Bugs and Thugs
Encyclopedia
Bugs and Thugs is a 1953 animated
short film in the Looney Tunes
series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons
, Inc and released in early 1954.
It features Bugs Bunny
with Rocky and Mugsy
. This is the first cartoon with Mugsy in present-day form. The film is a semi-remake of Racketeer Rabbit
, with a similar oven gag. It was directed by the creator of Bugs' antagonists, Friz Freleng
. As in Racketeer Rabbit, the running gag
of Bugs placing a villain in a "hiding place" which results in the villain getting the worst of it is repeated in 2006's Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas
, wherein the villain is greedy Daffy Duck
.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Bugs, Mugsy drives up to the bank, which Rocky invades and robs of an undisclosed sum. When Bugs accidentally walks into Rocky and Mugsy's getaway car – mistaking it for a taxi – and also mistaking the giant bags of cash for laundry, Rocky asks Bugs "How much do ya know?" Failing to realize that he is in the same vehicle as a robber who is asking him what he knows about the hold-up, Bugs responds "Who, me? Oh, I know a lots of things. Two and two is four, Carson City
is the capital of Nevada
, uh, George Washington
was the first President." Rocky responds, "This guy knows too much, Mugsy. We'll take him for a ride." Rocky keeps telling Bugs to be shut up or he will get shot. Bugs then asks Mugsy to stop at a "nice, clean gas station". Bugs gets out of the car and receives a nickel
from the easily fooled Mugsy so he can use the pay telephone. Bugs pushes in the nickel and calls the police to report Rocky and Mugsy. He says "Hello, Police Department? I've got the bank robbers. We're on Highway 55, headed west. We're driving a '52 Acme
- straight 8 - overhead valve
s - with California
license plates!" as Mugsy grabs Bugs out of the telephone booth and they escape. The gag is Bugs still holding on to the telephone – and a cartoon policeman with a thick Irish accent is pulled out of the telephone wire onto the road ("Operator – we've been disconnected!").
Soon, Rocky and Mugsy's car stops in front of a railroad grade crossing protected by a swinging "wigwag"
signal warning of the approach of a train. Rocky tells Bugs to let them know when it's clear. Bugs tells them to go and the oncoming train proceeds to smash into the car with Rocky and Mugsy still inside.
Bugs is soon forced to fix the car at gunpoint by Rocky. Mugsy was told to button his lip and literally buttons his lip. Bugs repairs everything except one tire and says that they're stuck. Rocky tells Bugs that he is the only one stuck and forces Bugs at gunpoint to run alongside the car while holding the right front axle (Rocky tells Mugsy to take the "scenic route"). Soon, they arrive at their cliff house, and then Rocky tells Mugsy to let Bugs have it. Mugsy is about to kill Bugs but then Bugs makes Mugsy think the idea is to let Bugs have the gun ("Come, come, you heard what the boss said- let me have it!"). Bugs then shoots Mugsy, who stumbles into the room where Rocky is and says "I let him have it boss, just like you said," and faints landing on top of Rocky, who punches him to get him off.
Soon, Rocky decides to really let Bugs have "it," but Bugs yells out a fake alarm scream that the police have arrived and surrounded the house. Bugs hides Rocky and Mugsy in the stove when they fall for Bugs' fake alarm. Bugs pretends to be the policeman with an Irish accent and be himself trying to hide Rocky and Mugsy. While "interrogating" himself, Bugs denies hiding them in the stove, turning on the heat of the stove and throws a lighted match in the oven to prove his innocence. The stove explodes, and "the policeman", convinced, leaves. Rocky and Mugsy crawl out of the stove, somewhat scorched. Then, the real policemen come and, in an exact match of Bugs' previous ruse, asks where Rocky and Mugsy are. When Bugs is about to throw another lighted match into the oven, Rocky and Mugsy quickly run out of the stove and piteously beg the policeman to arrest them. The next day, Bugs becomes a criminal-catching detective talking on the phone, as a member of Detectives Guild: Local 839 (a pun on the cartoonists' union
), styling himself as "Bugs Bunny, Private Eyeball
– Thugs Thwarted, Arsonists Arrested, Bandits
Booked, Forgers
Found, Counterfeiters
Caught, and Chiselers
Chiseled."
The season 14 episode of South Park
, Crippled Summer
has characters that mirror the two thugs in this short.
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
short film in the Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
, Inc and released in early 1954.
It features Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
with Rocky and Mugsy
Rocky and Mugsy
Rocky and Mugsy are animated cartoon characters in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. They were created by Friz Freleng.-Character Biography:...
. This is the first cartoon with Mugsy in present-day form. The film is a semi-remake of Racketeer Rabbit
Racketeer Rabbit
Racketeer Rabbit is a 1946 animated short film in the Looney Tunes series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. It stars Bugs Bunny, who duels with a pair of racketeers or gangsters, Rocky and Hugo forerunners who resemble Edward G. Robinson and Peter Lorre...
, with a similar oven gag. It was directed by the creator of Bugs' antagonists, Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
. As in Racketeer Rabbit, the running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
of Bugs placing a villain in a "hiding place" which results in the villain getting the worst of it is repeated in 2006's Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas
Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas
Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas is a 2006 animated direct-to-video film starring the Looney Tunes and directed by Charles Visser and produced by Warner Bros. Animation...
, wherein the villain is greedy Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
.
Plot
It begins with Bugs emerging from his hole in a city park, reading the newspaper on his way to the nearest bank, for a withdrawal from his personal depository of carrots. He reads that "Rabbit Season Opens Today" and comments on his pleasure of living in a “more secure” urban environment (miraculously avoiding heavy traffic crossing the street while reading the paper).Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Bugs, Mugsy drives up to the bank, which Rocky invades and robs of an undisclosed sum. When Bugs accidentally walks into Rocky and Mugsy's getaway car – mistaking it for a taxi – and also mistaking the giant bags of cash for laundry, Rocky asks Bugs "How much do ya know?" Failing to realize that he is in the same vehicle as a robber who is asking him what he knows about the hold-up, Bugs responds "Who, me? Oh, I know a lots of things. Two and two is four, Carson City
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
is the capital of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, uh, George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
was the first President." Rocky responds, "This guy knows too much, Mugsy. We'll take him for a ride." Rocky keeps telling Bugs to be shut up or he will get shot. Bugs then asks Mugsy to stop at a "nice, clean gas station". Bugs gets out of the car and receives a nickel
Nickel (United States coin)
The nickel is a five-cent coin, representing a unit of currency equaling five hundredths of one United States dollar. A later-produced Canadian nickel five-cent coin was also called by the same name....
from the easily fooled Mugsy so he can use the pay telephone. Bugs pushes in the nickel and calls the police to report Rocky and Mugsy. He says "Hello, Police Department? I've got the bank robbers. We're on Highway 55, headed west. We're driving a '52 Acme
Acme Corporation
The Acme Corporation is a fictional corporation that features prominently in the Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons as a running gag featuring outlandish products that fail catastrophically at the worst possible times...
- straight 8 - overhead valve
Overhead valve
An overhead valve engine, also informally called pushrod engine or I-head engine, is a type of piston engine that places the camshaft within the cylinder block , and uses pushrods or rods to actuate rocker arms above the cylinder...
s - with California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
license plates!" as Mugsy grabs Bugs out of the telephone booth and they escape. The gag is Bugs still holding on to the telephone – and a cartoon policeman with a thick Irish accent is pulled out of the telephone wire onto the road ("Operator – we've been disconnected!").
Soon, Rocky and Mugsy's car stops in front of a railroad grade crossing protected by a swinging "wigwag"
Wigwag (railroad)
Wigwag is the nickname given to a type of railroad grade crossing signal once common in North America, named for the pendulum-like motion it used to signal the approach of a train...
signal warning of the approach of a train. Rocky tells Bugs to let them know when it's clear. Bugs tells them to go and the oncoming train proceeds to smash into the car with Rocky and Mugsy still inside.
Bugs is soon forced to fix the car at gunpoint by Rocky. Mugsy was told to button his lip and literally buttons his lip. Bugs repairs everything except one tire and says that they're stuck. Rocky tells Bugs that he is the only one stuck and forces Bugs at gunpoint to run alongside the car while holding the right front axle (Rocky tells Mugsy to take the "scenic route"). Soon, they arrive at their cliff house, and then Rocky tells Mugsy to let Bugs have it. Mugsy is about to kill Bugs but then Bugs makes Mugsy think the idea is to let Bugs have the gun ("Come, come, you heard what the boss said- let me have it!"). Bugs then shoots Mugsy, who stumbles into the room where Rocky is and says "I let him have it boss, just like you said," and faints landing on top of Rocky, who punches him to get him off.
Soon, Rocky decides to really let Bugs have "it," but Bugs yells out a fake alarm scream that the police have arrived and surrounded the house. Bugs hides Rocky and Mugsy in the stove when they fall for Bugs' fake alarm. Bugs pretends to be the policeman with an Irish accent and be himself trying to hide Rocky and Mugsy. While "interrogating" himself, Bugs denies hiding them in the stove, turning on the heat of the stove and throws a lighted match in the oven to prove his innocence. The stove explodes, and "the policeman", convinced, leaves. Rocky and Mugsy crawl out of the stove, somewhat scorched. Then, the real policemen come and, in an exact match of Bugs' previous ruse, asks where Rocky and Mugsy are. When Bugs is about to throw another lighted match into the oven, Rocky and Mugsy quickly run out of the stove and piteously beg the policeman to arrest them. The next day, Bugs becomes a criminal-catching detective talking on the phone, as a member of Detectives Guild: Local 839 (a pun on the cartoonists' union
The Animation Guild, I.A.T.S.E. Local 839
The Animation Guild, I.A.T.S.E. Local 839 is a professional guild and union of animation artists, writers and technicians. It was formed in 1952...
), styling himself as "Bugs Bunny, Private Eyeball
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
– Thugs Thwarted, Arsonists Arrested, Bandits
Bandits
Bandits is a 2001 American crime-comedy drama film directed by Barry Levinson. It stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. Filming began in October 2000 and ended in February 2001. It helped Thornton earn a National Board of Review Best Actor Award for 2001...
Booked, Forgers
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
Found, Counterfeiters
Counterfeit
To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
Caught, and Chiselers
Chisel
A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.In use, the chisel is forced into the material...
Chiseled."
The season 14 episode of South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
, Crippled Summer
Crippled Summer
"Crippled Summer" is the seventh episode and mid-season finale of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 202nd overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 28, 2010...
has characters that mirror the two thugs in this short.
Trivia
- An ad for Acme motor oil can be seen on the wall left of the phone booth which Bugs uses to phone the police. The ad reads with the slogan "Change your oil to Acme".