Buckaroo Bugs


Buckaroo Bugs is a 1944 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The cartoon was released on August 26, 1944, and features Bugs Bunny.

Plot

The film is set in a small town of the "San Fernando Alley". According to the narration, "Our story begins when the West was young, and early pioneers settled down to never more roam, and made the San Fernando Alley their home." Despite its Western setting, the short makes references to World War II rationing. A pretend train robbery, lists as "valuable cargo": butter, gasoline, sugar, shoes, and tires – all of them items for which there was a shortage in the War due to rationing. The short also has Bugs stealing all the carrots from a victory garden, which is another World War II reference.
Unlike in most shorts, Bugs Bunny serves as an antagonist. In the cartoon, he plays a carrot thief called the Masked Marauder, whom Brooklyn's "Red Hot Ryder" must bring to justice. The cartoon portrays Red Hot Ryder as a dimwit who cannot distinguish Bugs Bunny from the Masked Marauder, his black horse named Horsey with a mind of its own, and his good-natured slowness is consistently mocked: When Bugs Bunny as the Masked Marauder threatens to shoot Red Ryder, saying, "Stick 'em up, or I'll blow your brains out," the latter treats it like a choice, replying, "Well, now, that's mighty neighborly of you."
In the end, Red Hot Ryder catches on, but is unable to catch the Masked Marauder. Bugs tricks him and his black horse into jumping into the Grand Canyon and they crashed down, making a man-and-horse-shaped hole into the ground, Red Hot Ryder finally figures out that Bugs is really the Masked Marauder. Bugs pops up from beneath the ground with a lit candle and says "That's right! That's right! You win the $64 question!". He then kisses him and blows out the candle, with Bob Clampett's "Bey-woop" effect to close the cartoon.

Cast