Release Date:

September 23, 1950

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam

Summary:

During the “Battle of Bagle Heights” in the Revolutionary War, minuteman Bugs Bunny battles with Hessian Yosemite Sam (as “Sam von Schmamm”).

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1133 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

Notably, this is a patriotic cartoon as it takes place during a historical time period.

Sam would be named “Sam von Schmamm” again in his final Golden Age appearance, “Dumb Patrol” (1964), where he’s instead a German baron in World War I (he even does German fake cursing at one point).

Despite the title alluding to Bunker Hill, the Battle of Bunker Hill is only mentioned in the cartoon’s intro.

Sam’s line, “Ya better say your prayers, ya flea-bitten varmint! I’m-a gonna blow ya to smithereenies!” was used on a mid-2000’s radio broadcast in a New Mexico desert close to, coincidentally, Albuquerque (even though Bugs doesn’t make a wrong turn in this one, and as this cartoon takes place in 1776, the first state, Delaware, wouldn’t become a state until 11 years later).

Bob Clampett’s “Bee-woop!” sound effect is used after Sam catches the bomb like a baseball and a flag reading, “He Got It” is hoisted up in his fort after the explosion.

This is the 600th Warner cartoon released overall (meaning that after this, we’ve only got 400 cartoons left to go).

The cartoon was originally restored for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 DVD set in 2003 in its normal pitch. It was restored again for HBO Max in 2020, but the audio is inexplicably low-pitched. The re-restoration also features a jump cut from the credits to the start of the cartoon instead of a fade out (which is another reason that makes you question why the HBO Max crew didn’t just simply rescan the Golden Collection masters as is in HD without changing anything apart from the colors).

What I Like About This One:

After a few still images showing the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Yorktown with explosions being used as transitions, it then explodes into the “Battle of Bagle Heights” with Sam having a large fort, several cannons, and a flag reading “They”. Bugs’ fort on the other hand is a small log cabin-like one with his sole cannon firing like a pop gun, and with his flag reading “The”. A sign pointing to his hole in the fort is labeled “Fox Hole”, but with the word “Fox” scratched out and replaced with “Rabbit” (animated by Virgil Ross).

Sam shouts out from his fort, “Ahoy, there! Enemy, ahoy!” Bugs appears and asks from his fort, “What’s up, doc?” Seeing the species his opponent is, Sam’s reaction is, “A rabbit? (laughs mockingly) A rabbit”. Bugs responds back, “Yes. (imitates Sam’s laugh) A rabbit. And just who do you think YOU are?” Sam declares, “Who am I?! I’m Sam von Schmamm the Hessian! That’s who I am! And I’ve got ya outnumbered one to one! Surrender or die, rabbit!” Bugs comes out of his fort and snaps back, “Now just a minute, von Schmamm the Hessian. This happens to be me native soil and I like it. In fact, I love it”. He then kisses the ground near his fort and continues, “And no Hessian oppression is gonna put me off’n it!” Going back into his fort, he comes back out in a Minuteman outfit and armed with a bayonet, “Now just TRY and take it!” (animated by Ross)

Accepting the challenge, Sam says, “Then prepare to defend yourself, rabbit!” (animated by Ross) and yells, “CHARGE!” just before coming out of his fort and marching towards Bugs’ while playing a drum in time to a marching drum roll. Once he reaches Bugs’ fort, the door opens and he is blasted by a cannon, causing him to retreat back into his own fort as his drumming only comes out as light taps due to it also having been destroyed in the blast. After he blasts from his cannons a few times, Sam comes out with a bayonet and yells, “CHARGE!” while running towards Bugs’ fort. Bugs also does this and runs towards Sam’s. Sam switches Bugs’ flag with “They” while Bugs replaces Sam’s with “We” and with a carrot under it. As Sam is finishing with the flag hoisting, he hears Bugs call out to him, “Yoo-hoo! Mr. Enemy!” He then sees Bugs pointing up to the fort’s new flag (animated by Arthur Davis).

Sam and Bugs both again yell, “CHARGE!”, run back to their original forts, and replace their flags, with Bugs’ again having a carrot under it. When Sam yells, “CHARGE!” a third time, only he runs off, as Bugs, without a word and not even opening his eyes, calmly opens the door to his fort where a large cannon is placed, causing Sam to run straight into it. Realizing he’s in the interior of the cannon’s barrel, Sam yells, “RETREAT!” but once he exits the barrel, the cannon blasts him back into his fort (animated by Davis).

Running out of his fort, Sam declares, “Ya ornery fur-bearin’ rebel! You’ll pay for this!” and comes back out with a bomb that he pitches like a baseball. Bugs goes back into his fort and comes out dressed as a ballplayer before hitting the bomb with a baseball bat. Without thinking, Sam imitates an outfielder saying, “I got it!” over and over while running back into his fort. After Sam catches the bomb, a white flag reading, “He got it” is hoisted up (animated by Ross).

Sam appears out of one of his fort’s gun ports and threatens, “Ya better say your prayers, ya flea-bitten varmint! I’m-a gonna blow ya to smithereenies!” (animated by Ross) Bugs retorts, “Ah, your brother blows bubble gum!” Sam pushes a cannonball down into his cannon with a plunger and shouts, “So long, rabbit!” Every time Sam fires at Bugs, Bugs catches the cannonball in a cannon of his own and fires it back into Sam’s cannon. This ends with Bugs not only firing the cannonball back at Sam but also a plug that blocks Sam’s cannon barrel. After Sam pulls it out, he is blasted by his cannon, causing him to silently throw down the plug and stomp around in anger (animated by Ken Champin).

Later, Sam attempts to tunnel underground to Bugs’ fort and emerges in a dark area. Upon lighting a match to see where he is, he finds that he tunneled right into Bugs’ shed of explosives! (animated by Davis)

Sam brings out a barrel of gunpowder and walks it over to Bugs’ fort, oblivious to the fact that he’s spilling a lot of it into the back of his pants. As Sam sneaks back to his fort, he ends up leaving a long trail of gunpowder behind him that falls out of his pants. Chuckling fiendishly, Sam lights the fuse to the barrel of gunpowder. Nonchalantly munching a carrot while sitting atop the barrel, Bugs licks his finger and puts out the fuse seconds before the barrel can explode. Without a word, Bugs then lights a match and drops it on the trail of gunpowder that Sam unknowingly left. Seeing the trail coming towards him, Sam now realizes his pants are full of gunpowder and he attempts to make a run for it out into the countryside. He climbs up an apple tree, but the trail follows him all the way there where it explodes, destroying the apple tree and leaving Sam hanging on a branch (animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

Defeated, Sam decides, “I’m a hessian without no aggression. If ya can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” The cartoon ends with Sam as an injured drum player joining Bugs dressed up in a George Washington-like outfit playing the fife as they march down a trail to “The Girl I Left Behind Me” in the manner of “The Spirits of ‘76” (animated by Chiniquy).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕