. Enemy." and indicates that he has taken the fort.

The changing of forts happens a second time with the flags changing to their original owners. Sam charges a third time, but Bugs does not. Running into the barrel of a large cannon, Sam yells "Retreat!" only to be blasted into his own fort.

Running out of the fort, Sam yells, "You ornery, flea-bearing vermin, you'll pay for this!". He takes out a circular bomb, lights it, and throws it towards Bugs' fortress. Bugs runs inside and emerges wearing a baseball uniform and carrying a bat. Bugs hits the bomb away towards Sam's fort. Taking out a baseball mitt, Sam runs backwards, yelling "I got it! I got it!". The bomb explodes in the base, with a white flag being hoisted on the flag pole, proclaiming, "He Got It!".

Sam then threatens Bugs that he will "Blow you to smitherenees", to which Bugs replies, "Ah! Your brother blows bubble gum!" Sam, enraged, loads a Spigot Mortar and fires at Bugs. Bugs catches the mortar round in his own cannon and fires it back, yelling "Eh, that's the old pepper boy!", imitating a catcher. Sam fires the cannon a second and third time to the same effect, with Bugs firing back jeers on each volley. The third time, a stopper is shot after the cannon ball, to which Sam pulls off only to be shot with his own cannon.

Frustrated, Sam burrows his way under his base and into Bugs' base using a pickaxe. Upon surfacing, Sam lights a match, only to find that he has emerged in a room full of TNT. The room explodes, with Sam stumbling out, dazed.

A last gambit, Sam attempts to use a keg of gun powder to blow up Bug's base; due to a hole in the keg, gun powder falls into Sam's back pocket, creating a trail of explosives. After Sam lights the fuse, Bugs, sitting on the powder keg and munching a carrot, calmly extinguishes it and nonchalantly lights the trail of gun powder left by Sam. Fleeing from the inevitable trail, Sam runs away from the base and up an apple tree, only to have the tree explode on him. Beaten and worn out, Sam groans: "I'm a Hessian, without no-o-o-o aggression! If you can't beat 'em, join 'em". Defeated, he joins Bugs in a fife-and-drum march that closes the film.

See also

• List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
• List of Merrie Melodies cartoons

External links

• Bunker Hill Bunny at the Internet Movie Database
• Bunker Hill Bunny at The Big Cartoon DataBase