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Rebel Rabbit is a 1949 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.

Plot[]

Bugs notices high bounties on various animals. $50 (about $540 today) on foxes, $75 (about $810 today) on bears, but then he becomes offended by the two-cent bounty (about $0.21 today) on rabbits. Bugs has himself mailed to Washington, D.C., where a supercilious game commissioner explains that the bounty is so low because, while foxes and bears are "obnoxious" animals who damage property, "rabbits are perfectly harmless." Bugs vows to prove that "a rabbit can be obnoxious than anybody" and storms out, slamming the game commissioner's door so hard that the glass shatters.

Bugs begins his campaign of direct action by attacking a guard on the leg with his own billy club. From there, he pulls stunts like renaming Barney Baruch's private bench to "Bugs Bunny", painting barbershop pole stripes on the Washington Monument, and rewiring the lights in Times Square to read "BUGS BUNNY WUZ HERE".

Various newspapers comment about Bugs' actions as he shuts down Niagara Falls (revealing some barrels underneath it). Bugs then sells the entire island of Manhattan back to the Native Americans and is shown walking through it wearing a stereotypical feathered headdress and smoking a peace pipe, asiding to the audience that "they wouldn't take it back unless I threw in a set of dishes". Afterwards, Bugs saws Florida off from the rest of the country, and quotes "South America, take it away!" Bugs then wonders what other kind of devilry he can commit. Bugs heads to Panama and swipes all the locks off the Panama Canal, which are represented as actual locks as he yells "I got 'em! I got 'em!". Bugs then heads to Arizona where he fills up the Grand Canyon. He then concludes his campaign by literally tying up railroad tracks.

An outraged Senator Claghorn–esque Congressman speaks before the United States Congress and demands that they take action against Bugs, but is interrupted by Bugs who emerges from the congressman's hat, slaps him and gives him a mocking kiss. The cartoon then shows live-action footage of the entire War Department mobilizing against him. Tanks come rumbling out of their garages, soldiers pour out of barracks, and bugles blow as the news of this is shown.

Bugs, now satisfied with the $1 million bounty on his head (about $10,750,000 today, although the bounty is for him specifically, not rabbits in general), is snapped out of a Tarzan yell by the whole US Army coming after him, much to his horror. Bugs then dives into a fox hole as artillery shells surround the foxhole. Bugs then says "Could it be that I carried this thing too far?" just as the shells explode. It then cuts to Alcatraz Island where Bugs, in his jail cell, finally remarks "Ehhh, could be...!"

Caricatures[]

Censorship[]

  • The Fox Network and WB Network airing of this cartoon cut the scene during the montage of Bugs destroying America where Bugs trades Manhattan back to the Native Americans and is shown walking through it wearing a feathered headband and smoking a peace pipe.[1]
  • Cartoon Network did air this cartoon uncut for a time until it aired with the scene where Bugs gives Manhattan back to the Indians cut, and the audio of the guns firing at Bugs after Bugs declares himself king of the beasts muted (which the latter edit is due to an audio error).

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

  • Financier and political consultant Bernard Baruch was famous for spending time on park benches in New York and Washington, an exceptionally obscure reference by today's standards.
  • Several barrels are revealed behind the waterfall when the water stops in reference to the fad stunt of going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
  • City stock footage from "Lights Fantastic" (1942) is used when Bugs rewires Times Square.

Gallery[]

References[]


External Links[]

Rebel Rabbit at SuperCartoons.net

Rebel Rabbit at B99.TV

Preceded by
Mississippi Hare
Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1940-1964
Succeeded by
High Diving Hare


v - e - d
Bugs Bunny short logo
1930s (Happy Rabbit)
Porky's Hare HuntPrest-O Change-OHare-um Scare-um
1940s
Elmer's Candid CameraA Wild HareElmer's Pet RabbitTortoise Beats HareHiawatha's Rabbit HuntThe Heckling HareAll This and Rabbit StewWabbit TwoubleThe Wabbit Who Came to SupperThe Wacky WabbitHold the Lion, PleaseBugs Bunny Gets the BoidFresh HareThe Hare-Brained HypnotistCase of the Missing HareTortoise Wins by a HareSuper-RabbitJack-Wabbit and the BeanstalkWackiki WabbitFalling HareLittle Red Riding RabbitWhat's Cookin' Doc?Bugs Bunny and the Three BearsBugs Bunny Nips the NipsHare Ribbin'Hare ForceBuckaroo BugsThe Old Grey HareStage Door CartoonHerr Meets HareThe Unruly HareHare TriggerHare ConditionedHare TonicBaseball BugsHare RemoverHair-Raising HareAcrobatty BunnyRacketeer RabbitThe Big SnoozeRhapsody RabbitRabbit TransitA Hare Grows in ManhattanEaster YeggsSlick HareGorilla My DreamsA Feather in His HareRabbit PunchBuccaneer BunnyBugs Bunny Rides AgainHaredevil HareHot Cross BunnyHare SplitterA-Lad-In His LampMy Bunny Lies Over The SeaHare DoMississippi HareRebel RabbitHigh Diving HareBowery BugsLong-Haired HareKnights Must FallThe Grey Hounded HareThe Windblown HareFrigid HareWhich Is WitchRabbit Hood
1950s
Hurdy-Gurdy HareMutiny on the BunnyHomeless HareBig House BunnyWhat's Up Doc?8 Ball BunnyHillbilly HareBunker Hill BunnyBushy HareRabbit of SevilleHare We GoRabbit Every MondayBunny HuggedThe Fair-Haired HareRabbit FireFrench RarebitHis Hare-Raising TaleBallot Box BunnyBig Top BunnyOperation: RabbitFoxy by Proxy14 Carrot RabbitWater, Water Every HareThe Hasty HareOily HareRabbit SeasoningRabbit's KinHare LiftForward March HareUpswept HareSouthern Fried RabbitHare TrimmedBully for BugsLumber Jack-RabbitDuck! Rabbit, Duck!Robot RabbitCaptain HareblowerBugs and ThugsNo Parking HareDevil May HareBewitched BunnyYankee Doodle BugsBaby Buggy BunnyBeanstalk BunnySahara HareHare BrushRabbit RampageThis is a Life?Hyde and HareKnight-mare HareRoman Legion-HareBugs' BonnetsBroom-Stick BunnyRabbitson CrusoeNapoleon Bunny-PartBarbary-Coast BunnyHalf-Fare HareA Star Is BoredWideo WabbitTo Hare Is HumanAli Baba BunnyBedeviled RabbitPiker's PeakWhat's Opera, Doc?Bugsy and MugsyShow Biz BugsRabbit RomeoHare-Less WolfHare-Way To The StarsNow, Hare ThisKnightly Knight BugsPre-Hysterical HareBaton BunnyHare-Abian NightsApes of WrathBackwoods BunnyWild and Woolly HareBonanza BunnyA Witch's Tangled HarePeople Are Bunny
1960s
Horse HarePerson to BunnyRabbit's FeatFrom Hare to HeirLighter Than HareThe Abominable Snow RabbitCompressed HarePrince ViolentWet HareBill of HareShishkabugsDevil's Feud CakeThe Million HareHare-Breadth HurryThe UnmentionablesMad as a Mars HareTransylvania 6-5000Dumb PatrolDr. Devil and Mr. HareThe Iceman DuckethFalse Hare
1970s-present
Bugs Bunny's Christmas CarolThe Fright Before ChristmasPortrait of the Artist as a Young BunnySpaced Out BunnyBox-Office BunnyBlooper BunnyInvasion of the Bunny SnatchersCarrotblancaFrom Hare to EternityDaffy Duck for PresidentHare and Loathing in Las Vegas
See also
Happy Rabbit
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