Release Date:

May 8, 1948

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam

Summary:

Pirate Yosemite Sam (as “Sea-Goin’ Sam”) mistakenly buries his treasure in Bugs Bunny’s hole. As Bugs also knows where his treasure is, Sam chases him to and around the ship.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1047 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This is the third appearance of Yosemite Sam and his second appearance in a Bugs Bunny cartoon (three years after his debut in “Hare Trigger”).

This is the first of three cartoons where Sam is a pirate. The other two are “Mutiny on the Bunny” (1950) and “Captain Hareblower” (1954). He would also be a pirate in the 1983 compilation movie, “Daffy Duck’s Movie: Fantastic Island”.

This is the second usage of Freleng’s door gag where a character is chased into one of a series of doors but every time the pursuer is about to open the door, the character being chased appears out of another door. The first usage was in “Little Red Riding Rabbit” and would be used a third and final time in “A Bird in a Guilty Cage” (1952).

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

The rumba-like beat that Sam chants at the start of the cartoon, “Ma’s Old-Fashioned Cider” is a reference to a well-known jingle at the time, “Dad’s Old-Fashioned Root Beer” (interestingly, they both have the same amount of syllables).

What I Like About This One:

We begin with Sam digging a hole on an island to bury his treasure while singing “Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest. Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum”. The second time, he replaces “rum” with “Ma’s old-fashioned cider, Ma’s old-fashioned cider” as he sings it and dances in tune to a rumba while putting the chest in. The chest is tossed out so Sam puts it back in, but it gets tossed out again (animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

Bugs emerges wearing jewelry from the chest, greeting Sam with “What’s up, doc?” Sam’s answer is, “What’s up, doc!? I ain’t no doc! I’m a pirate! Sea-Goin’ Sam! The bloodthirstiest, shoot-em firstiest, doggone worstiest buccaneer has ever sailed the Spanish Main!” Taking the jewels off of Bugs, he continues, “Now give me them jewels! Them’s my treasure and I’m-a buryin’ ‘em where no one will know where they’re at, but me!” Bugs adds, “Uh huh. And me.” Sam points his gun at him and threatens, “Dead rabbits tell no tales!” Bugs corrects him, “Now just a minute, Red. Ain’t you got that wrong? You mean dead MEN tell no tales.” Realizing Bugs is right, Sam realizes, “Well, doggone it, I reckon I ain’t got no alternative!” and points his gun to his own head. As Bugs walks away peeling a carrot like a banana, he laughs, “Well, so long, Captain Kidney!” This causes Sam to get wise and he angrily grits his teeth so hard that they break (animated by Virgil Ross).

Fleeing from Sam’s gunfire, Bugs takes a rowboat to the ship but he rows so fast that he rows without the boat under him. Seeing Bugs has taken the oars, Sam swims to the ship. Rather than immediately continue the chase, Sam takes the oars and swims back to the rowboat with the oars in his teeth so he can row to the ship properly (animated by Manuel Perez).

By the time Sam gets onboard, he encounters Bugs disguised as the Charles Laughton-caricatured Captain Bligh. Bugs orders Sam to do everything possible on the ship before laughing in his normal voice, “What a maroon!” Seeing Sam is on to him, he flees, leaving out smoke, and causing Sam to run into the ship’s mast (animated by Ross).

As Bugs hides in various places, Sam’s parrot keeps pointing them out with “He’s in there! He’s in there!” Bugs disposes of him by asking “Eh, Polly want a cracker?” The parrot is ecstatic about it, so Bugs gives him a firecracker. “Here ya are, sweetheart!” The explosion leaves the parrot featherless and before collapsing on the deck, laments: “Me and my big mouth” (animated by Perez).

Atop a cannon, Bugs imitates the parrot to trick Sam into going into the cannon’s barrel. Bugs lights it and Sam comes out, landing on the deck (animated by Perez).

Bugs takes refuge up in the crow’s nest, which he uses like an elevator to get up. Sam pushes the button for it to come back down, but it only crushes him. When Sam demands him to come back down, Bugs tells him the elevator’s out of order, but he’ll throw him a rope. Sam climbs it, but the rope also goes back downward, leaving him to smash headfirst on the deck. Sam then uses a teeter board propelled by a cannonball, but he only hits the bottom of the crow’s nest (animated by Perez).

Demanding to Bugs to come down again, Bugs pretends to comply: “Okay, shorty, catch me, I’m gonna jump! Here I come!” but he tosses down an anvil instead. Once Sam catches it, the ship sinks down to the ocean floor with only Bugs and the crow’s nest sticking out. With his curses only coming out as bubbles, Sam tosses the anvil aside and the ship comes back up again (animated by Perez). Bugs finally comes down and asks a drenched Sam, “Eh, have a nice dip, drip?” Sam brings out his sword on him to which Bugs asks, “What?! Sore again?!” He dodges it, resulting in Sam getting his sword stuck in the mast as Bugs comments, “Eh, what a nasty disposition!” (animated by Ken Champin)

Pursued by Sam threatening to “keel-haul ya for this!”, Bugs goes into a gun port but when Sam opens the port’s door, he is confronted by a cannon, which blasts him. Bugs pops out of another gun port and says, “Yoo-hoo, Mr. Pie-Rate!”, but another cannon appears in Bugs’ place as Sam opens this door. After Bugs appears out of a third gun port and says, “Oh, uh, Red Beard!”, Sam steps away from this door, and lifts it open with his sword in order to avoid another cannon blast, but the gun port he’s standing in front of opens its door and the cannon in there blasts him instead, much to his fury (animated by Champin).

Back on deck, Sam pursues Bugs in a series of doors, but every time Sam comes up to the door Bugs just went into, Bugs exits out of another one. Eventually, Bugs enters and re-enters the same door, but when Sam opens this door, he is confronted by yet another cannon (animated by Perez).

Sam finds Bugs beside the gunpowder magazine and confronts him. Bugs just nonchalantly lights a match and tosses it into said gunpowder magazine as Sam shouts, “NO!” and races down to get it. After Bugs throws a second one down, Sam gets that as well and tells him, “If ya does that just once more, I ain’t a goin’-after it!” He is forced to comply to these exact words as Bugs tosses a third lit match down. Beyond nervous, Sam attempts to ignore it by by tapping his foot, twirling a yo-yo, and playing jacks, but gives in at the last second as the ship blows up and launches Bugs and Sam back to the island (animated by Chiniquy).

Sam chases Bugs back to his hole, and thinking he has him cornered, sticks his head in, and tells him, “Come out and meet your doom”. It turns out that Sam just stuck his head in yet another cannon, which blasts him. After Sam waves a white flag, Bugs puts on an admiral hat, and laughs, “I have not even BEGUN to fight!” (animated by Chiniquy)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕