Release Date:

June 12, 1948

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam

Summary:

In a western town, only Bugs Bunny has nerve enough to go up against Yosemite Sam. Includes many iconic gags such as a larger gun face-off, dancing, and a horse chase.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1050 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

Just shortly after their second face-off in “Buccaneer Bunny”, Bugs is up against Sam a third time. This is also the second of three Bugs and Sam cartoons in a Western setting, with the other two being Sam’s debut in “Hare Trigger” and “Wild and Woolly Hare” (1959).

Due to his name being in the title, this is one of the very few Bugs Bunny cartoons from mid-1945-1964 to not have the “Bugs Bunny in:” title card.

The title is a play on words for the 1940 Jack Benny comedy, “Buck Benny Rides Again”.

This is one of the few Warner cartoons where the music cue sheet is available to view online.

Originally, when Sam introduces himself as the “roughest toughest he-man stuffest hombre that’s ever crossed the Rio Grande!”, he originally concluded with “And I don’t mean Mahatma Gandhi!” Due to Gandhi’s death in January 1948, the line was changed to “And I ain’t no namby-pamby!” before its release.

This is the first cartoon to use the byline “Color by Technicolor” instead of “In Technicolor”. Four cartoons released afterward, Davis’ “The Rattled Rooster”, McKimson’s “The Shell Shocked Egg”, Jones’ “You Were Never Duckier”, and Davis’ “The Pest That Came to Dinner”, would still use “In Technicolor” before “Color by Technicolor” would be used on all subsequent Warner cartoons up until late 1956 (with the exception of the Cinecolor releases which all had the byline “In Cinecolor”).

This is the penultimate cartoon to be written by both Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce, with the last overall being “Kit for Cat”, released five months later.

This is the second usage of Bugs dancing to the “Untitled Soft Shoe Number”, with the first being in “Stage Door Cartoon”.

As typical with Paul Julian’s backgrounds, there are several references to fellow artists. On the wall Bugs is standing by when he is first seen, the following names are seen: “Mike” (referring to Michael Maltese), “Tedd” (referring to Tedd Pierce), “PJ” (referring to Paul Julian himself), and “Friz” (referring to Freleng). During the dance sequence, a few businesses are seen in the background: “Ken Champin Veterinary” (very obviously referring to the animator of the same name), “G. Chiniquy Blacksmith” (referring to Gerry Chiniquy), “JC Melendez Pulqueria” (referring to Bill Melendez, the only artist whose name appears in this cartoon that wasn’t involved with it; he never animated for Freleng in fact), and “Hadley Pert and Co. Feed and Grain” (a variation on Hawley Pratt).

This is often considered to be one of the all-time greatest Warner Bros. cartoons (and for good reason, as this is another cartoon that is absolutely perfect from start to finish). Strangely, it isn’t in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. How THIS one didn’t appear in the book is beyond me (in all honesty, they should’ve just swapped out the two Censored Eleven entries in the book, “Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs” and “Tin Pan Alley Cats” with this one and “What Makes Daffy Duck” respectively because they are FAR more worthy contenders and don’t have any racial stereotypes present).

What I Like About This One:

The rendition of “William Tell Overture” over the opening credits. When the opening credits music sounds this awesome, you know you’re about to watch a masterpiece.

Into town, everyone is offscreen but are busy shooting at each other, which is so rapid that it’s their bullets who have to stop at traffic lights (animated by Virgil Ross).

In the “Gunshot Saloon” (“Come in and get a slug”), one man shoots another so he can have his drink. Screaming is heard outside, and in steps Sam who is shorter than the saloon doors but the spurs on his boots are clearly audible. Everyone turns around in fear: “Yosemite Sam!” “It’s Yosemite Sam!” Sam answers, “Yeah, Yosemite Sam. The roughest toughest he-man stuffest hombre that’s ever crossed the Rio Grande! And I ain’t no namby-pamby!” He then orders “now all of you skunks clear out of here!” After everyone flees, a literal small skunk passes by and asks, “My, weren’t there a lot of skunks in here?” Sam sends him away by shooting at him. He then spots another cowboy attempting to sneak away and shoots at him causing the cowboy to walk back and forth like the target at a shooting gallery (animated by Ross).

Sam asks, “Now be there any livin’ varmint as aims to try to tame me?” Upon spotting Bugs standing in the corner, he asks, “Well, be there?” Bugs calmly answers, “I aims to”. As they walk up to each other gunfighter style, Bugs asides to the audience, “Heh. Just like Gary Cooper, huh?” After Bugs asks “What’s up, doc?”, Sam points his guns at him and tells him the town isn’t big enough for both of them. Questioning this, Bugs runs off (animated by Ross) as construction noises are heard offscreen. Returning with a saw and hammer, Bugs asks, “NOW is it big enough?” It’s revealed that he built some skyscrapers in just a short amount of time! (animated by Ken Champin) Sam says it’s still not big enough and pulling out a six-shooter, tells Bugs he’s going out of town. With an “Oh, no I ain’t!”, “Oh, yes you are!” argument, they top each other with higher guns. Bugs pulls out a seven-shooter, Sam pulls out an eight-shooter, Bugs a nine-shooter, Sam a ten-shooter. Instead of pulling out an eleven-shooter, Bugs pulls out a pea shooter and blows it in Sam’s nose (animated by Ross).

Bugs runs out of the saloon but runs into Sam who demands, “Alright, now, ya wise guy! Dance!” before shooting at his feet (animated by Manuel Perez). Donning a straw hat and cane, Bugs dances to the “Untitled Soft Shoe Number” in the most iconic usage of it. After finishing, Bugs requests, “Take it, Sam!” while clapping out the beat to the tune. Sam does the same dance (the sight of Sam doing it is hilarious) and concludes with an offstage dance, but falls into a mine shaft (with a hilarious “Oh no” facial expression) whose door Bugs has opened (brilliantly animated by Gerry Chiniquy). After Sam crashes, Bugs laments, “Poor little maroon. So trusting. So naive.” (animated by Perez)

Sam is brought back up to the surface and starts threatening Bugs: “Start walkin’, ya doggone long-eared galoot!” Bugs responds, “Just a minute, partner! You can’t talk to me like that! Them’s fightin’ words!” to which Sam confirms, “Yeah, them’s fightin’ words!” Bugs draws a line in the ground with his foot, daring Sam to step over it. He dares him to step over another one, and this goes on for quite a distance until Bugs finally tricks Sam into stepping off a cliff (animated by Champin). As Sam plummets, Bugs races to the bottom and puts a mattress on the bottom. “You know, sometimes me conscience kinda bothers me. But not THIS time!”, Bugs tells us as he pulls the mattress away and watches Sam hit the bottom offscreen (animated by Perez).

Bugs and Sam then have a chase while riding horses (Bugs on a big one and Sam on a little one) to the tune of the William Tell Overture. After exiting a tunnel, Bugs cements a brick wall in front of it, resulting in Sam and his horse smacking right into it at full speed. The chase ends with them stopping in front of each other and with Bugs realizing they’re not getting anywhere. They make a deal to play cards with the loser leaving town (animated by Chiniquy).

In another saloon, they are about to play gin rummy. Sam asks Bugs to “cut the cards” to which Bugs chops at them with a meat cleaver. Sam angrily tells him, “Not thataway, ya durn galoot!” and deals out a new deck. Bugs walks over to Sam as he’s about to draw a card and tells him to not use that one. Sam shows him another card to which Bugs gives him the green light to use that one which is a two of diamonds. Bugs immediately runs back and wins: “Gin, you lose!” (animated by Chiniquy)

Taking Sam with him in a stagecoach to the railroad station, Bugs tries to push Sam into a railroad car only for them to discover it’s the “Miami Special” with bikini-clad women in bathing suits for a beauty contest. Going wild, they both now fight to go IN the car. Unsurprisingly, Bugs wins as he ties Sam’s hat over his body before entering. As the train departs, Bugs waves out the window with his face covered in kiss marks, “So long, Sammy! See ya in Miami!” (animated by Champin)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕