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Bugs is riding in the mail car of a train, singing a goofy song, when a pint-sized bandit attempts to rob the train, only to have it pass clear over his head. He calls for his horse, but he needs a rolling step-stair to mount. He catches up and boards the train and begins to rob it – the mail clerk wraps himself in a package marked DON’T OPEN ‘TIL XMAS. The bandit accidentally throws Bugs Bunny in his sack. Bugs assumes the bandit Jesse James. The bandit scoffs and tells him (and the audience) who he actually is: “I’m Yosemite Sam, the meanest, toughest, rip-roarin’-est, Edward Everett Horton-est hombre what ever packed a six-shooter!” Bugs tells Sam that there is another tough guy in the train packing a “seven-shooter”, and Sam goes looking for him – when the encounter happens, it proves to be Bugs in disguise.
Various fights follow, as each character temporarily gets the upper hand for a while. After a skirmish, Bugs tricks Sam into dashing into a lounge car in which a horrific fight is occurring, actually stock film footage of a stereotypical western saloon fight. With the sounds of crashes and bangs in the background, Bugs calmly sings “Sweet Georgia Brown” to himself. Sam emerges tottering, banged and bruised, to a comical instrumental of “Rally ‘Round the Flag”, and Bugs effects the stereotyped voice of an African-American train porter, and has the dazed Sam convinced he’s supposed to disembark the train, piling him up with luggage; Sam even hands Bugs a silver coin as a tip, and Bugs says, “Thank you, suh!” As Sam steps off the moving train, the mail-drop hook grabs him and temporarily whisks him off the train, but he gets back on board.
Finally, Sam has Bugs tied up, dangling from a rope, weighted down by an anvil, and is fiendishly cutting through the rope, while the train is passing over a gorge. The narrator says, “Is this the end of Bugs Bunny? Will our hero be dashed to bits on the jagged rocks below?” and so on. Then Bugs walks across the screen, dressed in top hat and tails, carrying a bag full of reward money, and dragging the tied-up villain behind him, mocking the on-screen words (“Will he be doomed to utter destruction and be rendered non compos mentis?”). Bugs closes by turning to the audience and says “He don’t know me vewy well, do he?” as a bar of Kingdom Coming plays on the track at iris-out.
Full transcript to come
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2 Responses for "Hare Trigger"
I like the scene where Bugs Bunny impersonates Yosemite Sam’s hat and impersonates the voice of the sheriff that has come to get Yosemite Sam in order to confuse him long enough to deliberately pour red ink on his head, fooling Yosemite Sam into thinking he has been shot in the head. Bugs Bunny also sings “Oh bury me not on the lone prairie” until Yosemite Sam wakes up and realizes he’s been tricked and asks “Why did you pour ink on my head?” and Bugs runs off.
OMG, Bugs ROLLS A JOINT! You can tell it’s a joint because Bugs’ eyelids are half-closed!
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