Release Date:

January 16, 1954

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam

Summary:

Pirate Yosemite Sam scares away everyone from an unprotected ship, except for Bugs Bunny. Refusing to surrender the ship, Bugs battles against Sam.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1284 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is the last of the “Sam as pirate” trilogy (following “Buccaneer Bunny” and “Mutiny on the Bunny”).

Bugs’ headshot does not appear in the opening rings because they were having to create a new one due to the rings now being smaller.

The title is a pun for the C.S. Forester character, “Captain Horatio Hornblower”.

This is the only cartoon where Bugs and Sam both lose in the end (unless you count “Ballot Box Bunny”).

The cartoon was used in the 1983 compilation movie, “Daffy Duck’s Movie Fantastic Island” and would also be used to kick off the movie’s plot.

Clips from this cartoon are used in the 1979 film, “Time After Time”.

The cartoon’s plot would be reworked by DePatie-Freleng for the 12th cartoon in their Roland and Rattfink series, “War and Pieces” (1970; not to be confused with the 1964 Roadrunner cartoon of the same name).

The climax is reused from the aforementioned “Buccaneer Bunny”, but tweaked due to Bugs having a ship of his own.

Favorite Scene:

Sam swims towards Bugs’ ship with a bomb that somehow stays lit underwater. A shark comes in from behind him and swallows him whole, only for the bomb to go off and result in the shark becoming a shocked skeleton and with Sam, who didn’t get it as bad as the shark, seen trapped in his ribs. Definitely not the smartest shark in the ocean.

What Happens in This One:

Out at sea, Sam is steering his ship while singing “Blow the Man Down”. Looking through his telescope, he spots, “Ah ha! An unprotected ship!” He blasts his cannon at the other ship and yells, “Ship ahoy! Surrender! I’ve got ya surrounded!” The captain of this ship exclaims, “It’s Sam the Pirate!” A crew member on the crow’s nest adds, “It’s Pirate Sam!” before another runs off, “Abandon ship! It’s Pirate Sam!” and another shouts, “Aah! It’s Pirate Sam!” as they all swim away. All except Bugs, that is, who has emerged from a crate of carrots on the ship to see what’s going on. “‘Pirate Sam’. ‘Pirate Sam’. Big deal”, he says to himself before calling out to Sam, “Ahoy, there! What’s up, doc?” Sam is shocked to see “A rabbit!?” before threatening, “Surrender, rabbit! I’ve got ya outnumbered one to one!” Bugs is confused by this talk, “Surrender? Never heard of the word! So you’ll have to try to take the ship!” as he dons an admiral’s hat and poses boldly with a sword, only for Sam to blast a cannonball through his hat, giving him a lump. Bugs comments, “Now he should know better than that!” (animated by Virgil Ross)

Both ships fire numerous times at each other before Bugs has his ship quietly sneak up on Sam with one of his cannons ready to fire. Once he comes into view, Sam, seen in one of his ship’s gun ports, gives a hilarious silent screaming face before getting blasted by Bugs’ cannon. A charred Sam raves, “Blast ya, rabbit! Two can play that game!” He attempts to do what Bugs did to him by firing his own cannon at him, only to be confronted by another cannon from Bugs’ ship and get blasted again. An even more charred Sam stomps around in rage, “Ooooooooooohhhhhh!” (animated by Manuel Perez)

Sam is stuffing cannonballs into a cannon above deck, oblivious that Bugs is walking to his ship via the mast. He finishes stuffing the next cannonball in the barrel in time to see Bugs pulling the cord for the cannon to go off. The blast results in Sam disintegrating into a pile of ash (animated by Perez).

Below deck on his ship, Bugs is also stuffing cannonballs into a cannon, with Sam sneaking across the master to get to his ship. Bugs looks up from stuffing his next cannonball in to see Sam about to fire the cannon at him. Sam only succeeds in firing himself backwards, creating a Sam-shaped hole in the ship (animated by Perez).

Bugs looks up to see Sam standing atop his crow’s nest and about to swing on a rope towards his ship. “Prepare to defend yourself, rabbit, ‘cause I’m a-boardin’ your ship!” He yells, “CHARGE!” as he swings towards the ship, only to swing right into the barrel of a cannon. Sam hastily runs back out while shouting, “RETREAT!”, only to get blasted the second he exits the barrel, causing him to swing back charred (animated by Ken Champin).

Sam goes to the bottom deck and sends a barrel of TNT with a sail on it towards Bugs. Bugs blows it back towards Sam with an electric fan. Sam frantically attempts to blow it back the other way, only for it to explode on him (animated by Arthur Davis).

Wearing a bathing suit, flippers, goggles, and a swimming cap, Sam swims underwater towards Bugs’ ship with a bomb that is able to stay lit underwater. A shark comes in out of nowhere and eats Sam whole, only for the bomb to explode from inside him, leaving only the shocked shark’s skeleton, with Sam seen in his ribs, but having taken the explosion better than the shark (animated by Davis).

Sam gets onto Bugs’ ship by walking across the mast, but is unable to find him. “Alright, rabbit! Where are ya? I’m takin’ over your ship!” Bugs, from atop the crow’s nest, calls down to him, “Here I am, Mr. Pirate! But you’ll have to get me down!” “Down!?”, Sam exclaims, before scoffing, “You just wait there! I’ll get ya down!” He returns with an ax and starts chopping the crow’s nest down. It begins to vibrate upon being held only by a single piece of wood, causing Sam to move out of the way. When it stops vibrating, Sam goes back in where he chopped to finish the job only for it to give way and fall atop him (animated by Davis).

Bugs silently reacts to seeing a compressed Sam having gotten out from being sandwiched under the two pieces. Once Sam’s body pops back to normal (animated by Davis), he goes up the ladder towards Bugs. Bugs walks across the top of the mast, with Sam going after him from there. Sam ends up cornering Bugs on the end of the mast, “Ah ha! Now I got ya, ya fur-bearin’ critter!” Seeing the long drop below, Bugs says to himself, “Gee. I hope that’s soft water down there”, before jumping off and diving into the ocean safely. Sam tells him, “You can’t get away, rabbit! ‘Cause I’m a-comin’ in after ya!” before diving in himself, only to land on a rock headfirst before landing in the water (animated by Perez).

A wet Sam comes back onto his ship and finds Bugs’ near his with Bugs himself leaning nonchalantly on his ship’s railing. Sam begins to threaten, “Now, ya long-eared critter! I’m a-gonna make you pay-”, only for Bugs to take out a matchbox and toss a lit match into Sam’s powder room. Sam exclaims, “Oh, no!” as he races down to retrieve it. Coming back up with the match, Sam tells him off, “Ya doggone idjit galoot! You’ll blow the ship to smithereenies! And if ya does that once more, I ain’t a-goin’ after it!” Bugs tosses another match into Sam’s powder room. Forced to comply to his exact words, Sam tries to act nonchalant, but gives in at the last second and races down to retrieve it. It’s too late, however, as his ship explodes to pieces (animated by Champin).

Completely charred, Sam lands on Bugs’ ship and exclaims, “Oooohh! Gimme them matches!” as he snatches them from Bugs and lights one himself before throwing it into Bugs’ powder room, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander! Now you go and get it!” Bugs, however, doesn’t do anything, which causes Sam to start regretting this decision. “Quick, rabbit! Go and get it before it blows up! Ain’t ya gonna get it!?” When Bugs shakes his head, Sam screams, “Oh, no!” and dashes away far into the distance. Not understanding Sam’s reaction, Bugs says to himself, “Huh. I don’t know what he’s so excited about” before taking a look into the powder room himself. Revealed to be a feminine-like powder room, Bugs sees that the only powder present is talcum. “Talcum powder doesn’t explode” (animated by Champin up to here). An explosion occurs immediately after he makes this statement, destroying his ship as well. Sailing into the air before coming back down, Bugs admits, “Eh, I, uh, could be wrong, ya know” (animated by Davis).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕