''Buccaneer Bunny'' is a 1948 '' Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on May 8, 1948, and features

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring role ...

and

Yosemite Sam Yosemite Sam ( /joʊˈsɛmɪti/ ''yoh-SEM-ih-tee'') is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bugs ...

Plot

The cartoon opens with titles featuring an instrumental of "

The Sailor's Hornpipe The Sailor's Hornpipe (also known as The College Hornpipe and Jack's the Lad) is a traditional hornpipe melody and linked dance with origins in the Royal Navy. History The tune was first printed as the "College Hornpipe" in 1797 or 1798 by J. Dale ...

" (also one of the theme songs to the ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.cartoon series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

), seguéing to a scene of Sam digging a hole to bury his treasure on a beach. Sam is singing the stereotypical pirate shanty "

Dead Man's Chest "Dead Man's Chest" (also known as "Fifteen Men on the Dead Man's Chest" or "Yo, Ho, Ho (And a Bottle of Rum)") is a fictional''Fictional sea-song'' - in this sense means a sea-song that first appeared in a work of fiction, and not an authentic se ...

"—on the second strain, Sam switches from the typical "yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!" to a decidedly more original "yo-ho-ho and a bottle of... Ma's old fashioned ci-''der''" with a conga kick on the last syllable and a parody of " Dad's Old-Fashioned Root Beer", a well-known radio advertising

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

at that time. In attempting to bury his treasure, Sam has encroached on Bugs' domain, as Bugs happens to have his rabbit hole there on the beach. When Bugs asks him who he is, he responds in his typical way: "What's up, doc?! I ain't no doc! I'm a pirate! Sea-Goin' Sam, the blood-thirstiest, shoot-'em-first-iest, doggone worst-iest

buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 until about 168 ...

has ever sailed the

Spanish main During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to di ...

!" To protect the location of his treasure, Sam prepares to shoot Bugs, claiming "Dead rabbits tell no tales!" Bugs then temporarily tricks Sam into trying to shoot himself in the head by saying: "Now, just a minute, Red. Ain't you got that wrong? You mean dead ''men'' tell no tales." After realizing he's been tricked, Sam grounds his teeth together so hard they shatter before he fires at Bugs. Bugs escapes in a tied lifeboat, at one point rowing himself towards a ship without the boat. Following, Sam swims towards the ship to retrieve the paddles from where Bugs left them (oblivious that he doesn't even need them since he already made it to the ship without them), then returns to the lifeboat, which he then rows back to the ship. As Sam searches for Bugs on the ship, he sees Bugs disguised as Captain Bligh (effecting the voice and thick-lipped appearance of Charles Laughton in his portrayal of Bligh in ''

Mutiny On The Bounty The mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set h ...

''). Sam takes criticism from "Captain Bligh" before being ordered a bunch of chores. Sam soon realizes he's been tricked (''again''), and follows a fleeing Bugs, but crashes into the mast while doing so. In a side gag, Bugs is trying to hide and a pesky parrot keeps crowing to Sam, "He's in there! He's in there! Awk!" Finally, Bugs asks the parrot, "Polly want a cracker?" The parrot changes his tune, "Polly want a cracker! Polly want a cracker! Awk!" Bugs hands him a lit firecracker, which promptly explodes, blasting all of the parrot's feathers off, leaving him dazed and smoldering. His last words before he passes out are, "Me and my big mouth!" For the next part, Bugs poses as the now-unconscious parrot to lead Sam into a cannon. Bugs lights the fuse, and then, "KABOOM!" The cannon explodes and Sam falls out of the barrel. In a series of gags that mildly anticipate the

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short '' Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, ...

series, Bugs is in the

crow's nest A crow's nest is a structure in the upper part of the main mast of a ship or a structure that is used as a lookout point. On ships, this position ensured the widest field of view for lookouts to spot approaching hazards, other ships, or land b ...

and Sam tries various unsuccessful attempts to get to him; Bugs told him that the elevator is out of order and tosses him a rope. But, when Sam climbs up, he climbs back down and crashes on the ground below. For his next attempt, he made a seesaw, and puts a ball on it, but that kind of failed too. In another one, that skirts the laws of physics, Bugs tells Sam he's going to jump. Instead, Bugs drops a convenient anvil over the side of the crow's nest, Sam catches it, and the anvil's momentum causes the entire ship ("except for the crow's nest") to submerge. Sam mouths some apparent curses underwater, then tosses the anvil overboard and the ship resurfaces. When Bugs comes down to check on Sam, Sam proceeds to attack him with his sword, making Bugs mad that he's "sore again". Bugs crawls in a hatch in the ship's side, with Sam following with his sword: "Ooooh, I'll keelhaul you for this!". When he opens the board, he is blasted by a cannon. Bugs opens the hatch to Sam's left and calls: "Yoo-hoo! Mr. Pirate!". Sam opens that board and, again, gets blasted by a cannon. Bugs opens another hatch and calls: "Oh, uh, Redbeard!". Sam, trying to avoid getting blasted again, decides to open up the hatch with his sword from a safe distance. Nothing there. Suddenly, another hatch opens in his face and a cannon blasts Sam once more, much to his annoyance. Sam now chases Bugs again, and is now subjected to the lots-of-doors in-and-out routine (previously used in ''

Little Red Riding Rabbit ''Little Red Riding Rabbit'' is a 1944 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Bugs Bunny. It is a sendup of the Little Red Riding Hood story, and is the first time in which Mel Blanc receives a voice c ...

''), which ends with Sam getting blasted by a cannon again. Sam confronts Bugs, who throws a match into the powder room, which a panicking Sam swiftly retrieves (a gag that would later be recycled into 1954's '' Captain Hareblower''). This is repeated until finally, Sam is too late to retrieve the match that ends up exploding the entire pirate ship when he refused to go after another match again, reducing the ship to splinters. On his last nerve, Sam furiously chases Bugs with his gun: "ooooh, I'll blast your head off for this!" until he seemingly has Bugs defeated ("Alright, now! I got ya cornered! Come out and meet your doom!") until a cannon blasts him once more. Finally, defeated, Sam raises the white flag and Bugs turns to the audience, puts on an old-style ship captain's hat, and paraphrases

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

, "I have not even ''begun'' to fight!" and he laughs.

Additional Crew

* Film Edited by

Treg Brown Tregoweth Edmond "Treg" Brown (November 4, 1899 – April 28, 1984) was an American motion picture sound editor who was responsible for the sound effects in Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons from 1936 to 1963. ...

* Uncredited Orchestration by Milt Franklyn

Reception

Animation historian

David Gerstein David Gerstein (born February 6, 1974) is an American comics author and editor as well as an animation historian. Gerstein has five books and countless comic book credits to his name. He has written many Disney comics stories, usually featuring ...

writes, "In ''Buccaneer Bunny'', Sam out-Sams himself by turning a sea shanty into a rhumba and by gritting his teeth so hard that they break. The trappings of piracy become part of the show, with booming cannons, ascending crow's nests, and stoolie parrots, all of which deliver an in-your-face impact that few other Sam stories could offer."

Home media

*VHS - ''Cartoon Moviestars'': Starring Bugs Bunny! *Laserdisc - ''Cartoon Moviestars'': Bugs Bunny Classics: Special Collector's Edition * VHS - ''Bugs Bunny Collection'': Bugs Bunny's Zaniest Toons *Laserdisc - ''

The Golden Age of Looney Tunes ''The Golden Age of Looney Tunes'' is a collection of LaserDiscs released by MGM Home Entertainment, MGM/UA Home Video in the 1990s. There were five sets made, featuring a number of discs, and each disc side represented a different theme, being ...

'', Vol. 4, Side 1: Bugs Bunny * DVD - '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5'', Disc 1 * DVD - ''Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 5'', Disc 1 * DVD, Blu-ray - '' Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1'', Disc 1

References

External links