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Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Duck! Rabbit! Duck! | |
| Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck) series | |
 Daffy writes Elmer Fudd a license to shoot a "fricasseeing rabbit" in this scene from Duck! Rabbit! Duck!. "Hey, Bugs, how do you spell 'fricasseeing?'" "F-R-I-C-A-S-S-E-E-I-N-G... D-U-C-K!" |
|
| Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
|---|---|
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Animation by | Ken Harris Abe Levitow Richard Thompson Lloyd Vaughan Ben Washam |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan |
| Produced by | Eddie Selzer |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date | October 3, 1953 (USA) |
| Format | Technicolor, 7 min (one reel) |
| Language | English |
| IMDb page | |
Duck! Rabbit! Duck! is a 1953 Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Bugs Bunny. It is the sequel to Rabbit Seasoning, and the third (along with Rabbit Fire) and final entry in Jones' "Hunter's trilogy" (the only major difference in format between this film and the others is that it takes place during the middle of winter). Produced by Eddie Selzer for Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc., the short was released to theaters on October 3, 1953 by Warner Bros. Pictures and is widely considered among Jones' best and most important films.
Contents |
The cartoon, set in winter, finds Daffy Duck removing and burning every "Duck Season Open" sign he finds ("I am a duck bent on self preservationumum", he tells the audience). He then attempts to convince Elmer Fudd that it is actually Rabbit Season, prompting Bugs Bunny to use his wits to keep Elmer from shooting him. After each shot, irritated Daffy is forced to put his beak back in place. In the end, Bugs successfully convinces a thoroughly loopy Elmer that it is, in fact, Baseball Season. As Elmer goes off, shooting a baseball, Daffy finally admits that it's really Duck Season... and is promptly shot up by a dozen hunters lying in wait.
One extended routine in this short has Bugs holding up various "animal season" signs to correspond with every figurative expression involving an animal that Daffy makes. This begins when Bugs tricks Daffy into making a hunting license that allows Elmer to shoot him (See above picture).
- Daffy: Well, I guess I'm the goat.
- [Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Goat Season Open!" and Elmer shoots Daffy].
- Daffy: You're a dirty dog.
- Bugs: And YOU are a dirty skunk!
- Daffy: I'm a dirty skunk? I'M a dirty skunk?!
- [Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Dirty Skunk Season" and Elmer shoots Daffy].
- Daffy: Brother am I a pigeon.
- [Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Pigeon Season" and Elmer shoots Daffy].
- Daffy: Why, if he's dead, then I'm a mongoose!
- [Bugs holds up a sign that reads "Mongoose Season" and Elmer shoots Daffy].
Each presentation of the sign was accompanied by a brass fanfare of a fox hunting call, and of course, followed up by a gunshot. Eventually, Daffy goes completely insane, demanding Elmer keep shooting him, bounding around on all fours like an elk, and scuttling around sideways like a crab:
- Daffy: Shoot me again! I enjoy it! I love the smell of burnt feathers, and gunpowder, and cordite. I'm an elk!! Shoot me, go on!! It's elk season!! I'm a fiddler crab!!! Why don't you shoot me??? It's fiddler crab season!!!
The antics get truly confusing at the end when Elmer Fudd encounters Bugs disguised as a game warden:
- Elmer: Oh, Mister Game Warden, I hope you can help me. I've been told I can shoot rabbits and goats and pigeons and mongooses and dirty skunks and ducks. Could you tell me what season it really is?
- Bugs: Why certainly, my boy...it's baseball season!
Elmer then goes completely nuts and starts shooting at a baseball as he runs off into the distance.
- This is the only cartoon in the trilogy where Bugs Bunny does not crossdress.
- Duck! Rabbit! Duck! is presented restored and uncut on volume three of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD series, and is supplemented by an audio commentary by Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Fantasia 2000 animation director Eric Goldberg.