Release Date:

August 8, 1953

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

Making another wrong turn, Bugs Bunny mistakenly tunnels into a bullfighting arena. After the bull butts him out of the arena, Bugs gets even by substituting for the matador and heckling the bull.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1267 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This cartoon came to be when Eddie Selzer said he didn’t want any bullfighting cartoons because he thought bullfights weren’t funny. Since several other things Selzer thought wouldn’t be funny had proved to be big hits (Tweety and Sylvester becoming a team, Pepe Le Pew, the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, and a year later, Taz), Jones and Michael Maltese figured they should do a bullfighting cartoon. Naturally, the cartoon proved to be an enormous success, and to this day, is one of the all-time best Bugs Bunny cartoons and easily the funniest piece of media revolving around bullfighting.

This is also one of the best Jones cartoons, since it is a perfect example of his take on Bugs: only attacking when provoked.

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

Both restorations of the cartoon, originally for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 DVD set in 2003, and re-restored for the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume 3 Blu-ray set in 2014, have the cartoon inexplicably low-pitched (ironically, though, the triumphant rendition of “Las Chiapanecas” when Bugs dances back to his hole after the slap dance scene actually sounds beautiful in low-pitch).

The cartoon was used in the 1979 compilation movie, “The Bugs Bunny-Roadrunner Movie”, where Bugs introduces this cartoon when explaining that animators can’t tell the difference between a rabbit and a mole, evidenced by his wrong turn at Albuquerque.

This cartoon was released three days before my paternal grandmother was born.

At one point, a sign in the stands reads, “Salos Senor DeGord”, which is a reference to Philip DeGuard. Another sign seen in the opening shot reads, “Bravo Noble”, which is a reference to Maurice Noble.

This is the 100th Bugs Bunny cartoon overall.

Favorite Scene:

The slap dance scene and the ending with the Rube Goldberg trap.

What Happens in This One:

The snooty-looking matador makes his entrance to the cheering crowd before the bull makes his entrance. The matador is then shown to be rather cowardly as he slowly begins to step away while the bull makes a smirking expression at him and begins to charge. The bull then runs towards him and tears right through the matador’s cape he holds up, creating a bull-shaped hole. As the bull is chasing the matador, the crowd is heard booing (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Bugs then tunnels in and pops up with his suitcases, thinking he’s arrived at his intended destination, “Well. Here I am!” Looking around the arena, he realizes, “Hey! Just a cotton-pickin’ minute! This don’t look like the Coachella Valley to me!” He pulls out a map and realizes, “I knew I should’ve taken that left turn at Albuquerque”, before deciding, “Oh well. I’ll just ask this gent in the fancy knickerbockers”, referring to the matador. Bugs begins to ask him, “Eh, I beg your par-”, but the matador is too busy running away from the bull to take notice. He runs up to the matador trying to talk to him, “Eh, uh, pardon me, sir. But could you direct me to the shortest route to the Coachella Valley and the Big Carrot Festival, therein?” The matador only flees over the arena wall much to Bugs’ confusion. “Eh, what’s up, doc?” The bull stops from behind Bugs and begins snorting at him from the behind. Incensed, Bugs slaps him and scolds, “Stop steamin’ up my tail! What are ya tryin’ to do, wrinkle it!?” As Bugs is trying to find how to get to Coachella Valley, the bull goes back and sharpens his horns with a pool chalk before running back up to Bugs and butting him out of the arena headfirst. Flying out of the arena, Bugs vows, “Of course, you realize, THIS means war!” (animated by Vaughan)

The bull bows to the cheering crowd, before Bugs reappears as the new matador. The bull charges towards him, but then clangs his head hard when Bugs holds up his cape at the last second. It’s revealed that the bull obliviously charged into an anvil headfirst. Bugs walks to the center of the arena where the cheering crowd drops roses. He sniffs one of them and sighs, “Ah! Me public”, before walking back to the dazed bull. While waving his cape and dancing to “La Cucaracha”, Bugs has the bull dancing after him, before getting him to charge into a fence, which results in the bull’s horns getting stuck. In order to render the bull unable to get free, Bugs bends his horns by hammering on them. He laughs, “What a gulli-bull! What a nin-cow-poop!”, but the bull, who has fully regained his senses, stands up without his horns and knocks Bugs down to the ground by socking him with his hoof (animated by Ben Washam).

The bull is seen sharpening his horns on a grinding wheel, before Bugs taps him on the shoulder, “Eh, pardon me, mac”, and puts a large elastic band around his horns. This enables Bugs to slingshot a boulder right into the bull’s face. Bugs takes his bows before the bull suddenly charges from behind him and bumps him very hard, causing Bugs to fly into the fence. Bugs comes out from an upside down Bugs-shaped hole in the fence while the bull takes HIS bows (animated by Vaughan).

Wearing a large sombrero, Bugs dances up to the bull and slaps him in time to “Las Chiapenecas”. The bull dances up to him and attempts to slap him in return, only for Bugs to slap him instead. Bugs then dances off before zipping back to give the bull another slap. The bull snorts and walks in a stomping manner, but stops in confusion, upon not finding Bugs anywhere. Bugs taps him on the shoulder and slaps him once more, before dancing triumphantly while waving his sombrero. Angry, the bull attempts to charge at him, but Bugs dances into his hole as the bull skids to a stop at the sombrero covering up the hole. Bugs’ hand pops out of said sombrero to honk the bull’s nose (animated by Ken Harris).

Sharpening his horns on the grinding wheel again, the bull is told by Bugs holding a cape, “Okay, Toro. Whenever you can spare the time”. As the bull is heard running towards him, it’s revealed that Bugs is holding a rifle behind his cape as a “booby trap”. This ends up backfiring as the bull ends up swallowing the rifle, with his tail now shaped like one. The bull finds out that his horns shoot out bullets whenever he hits his tail on the ground, so he begins to chase Bugs while firing from his horns. Eventually, he runs out of ammunition, so he comes back with a box of “ACME Elephant Bullets- Explosive Heads”, and pours them all at once into his mouth before swallowing them. Instead of shooting out of his horns, they explode from inside him, causing the bull’s horns to droop while he just stands there with an embarrassed look (animated by Washam).

Bugs laughs, “What an imbecile! What an ultra-maroon!”, but then lets out an “Uh-oh” when he sees the bull charging towards him. Not able to get away, Bugs begins writing his will and then silently pleading for mercy, but once the bull approaches him, he opens the arena door at the last second, causing the bull to run out into the countryside. Once the bull skids to a stop upon realizing he’s run out into the distance, Bugs gets down from the door, walks off, and then returns with a supply of tools building a Rube Goldberg-like trap. The bull lets out an angry mooing noise before zooming back to the arena while Bugs pours some Axle Grease across the ground. The bull slips on the grease and ends up flying through the air off a ramp. He flies across a glue-coated paintbrush getting his stomach coated in glue, enabling a piece of sandpaper to get stuck to it, when he flies over said sandpaper. The sandpaper on the bull’s stomach strikes a match when the bull flies over it, which ignites a fuse leading to a huge keg of TNT which explodes on the bull. The bull flies straight into a fence with Bugs holding up a cape over his behind that reads, “The End” (animated by Washam).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕