Haredevil Hare

Haredevil Hare is a 1948 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones.

Title[]

The title is a play on "daredevil."

Plot[]

Bugs Bunny gets dragged by scientists begging for his life. However, when the rocket gets loaded with carrots, Bugs changes his mind and climbs inside it. After the rocket gets lit, it launches into space a top speed. Bugs was just about to abort his mission to the moon, but he finds himself stuck inside the flying rocket. While clinging onto the construction, Bugs says, "After all, only a coward would desoit his ship." Bugs lets out a loud scream before he crash landed on the moon. Before setting foot on the moon, Bugs begins twitching uncontrollably. He continues doing so even while responding to the scientists back on Earth via walkie-talkie.

After finishing his nervous twitching, Bugs begins exploring around the moon until he finds Marvin the Martian about to blow up the Earth with his Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator. Bugs deals with the Martian. However, Marvin calls in the reserves, which prove to be a green Martian dog called K-9.

Bugs attempts to contact Earth about the situation with Marvin's intention of blowing up the Earth, but he only receives a transmission of the "Grubby Crunchies" jingle. Bugs outwits K-9 by pulling his Reverse Psychology gag so that the Martian dog lets him have the the modulator. When K-9 realizes that he was tricked, he rushes towards Bugs as the rabbit says to him, "Gee, kid, I didn't know you cared." With K-9 feeling flattered and distracted, Bugs runs off before Marvin shows up and kicks K-9 in his rear end for his incompetence. Bugs gives the modulator back to Marvin, intending to blow him up, but blows up the moon instead, leaving Bugs, Marvin and K-9 stranded on the moon's remains in the middle of outer space, with Bugs yelling to Ground Control to get him back to Earth.

Availability[]

(1989) VHS
Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs Bunny Classics: Special Collector's Edition

(1989) LaserDisc
Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs Bunny Classics: Special Collector's Edition

(1991) VHS
Bugs Bunny Collection: Bugs Bunny's Comedy Classics (listed but not included in first release due to a mastering error, fixed in later shipments)

(1991) LaserDisc
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1, Side 10: The Art of Bugs

(1992) VHS
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 10: The Art of Bugs

(1998) VHS
Looney Tunes Presents: Marvin the Martian & K-9: 50 Years on Earth! (1995 dubbed version)

(1999) VHS
Looney Tunes Presents: Marvin the Martian: Space Tunes [reissued version] (1995 dubbed version without notice)

(2001) VHS
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition, Vol. 14: Cartoon Superstars (1995 USA Turner Dubbed Version)

(2003) DVD
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc Three

(2003) DVD
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1

(2004) DVD
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 1

(2004) DVD
Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volumes 1 & 2, Disc 1

(2010) DVD
The Essential Bugs Bunny, Disc 1

(2010) DVD
3 Spooky DVD Treats

(2011) Blu-ray
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 2

(2011) DVD
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 2

(2014) DVD
Looney Tunes Center Stage Volume 1

(2015) DVD
Looney Tunes Center Stage

(2016) DVD
Looney Tunes Triple Feature

(2018) DVD
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 1-3 Repack

(2020) DVD
Bugs Bunny's Lunar Tunes Marvin the Martian Space Tunes Double Feature (same as the 1998 VHS, 1995 USA Turner Dubbed Version without the notice)

(2020) Blu-ray
Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, Disc 1 (restored)

Streaming[]

Boomerang (2017 - 2024)

HBO Max (2020 - 2023)

Max (2023 - )

Notes[]

• This short marks the debut of Marvin the Martian and his Martian pet dog, K-9, who spoke in this short.
• Marvin's nasal voice in this short sounds much different from other appearances. In his next appearance, "The Hasty Hare", Marvin gets his familiar nasal voice, which would continue to be used in later appearances. His familiar nasal voice is based on the voice of the unseen emcee, who says, "Shall we give it to him, folks?" from "What's Cookin' Doc?"
  • In addition, Marvin's character design in his debut short is slightly different, as he originally had larger eyes and yellow gloves. Beginning with "The Hasty Hare", Marvin is redesigned slightly to have smaller eyes and white gloves. Marvin would reappear in his original character design from this short in Looney Tunes Cartoons.
• Mel Blanc creates the sound of the Martian's bugle by simultaneously vocalizing and squeezing his hands together in rhythm.
• This was the latest short that was sold to Associated Artists Productions in 1956. This is also Bugs Bunny's final short in the a.a.p. package, the last Chuck Jones-directed short in the a.a.p. package, and Marvin the Martian's only short in the a.a.p. package.
• "Kilroy was here" is scrawled on one of the rocks Bugs strolls past on the moon. This phrase originates from the graffiti used by GIs around the world during World War II, which was found on fences and buildings all over Europe. The origin supposedly lay with a US Army sergeant who, after checking equipment, would write on it "Kilroy was here". Usually, it was accompanied by a little peeking, bulbous-nosed figure.
• Shortly after the rocket's liftoff, the music heard in the background is from "Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey", an excerpt from Richard Wagner's "Götterdämmerung", the last movement in Der Ring des Nibelungen.
• In retrospect, Chuck Jones considered this one of his animated shorts that managed to "turn the corner" towards strange, new, and enchanting directions because it was the first outer space-themed cartoon.
• The short's production code shows that this short was produced before "You Were Never Duckier", "The Pest That Came to Dinner", and "Hot Cross Bunny", all of which are in the post-1948 package instead of the a.a.p. package.

Music Cues[]

• Rough Riders March by Hugo Riesenfield - Played in the opening
• Dawn and Siegfield's Rhine Adventure - Played when Bugs is in the rocket.
• Boy Scout in Switzerland by Raymond Scott - K-9's Stampede. Also used in "The Hasty Hare".
• The Little Brown Jug - The ad on the walkie talkie after Bugs sent out a S.O.S.

Transcript[]

Haredevil Hare/Transcript

Gallery[]

Lobby card

Production cel

Background painting

References[]

External links[]

• "Haredevil Hare" on the SFX Resource Wiki