''Hare Lift'' is a 1952

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' short directed by

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (; August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons ...

. The short was released on December 20, 1952, and stars

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

and

Yosemite Sam Yosemite Sam ( ) 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 in California. His real name is ''Aloysius Bartholamew Sam''. ...

. The title is a play on the term "air lift," as expressed in the plotline. In the film, bank robber Sam decides to hijack an airplane in order to escape the police. He chooses the world's biggest airplane and forces Bugs to pilot it. He discovers too late that Bugs has no training as a pilot.

Plot

A newspaper announces the test flight of the world's biggest airplane. The plane lands at an airport, its giant wheel covering

's hole. Bugs struggles out and, impressed by the plane, decides to take a look inside. Meanwhile, in town,

robs the Last National Bank ("and keep a-reachin' for the ceilin'- till ya' REACH it!!") then wipes off the assets, which read $4,562,321.08 (stolen amount ), down to 8 cents. He hears the police approach and drives off to the airport, with plans to hijack a plane and take refuge in another country where the cops cannot find him. Inside the plane, Bugs has started to pretend he is a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, and when Sam boards, he assumes Bugs is the pilot and orders him to take off at once. Before Bugs can protest, Sam threatens to shoot him. Bugs succeeds in finding the ignition button, and the plane sets off down the runway and flies over a busy traffic intersection. Racing toward a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

, Bugs pulls the plane up into outer space, sending Sam falling to the plane's tail. When it seems as if the plane is about to crash into the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

, Bugs steers the plane back down toward

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, sending Sam falling to the plane's nose. As Sam threatens to have Bugs'

license A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

revoked, he discovers the rabbit reading a flying manual and realizes in horror that Bugs is not a pilot and has absolutely no idea how to fly the aircraft. Noticing the Earth growing larger in the window and worrying that they might fatally crash to the ground if Bugs does not do something quick, Sam orders Bugs to read faster, or else. Bugs, however, refuses to read any further in the manual because of Sam's mean talk and orders him to apologize. Sam slaps himself in the head. The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

appears in the window; Sam apologizes to Bugs, but not without insulting him. Bugs then orders Sam to "say

e's is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and drawn by Satoru Yuiga. It was originally serialized in '' Monthly GFantasy'' from 1997 through 2005, and later published in 16 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Square Enix from March 18, 2003, to Febr ...

sorry with sugar on it." Sam refuses and tries to act nonchalant by playing with a yo-yo and a set of jacks. As a

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

appears in the window, Sam finally gives in and apologizes properly. Bugs steers the plane straight back up to the sky, just barely missing the farm in the process, and goes to radio the authorities to inform them that he is bringing the plane back. Sam then orders Bugs to give him the flying manual to keep him from heading back to town where the cops are after him, but Bugs throws it out the open door. Sam runs out to retrieve it, but upon discovering how high he is, he "runs" back in. Bugs then lets Sam slip on a

banana peel A banana peel, called banana skin in British English, is the outer covering of a banana. Banana peels are used as food for animals, an ingredient in cooking, in water purification, for manufacturing of several biochemical products as well as f ...

and out the other door. When he hears Sam knocking at the door, Bugs pretends to be a grocer ("Sorry, can't use any today! '' lams door on him' Try next Wednesday."). Burning with anger, Sam bursts back in and threatens to blow Bugs to

Kingdom Come Kingdom Come may refer to: * "Kingdom come", a phrase in the Lord's Prayer in the Bible Film * ''Kingdom Come'' (1919 film), a Western short featuring Hoot Gibson * ''Kingdom Come'' (2001 film), a comedy starring LL Cool J * ''Kingdom Come'', ...

. Since Sam happens to be standing on the bomb bay doors, Bugs pulls a cord and sends Sam falling out of the plane. Sam panics mid-air and scrambles back into the plane. Fed up with Bugs' flying, Sam orders Bugs to turn the controls over to him. Instead, Bugs breaks off the

control column A yoke, alternatively known as a control wheel or a control column, is a device used for Pilot (aeronautics), piloting some fixed-wing aircraft.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 563. Aviation Supplies ...

and tosses it out of the plane, causing the aircraft to descend. Afraid of crashing, Sam activates the

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

pilot. The pilot comes out, assesses the situation, concludes it is hopeless, takes one of the two

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

s from the parachute locker, and jumps out of the plane itself. With just one parachute left, Bugs decides he and Sam should draw straws to see who gets it. Sam suggests that Bugs should draw the straws, then quickly grabs the parachute and his bag of stolen money. Sam jumps out, opens the parachute, and, while shouting at Bugs ("So long, sucker! Ha-ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha...Hoo-hoo...Hoo-hoo... Wooooh...."), the trailing off "hoo's" and "woooh's" come when he lands with the bank's bag of stolen money in his hands into a conveniently arriving police car full of officers. Bugs manages to stop the plane in midair (just a few feet from the ground) by pulling a lever (an ending reminiscent of that of ''

Falling Hare ''Falling Hare'' is a 1943 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The cartoon features Bugs Bunny. In this film, Bugs Bunny tries to prevent the wrecking of an American military aircraft by a gremlin. The setting is a ...

''). He is just thankful the plane comes with " air brakes" (a play on a different type of " air brakes").

Notes

Some scenes where Yosemite Sam has trouble staying inside the plane as well as the banana peel gag sending him outside the door, sticking to it in fear, were somewhat reused from the 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon ''

''. Scenes from this cartoon were reused in the 1963 Merrie Melodies cartoon ''

Devil's Feud Cake ''Devil's Feud Cake'' is a 1963 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' animated short directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on February 9, 1963, and stars Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. The film involves the traditional cultural motif of maki ...

'' and "Act 1" of the 1981 package film ''

The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie ''The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie'' (credited onscreen as ''Friz Freleng's Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie'') is a 1981 American animated comedy package film with a compilation of classic ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' Warn ...

''.

References

External links

* {{Friz Freleng 1952 films Looney Tunes shorts Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films Short films directed by Friz Freleng American aviation films Films scored by Carl Stalling Bugs Bunny films 1950s Warner Bros. animated short films Yosemite Sam films 1950s English-language films Films about bank robbery Films about aircraft hijackings Films with screenplays by Warren Foster Films produced by Edward Selzer English-language short films 1952 animated short films

Plot

See also

Notes

References

External links