Tad Pole
. . . for HACKSAW RIDGE, the alternate ending (or "Director's Cut" included as a Special Feature on Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 5, Disc 3) version of Bugs Bunny's HARE RIBBIN' surpasses the tamer theatrically released incarnation of this soggy story for the distinction of being perhaps the worst Bugs Bunny cartoon short ever (there still may be one or two I haven't viewed yet). There's a difference between being "Looney" and going off the rails into nonsensical derangement; it's analogous to Vincent Van Gogh painting "Starry Night" or sunflowers, and him cutting off one of his own ears as a piece of "performance art." No sane person could get a chuckle out of five minutes of Bugs as an underwater harp-strumming mermaid playing tag with a foreign-accented (and also illogically water-breathing) pooch. However, when the mutt "bites" Bugs in half and seems to be bursting with a mouthful of fresh rabbit, this appears to be the source material for the 75 chatty Purple Heart Winners U.S. Army Medic Desmond Doss is shown roping off HACKSAW RIDGE like so many slabs of sushi. Most of these wounded men are pictured as being cut off at the waist (as Bugs pretends to be in HARE RIBBIN'). Besides all the Flame-Throwered Japanese Defenders of Okinawa running around screaming, most of Gibson's other war Quick & Dead also are shown to be split in half, like Bugs between the bread slices. Perhaps HARE RIBBIN' could have been better if the Looney Tuners had thrown in dozens of cute cadaver-chomping rats going after Bugs' "leftovers," as Mel did with his hordes of World War Two casualties.
slymusic
Directed by Robert Clampett, "Hare Ribbin'" is a wildly hilarious Bugs Bunny cartoon that mostly takes place underwater. The plot is one of the simplest: a red-haired dog (with a laughable accent) desires a rabbit sandwich and chooses Bugs for his target.Highlights: Bugs is a great dialectician with his disguises as a French waiter and then as Elmer Fudd. The dog sniffs Bugs and declares, "B.O.!" Bugs and the dog briefly play tag to the familiar accompaniment of Mendelssohn's Spring Song. Bugs bounces the dog like a basketball (to a wonderfully distorted musical accompaniment) before throwing him into a hole in the ground. And Bugs might be a little embarrassing in his mermaid disguise as he plays the harp and sings, but the dog seems to like it! "Hare Ribbin'" can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 Disc 3. On the same disc is an alternate version of this cartoon, in which one particular gag might be a bit too painful to watch.
ccthemovieman-1
Some kind of dog: a combination French Poodle and Russian Hound, is out looking for a rabbit. Immediately, we see he is another dumb foil for Bugs Bunny. It seems Bugs always comes across the dumbest characters, which is a shame because few animated animals ever match wits with the clever BB. This dog is really stupid. After sniffing Bugs up and down his body, the only thing he knows is that Bugs has "B.O!" Thanks, we needed to know that!After two minutes the chase scene begins as the dumb pooch finally reaches that IS a rabbit. In one of the more bizarre sequences I've seen in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, Bugs dives underwater, hops away (on the sand at the bottom of the lake) and then is seen sitting there with a blonde wig, a mermaid's tale and playing a harp and singing. He's in drag, with lipstick, long lashes and the whole bit. Of course, the stupid dog thinks the "woman" is super hot.Bugs continues to do what he does best - tease this stupid idiot. All of it, including Bugs pretending to be a French waiter, is done underwater. How are these two animals breathing? I guess the writers didn't bother with that detail. They didn't bother with a lot of humor, either, or it's just too sappy for today's crowd. I love Bugs Bunny but you can't win them all. This was not one of his best.
Lee Eisenberg
So the dog was supposed to have a Russian accent?! I never realized that; I had always thought that he sounded kind of effeminate - maybe he's supposed to be a Russian woman. But the Soviet Union was our ally during WWII, so I can't really tell what it's supposed to mean that he sounds Russki. As for the aspect that they can breathe underwater...well, this is a cartoon, so nothing has to make sense. The point is for Bugs Bunny to be irreverent, even dressing up as a woman (interesting that they were able to get that into a cartoon back then). It's pretty funny, but still sort of brain-twisting.Yeah, maybe that shouldn't have happened to a dog.