Racketeer Rabbit

Racketeer Rabbit is a 1946 Looney Tunes short directed by I. Freleng.

Plot[]

Bugs Bunny, looking for a place to pass the night, happens on an abandoned farm house, which, unbeknownst to Bugs, is the hideout of two gangsters, Rocky and Hugo. After claiming, "Huh! Sounds like Inner Sanctum!" while opening the squeaky front door, he drills a hole in the ground and sleeps. Shortly thereafter, Rocky and Hugo return after being pursued by rival gangsters. Bugs comically gets up in the middle of the firing session to use the bathroom, and returns to bed just as the gunfight ends.

That night, while Rocky is doling out his and Hugo's money, Bugs slyly cuts in after noticing Rocky isn't paying attention. He poses as several gang members until he gets all of their money. Rocky now wises up, and demands the money. Bugs refuses, even tanning under the light he focuses on him. But when Rocky then demands Bugs for the money again, and when Bugs refuses again, Rocky threatens him with a gun, causing Bugs to randomly spout out incomprehensibly at top speed. Rocky, annoyed at this, has Hugo take Bugs for a ride, which he gladly accepts, claiming, "I could use a breath of fresh air!" As Hugo takes Bugs for a ride, the latter suggests that they stop by for a hamburger.

Bugs returns to the house without Hugo, and Rocky doesn't notice at first. But when he does, he threatens Bugs continuously (all the while demanding that he help him get dressed). He demands to know where the "dough" is, and after promising not to look (since Bugs doesn't want him to know where he hid it) gets a bowl of pie dough in the face.

Bugs then poses as Mugsy, another gangster (flipping a coin like George Raft, complete with his Brooklyn accent), who threatens and fulfills a promise to give him curtains {"Aw, they're adorable", Rocky purrs}. Bugs then pretends to be the police, and has Rocky hide inside a chest while he "deals with" the police. In faux pas, Bugs acts out the police breaking in, demanding to know Rocky's whereabouts, a fight ensuing over the chest which he is in, and Bugs eventually throwing the cop out the window. Sometime during the phony fight, Bugs had placed a time bomb inside the chest (advising Rocky to "hold me watch"), and it now promptly blows up.

Rocky asks Bugs which direction the cops went. And after Bugs points the way, Rocky flees the house, not wanting to be left "with that crazy rabbit!" calling out to the police for help. Bugs sighs while imitating Rocky, "Some guys just can't take it, see? Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!"

Caricatures[]

• Edward G. Robinson - Rocky
• Peter Lorre - Hugo
• Bugsy Siegel
• George Raft

Availability[]

8mm
(Associated Artists Productions print)

8mm

Super 8

(1986) VHS
Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Bugs Bunny Cartoon Festival Featuring "Hold the Lion, Please"

(1987) VHS
Bugs Bunny No 1

(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

(1992) LaserDisc
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 3, Side 4: Friz Freleng

(2010) DVD
Public Enemies: The Golden Age of Gangster Films (1995 Turner dubbed version)

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

(2024) Blu-ray
Humoresque (restored)

The short is also included on later pressings of The Golden Age of Looney Tunes: Vol. 1 after "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips" was pulled due to complaints of racially offensive stereotypes.

Streaming[]

HBO Max (2020 - 2020) (restored)

Censorship[]

• On the now defunct WB channel, all of the gun gags (specifically Rocky shooting his pistol at the police out the window of the house, Hugo needing a board to keep himself standing while firing his machine gun, and Bugs walking under a line of gunfire and saying, "Low bridge" while getting some water from the kitchen) were edited from the cartoon's beginning. Also cut was the scene of Rocky threatening Bugs with a gun to the face to get him to talk, and Bugs babbling like an auctioneer.^[3]

Goofs[]

• During Rocky's attempt to interrogate Bugs, there are several occasions where they each talk, but their mouths do not move.
• After an explosion that partly disintegrated his clothing, the "Rocky" character dives out the window, and for a fleeting second is seen to be "bare-bottomed". However, in the next scene, running down the street, the seat of his pants is intact.
• When Bugs is helping Rocky get dressed, the gangster says "hand me my shirt." However, Bugs gives him his jacket as Rocky is already wearing a shirt.
• Rocky gets out of bed and has a gun in a gunbelt around his nightshirt. He says his prayers, gets back in bed then gets out again, but now the gun and gunbelt have disappeared.

Notes[]

• This cartoon marks Bugs' first encounters with gangsters/mobsters. Director Friz Freleng did this in hopes that the rabbit would face more challenging antagonists, as he felt that previous Bugs villains were too weak-willed or pathetic to give Bugs any real challenge. Since Freleng liked the mobster idea, he revived Rocky from this cartoon four years later in "Golden Yeggs" (1950), albeit drastically redesigned.
• This is the last known Warner Bros. cartoon with the "Direction" byline. Future cartoons would use "Directed by" to credit directors.
• Bugs' fast babble is in the style of the famous Lucky Strike tobacco auctioneer L.A. "Speed" Riggs, heard on radio's Your Hit Parade at the time of this cartoon's release.
• During the climax of this cartoon, Bugs tricks Rocky into thinking that the police are breaking in and pretends to fight them. A similar gag would be used in "Bugs and Thugs" (1954).
• Bugs' first line, "Huh! Sounds like Inner Sanctum!" refers to the then-popular horror mystery/suspense radio program called Inner Sanctum (1941–1952), which was famous for having a sound effect of a creaking door during the opening and closing.
• As the police chase the gangster, their cars pass a billboard reading "Hotel Friz", a reference to the picture's director.
• The audio of Rocky giving Hugo the order "Take this mug for a ride" was used at the start of the DC Talk hit "Luv Is a Verb" from their album Free at Last.
• The production code suggests that this cartoon was originally part of the Merrie Melodies series instead of Looney Tunes.^[4]

Gallery[]

Animation drawings

Animation drawing

Layout drawing

Model sheet

References[]

External links[]

• "Racketeer Rabbit" at the SFX Resource