User Reviews

This is one of my favorite Bugs Bunny shorts, which deftly illustrates one of Chuck Jones's rules for his Bugs cartoons, which was that Bugs should never go after anyone for no good reason-he has to be the aggrieved party first in some way and merely evening the score with a bad guy. Because I want to discuss some of the details, this is a spoiler warning:

The short opens with Bugs on his way to meet his cousin Herman when he runs into a boulder-sized gold nugget. After whooping it up about his good fortune ("I'm rich beyond the means of avarice!"), Bugs suddenly turns paranoid and protective, none of which escapes the notice of Nasty Canasta, who opens up a "bank" where Bugs foolishly deposits his gold. Thinking better of it, he goes back to get his gold, only to have Canasta literally close the bank facade on and around him, trapping him inside. Placing a boulder on the cube encasing the rabbit, Canasta rides off with Bugs's gold, leaving only Bugs's eyes visible and we hear him say, "You realize that this will not go unchallenged!" and we know that Canasta is in deep trouble.

Some six months later, as Canasta is marking a deck of cards in preparation of the opening of his saloon and casino, who should come in but our hero, suited up as a hayseed with his hair full of hay? If you said Bugs, you win a carrot! He asks if he can use Canasta's "Telio-phone", pointing at a slot machine. Canasta chuckles and says "Sure!", at which point Bugs hits the jackpot and a huge pile of coins pours out. Canasta urges him to stick around and play some games.

We all know who's going to win-Bugs is the hero here, after all-the fun is in watching just how Bugs makes Canasta the patsy, when Canasta thinks he's got a live sucker ripe for the fleecing. They play "marbles, Frisco style", with Bugs winning a penny bet on 23, being told that here, the customer always wins, Bugs placing a huge stack on 23 again and Canasta not only nailing a block of wood in place over 23 (so no one else-in an empty casino-can bet on 23), but using a rigged wheel, only to have the ball go into 23 because of Canasta's actions.

They then play poker, with a few cute puns and Canasta says, "I got a full house-what you got?", to which Bugs says, "Does that beat two pair? I have a pair of red ones (aces) and a pair of black ones (also aces) and Canasta is visibly stunned at losing. As Bugs is getting ready to leave, Canasta pulls out a revolver, Bugs then spins the cylinder and hits another jackpot. After a predictable (but still funny) final visual gag, Bugs leaves with a final funny line, which I won't spoil here.

This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth having. Highly recommended.

Written by Tedd Pierce and directed by Chuck Jones, featuring a great music score by Carl W. Stalling, "Barbary-Coast Bunny" is an enjoyable Bugs Bunny cartoon that takes place in 19th-Century San Francisco! When Bugs (voiced by Mel Blanc) discovers a mound of gold, a slick cigar-chomping gambler (voiced by Daws Butler) cheats him out of it and flees. Will this be the end of Bugs Bunny's fortune?

My favorite moments from this cartoon: Watch Bugs' eyes - and his animated reaction - when he first discovers the gold. Likewise, look at Bugs' wry facial expression as he starts to leave the saloon (with a wheelbarrow full of gold) and then tells the gambler that it isn't any fun to play with him when he overreacts. Plus, I like how Bugs plays roulette with the bullet chamber of the gambler's pistol.

"Barbary-Coast Bunny" can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 Disc 1. As I've pointed out in other written commentaries, director Chuck Jones can evoke laughter from the simplest facial expressions. In addition to Bugs Bunny's expressions that I've described above, watch the various expressions on the gambler's face each time that Bugs outsmarts him in a game.

. . . and that both institutions are run by the Criminal Class in this animated short released more than five decades before the Derivatives Crisis. As a banker, Nasty Canasta flattens Bugs Bunny's fortune with confiscatory 100% account fees. Nasty uses this ill-gotten loot to open a swank gambling palace. Bugs approaches this Den of Iniquity feigning ignorance, to put Nasty off his guard. In reality, the savvy hare is a magnet for gold coins, eliciting them like a Diviner flushes water out of deserts. From the slots to the roulette wheel to the poker table, the wily bunny attracts the jingling yellow coins like fleas accumulate dogs. Even Russian Roulette pays off for Bugs, after which Nasty blows his brains out. Of course, Warner always maintains that if there's anything nastier than a banker, it must be a million- or, a billionaire. At least 127 of the 1,090 official Looney Tunes warn us that if Scrooge McDuck ever takes up residence in the White House, we're all doomed. Premier Trudeau will be sure to build the Great Wall of Canada--at his country's expense--to keep out all the fleeing American Refugees. Will Bugs come out of semi-retirement to play another Trump card?