User Reviews

' . . . Symphonies,' but it seems likely that Yosemite Sam would cuss AT such contemporary pablum as FLOWERS AND TREES, SPRING or FARMYARD SYMPHONY. Rather than watching a bunch of MERRY DWARFS or MONKEY MELODIES chimps shuffling around aimlessly, Warner cartoons such as HIGH DIVING HARE feature actual plots, and are really funny. (Who knew that thoughtful writers could inject humor into an animated short?) Though the corrupt dispensers of the cursed gelded statuettes rained them down upon the Dizzy outfit annually for "discovering" new shades of technicolor, America flocked to the Warner movie palaces during the Golden Age of Cinema whenever they felt in need of a good laugh!

"High Diving Hare" is a 7-minute Warner Bros cartoon from over 65 years ago, a point in time when cartoons were possibly at their peak. And this is one great example. I always thought Yosemite Sam was a more interesting villain than Elmer and here he finally gets his moment in the limelight. Sam wants his high diving show and he shall have it, only problem is that he is gonna be the star himself. He wants Bugs to jump down from the platform, but no matter what happens, it's always Sam who falls. There were a couple very funny moments in this Freleng/Pierce/Blanc short film and I highly recommend the watch. It needs a minute or 2 to really get going, but when it does, it's very good and was quite a joy to watch. thumbs up.

. . . in a stubborn attempt to terrorize Bugs Bunny during Warner Bros.' animated short, HIGH DIVING HARE. Sam figures he's cock-of-the-walk, waving his pair of pistols around in a gun-free entertainment venue, shooting randomly to amp up his intimidation quotient. Warner uses HIGH to warn us that no one is safe when guns are around. For instance, thousands of us have perished during recent years down the gun barrels of so called "bad apple" cops (which some estimates peg at 62% of the current total). Warner says apples don't kill people--guns do! Even more U.S. residents are now being slaughtered daily in road rage incidents, neighborhood quarrels, family murder-suicides, and plain old "stray bullet" Strafings. Several psychological studies have shown that any American's IQ is reduced by an average of 68 points the instant they pick up a loaded gun. Warner's HIGH illustrates this by showing the UNARMED Bugs being able to think circles around the over-armed Sam. Yosemite takes nine deadly falls to Mr. Bunny's none, which is Warner's way of saying that cowardly gun bullies such as Sam die a thousand deaths, as Brave Pacifists like Bugs can go but once.

I am not especially keen on the slapstick and farce of Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny episodes, but (the ones I've watched anyway) they always seem to have good qualities stuck into them like good bright paint on a canvas full of not-so-bright colours.

In "High Diving Hare", the good points of this Looney Tunes short are the quotes, the theme of the episode and a few of the cleverer slapstick and farce jokes. Bugs Bunny is a good character as usual here, unfortunately Yosemite Sam is not at his best, but it it does not matter too much. The thing I personally liked most about this short is the last line at the end (from Bugs Bunny) which is one of my new favourite Looney Tunes lines (I'd love to tell you what it is but I don't want to give away any spoilers).

Overall, a pretty much average episode (in my opinion anyway), but worth watching, especially for slapstick and farce lovers and for people who like Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny teamed up. Enjoy "High Diving Hare"! :-)

"High Diving Hare" is a great Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. As Freleng noted, this is essentially a one-gag picture, and indeed, it is delightful and exceptionally funny to see Bugs repeatedly get the best of the obnoxious Sam by tricking him into falling off a high-diving platform into a bucket of water (or sometimes NOT into the bucket!).

One particularly memorable gag involves Sam falling off the diving board and briefly rising back in the air to tell Bugs he hates him before plunging back down into the water. And, as some folks have already pointed out, near the end of the film the camera shows a still shot of Sam climbing up the ladder, followed by a few seconds of silence, and then Sam plunging down into the water without the viewer knowing how the mishap occurred. As director Greg Ford noted in his audio commentary for another Friz Freleng cartoon, "Ain't She Tweet" (1952), great humor is not so much what you see or hear but what you DON'T see or hear, as the aforementioned scene indicates.

And finally, let us not forget the musical contributions of Carl W. Stalling (I am a professional musician, so it is usually very easy for me to pick out all the tunes and melodies that I recognize in these cartoons), as for example the descending piano glissando in the overhead shot of Sam plunging head-first into the bucket of water. The music also adds to the humor of Bugs' Indian disguise when it takes on the stereotypical characteristics of an Indian war dance.

Bugs is the manager of a travelling show in the old west. Yosemite Sam sees the poster for the show and comes to see `Fearless Freep' carry out his daring high dive routine into a small container of water. However, Freep calls in sick and Bugs is forced to cancel that part of the show. Very unhappy that he paid his money for nothing, Sam forces Bugs to do the dive himself - but he didn't reckon on how tricky Bugs can be!

The reasons that I love Bugs Bunny cartoons can pretty much all be seen in this one short film - it is clever, funny, has great characters and relies on a simple set up to deliver one basic gag in several different ways. Here, after a bit of set up, the jokes are all based around the fact that Bugs and Sam are on top of a high diving board, with Sam forcing Bugs to jump. Needless to say, the one repeatedly climbing back up the ladder is not our favourite rabbit! That is not a spoiler as it is the nature of Sam's falls that are funny - they aren't very clever but they are imaginative and are delivered with real humour and relish!

Part of this great delivery are the characters themselves. Bugs is his great usual self here and is very funny and, as always, a great partner only serves to make Bugs stronger. Sam fills this requirement really well and makes his falls funnier. I have seen too many Bugs cartoons where he is less funny simply because he has no foil to work off - many great comedians are better with their straightman and the animated ones are no different. Very much a two-hander, this is a fine example of what they could do.

Overall this is a very funny cartoon that is successfully based on one running gag whereby Sam ends up falling from the platform. The material is simple but the delivery is good and the end result is a very funny cartoon that gets better with each passing fall!