User Reviews

Bugs is strumming his banjo, singing merrily to himself on a hill overlooking a motel. In one of the rooms, an opera singer "Giovanni Jones" is practicing. The big guy, however, is getting annoying hearing Bugs wail away nearby and distracting him. He goes outside, grabs the banjo and demolishes it!

He goes back to his room and begins singing again, only to be distracted once more. Now Bugs is singing and playing a harp! The same thing happens, and then again with Bugs playing a tuba. By now, after getting the stuffing beaten out of him and his instruments three times, our rabbit hero declares "war."

At night at the Hollywood Bowl, the opera singer performs and Bugs gets his revenge! Along the way, he imitates Leopold Stowkowski.

Overall: excellent material, clever and a bunch of laughs.

Chuck Jones's 'Long Haired Hare' is a much loved semi-classic largely thanks to its final few minutes. Pitting Bugs against opera singer Giovanni Jones, 'Long Haired Hare' is a typical example of how Warner cartoons set out to prick pomposity and expose those with lofty aspirations as just as ludicrous as the rest of us. As was usually the case with Jones's take on Bugs, he is presented as an easy going, likable character who is driven to extremes by the unforgiving nature of others. In the superb set up, Bugs' jolly attempts to have a good old-fashioned sing-song are interrupted by the rotund opera singer who is attempting to practice nearby. Despite his violent reactions and destruction of Bugs' instruments, the rabbit generously gives him a three-strikes-and-you're-out chance. When he exceeds this, however, Bugs unleashes the full force of his revenge. The middle of the cartoon sags slightly while Bugs indulges in some pretty standard heckling (prime example: substituting a stick of dynamite for a pen) but its quickly compensated for by the unforgettable ending in which Bugs assumes the role of conductor and takes Giovanni Jones through a vocal tour de force which results in the collapse of the building. 2/3 of 'Long Haired Hare' stands up against Jones's (Chuck, not Giovanni) very best work and the remaining 1/3 is an enjoyable enough romp ensuring that the cartoon has comfortably and deservedly passed into legend.

"Long-Haired Hare," directed by Chuck Jones, finds Bugs Bunny pitted against a pompous, overweight opera tenor named Giovanni Jones. While trying to rehearse for his upcoming concert, Giovanni is constantly distracted by the strains of non-operatic music emerging from Bugs' voice, banjo, harp, and tuba. Before he knows it, Giovanni winds up singing along with Bugs until he realizes how distracted he has become. The big mistake Giovanni makes is his act of physically punishing Bugs several times, because as animation historian Michael Barrier pointed out, Giovanni simply had no idea what kind of can of worms he was opening when he picked on Bugs!

Highlights at the concert include Bugs' hilarious disguise as a bobbysoxer and his act of whacking the orchestra shell with a mallet, causing Giovanni to shake violently and fall into a tuba. But that's nothing compared to the grand finale! Bugs disguises himself as Leopold Stokowski, to the delight of the orchestra. With a brilliant smirk on his face, Bugs takes over the conducting duties and causes Giovanni endless strain & dishevelment while holding a high G for several minutes.

Without any doubt, "Long-Haired Hare" is a terrific Bugs Bunny cartoon. The three pieces of music from this cartoon that I recognize are "Largo al factotum" from "The Barber of Seville" by Rossini, the Prelude to Act III of "Lohengrin" by Wagner, and the Sextet from "Lucia di Lammermoor" by Donizetti.

Quite happily playing the banjo and singing on the edge of his Rabbit hole, Bugs is rudely interrupted and his banjo broken when a huge, bullish Opera singer called Giovanni Jones throttles him for bugging him during opera practice. Of course you realize, this means war.

Bugs goes to his Opera and disguises himself as top conductor Leopold Stokowski (from Disney's Fantasia). Jones easily falls for the disguise and Bugs proceeds to torture him with the most difficult and straining Opera conducting ever. And it serves him right.

The cartoon reaches high and mighty levels of insane humor when Bugs forces Jones to maintain a huge, high note for several minutes, bringing on almost death. Once Jone's voice, and confidence, has caved in, Bugs brings his banjo back for a quick strum and last laugh.

Don't mess with the Bunny.

Even though cartoons aren't my strong suit, I feel as though I'm required to talk about at least one starring one of the most well known animated characters from the past century: Bugs Bunny. This film (which I've already seen dozens of times) is one of the funniest he has ever appeared in, even though it's incredibly hard to single out just one. It begins with him singing a song from the movie The Time, the Place and the Girl outside the home of an opera singer, Giovanni Jones. The latter is practicing for a big opera concert where he is to perform, but finds it impossible to focus on singing with Bugs making noise outside. He storms out there and destroys Bugs' banjo. In a separate incident, Bugs is playing a harp outside Giovanni's house, which again leads to the opera singer getting frustrated. He slams both ends of the harp down on Bugs' neck, trapping his head inside it. Bugs Bunny, now convinced Giovanni isn't just a music hater but a rabbit hater as well, plans his vengeance. When the night comes for Giovanni's concert, Bugs stands on top of the amphitheater and pounds it with a large hammer, sending strong vibrations down to the stage that make Giovanni fall headfirst into a tuba. Bugs continues to sabotage Giovanni's efforts by filling his throat sprayer with a chemical that causes his head to shrink and voice to become more high pitched. He also poses as an obsessed fan begging Giovanni for his autograph and gives him a stick of dynamite in place of a pen. As Giovanni prepares to perform his last set, Bugs disguises himself as a famed conductor named Leopold, and all the musicians on the ground are fooled. "Leopold" instructs Giovanni to do a series of notes to gauge his singing skill, after which he holds his left hand up high and instructs him to hold a high G note. Bugs leaves his glove floating in the air (while Giovanni continues to sing) so he can order a pair of earmuffs in about 5 seconds. When he returns, he finds the oxygen-starved Giovanni's face turning all different colors until finally the theater collapses on him. As the audience cheers, Bugs notices a large rock sitting on a beam right above Giovanni. He directs the singer to sing the note again, causing it to fall. Finally victorious, Bugs takes out a (new) banjo and begins playing. This short is the very definition of classic. While there isn't really much to comment on because it's so short, Chuck Jones was never short on innovation. Bugs is kind of depicted as someone who doesn't know what actual good music is and does nothing but embarrass himself (at least in Giovanni's eyes) whenever he plays his banjo. Speaking of which, the instrument itself has an undeserved reputation of being the favorite of anti-intellectuals everywhere. Giovanni is made out to be a sophisticate, and lives in a spacious house with a pool, cacti, and abstract sculptures. I realize it's just a cartoon, but it's my habit to analyze everything I watch. Overall, Long Haired Hare is one of the most well made Looney Tunes, and shows how when someone crosses the normally laid back Bugs, he means business.

"Long-Haired Hare" is a cartoon movie from over 65 years ago starring the famous Bugs Bunny. This means of course that Mel Blanc is on board too and the director-writer team are Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese as so many other times. Those cartoons about opera are among Bugs' most famous to this date and I wonder why that is. Maybe the reason is that a talented opera singer is nothing you would expect in that kind of genre. In any case, it would have been fine for me if the music had been a bit worse and the comedy a bit funnier. Early on, Bugs is constantly harassed by a talented opera singer because Bugs' different ways of making musics disturb him during his practice. Of course, this means war, so Bugs takes revenge when the opera star has his great night. Not among the best Warner Bros. cartoons I have seen. Not even close. Also a strange titles that does not really fit the movie.

An essential part of a Looney Tunes cartoon is the music. From the Road Runner music to convey speed or misery and imminent doom, to the normal sound effects. But opera affects the cartoons in a big way.

In this cartoon, Bugs Bunny's music-playing disrupts opera singer Giovanni Jones's rehearsals, which leads to retaliation by the opera singer. Bugs is repeatedly thwarted in attempts to make music, until he decides to get his own back that night by conducting the opera.

It's stupendously funny, like when Giovanni is put off by the singing rabbit and the fat singer begins dancing merrily only to realize he's gone wrong. His expressions of frustration as Bugs starts playing again are great. But Bugs steals the show when he calmly dispatches the singer through his conducting. His raised eyebrows and earmuffs are great. It's on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection and should be.

Another classic Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. In Long-Haired Hare, our rabbit likes to sing and play the banjo, harp, and tuba. But Giovanni Jones, an opera singer who lives nearby, is constantly distracted to the point of joining along. So he hits Bugs with those instruments. After getting his ears tied to a tree branch causing his head to go up and down, Bugs declares, "Of course you know, this means war!" Attaboy, Bugs! If you haven't seen this yet, I won't spoil the rest for you. Instead, I'll just say this: When Bugs gets even, he GETS even! As always, Michael Maltese deserves credit for thinking up some of the funniest cartoons of all time.

LONG-HAIRED HARE is one of a number of Warners Cartoon that made in the late 1940s and into the 1950s that spoofed high culture - the best being WHAT'S OPERA DOC? But this one is also like several other Warner cartoons when Bugs confronted authoritarian types (a floor walker in a department store, a magician named Ala Bama), and trounced them in confrontations.

Here his opponent is a temperamental opera singer named Giovanni Jones. We see Bugs in the hills above Hollywood strumming a banjo singing a jaunty tune ("What do they do on a rainy day in Rio?") and below in a mansion is Jones practicing Figaro's famous introductory aria from THE BARBER OF SEVILLE (which he will be performing that night). But every time he is rehearsing he is hearing Bugs singing that jaunty song. He retaliates by destroying the banjo. Then he goes back to rehearsing, but Bugs has started playing the tune on a harp. Jones begins singing and dancing to the words of Bugs' tune, when he realizes what has happened. He proceeds to destroy the harp. Then he hears Bugs on a tuba, and pulls Bugs up through the tuba and ties him to a tree branch by his ears, pulling him down so that Bugs' head hits the branch several times (like a rubber band being snapped). Bugs says that this means war - and carries it to the Hollywood Bowl.

He tests the fabled acoustics of the bowl by hitting the dome with a mallet causing the dome and stage to vibrate like an earthquake is occurring. He causes Giovanni to swallow alum, so that his voice and head shrink. He has the pompous singer sign a teeny-bopper's autograph, with a stick of dynamite as a pen. And finally he takes over the orchestra as "Leopold" (his hair is whitened as Stowkowski's is) to conduct the conclusion.

Now I saw the entire ten minute cartoon on YOU TUBE. In the past I have seen a truncated version on television that cut out most of the damage Bugs does to Giovanni prior to the arrival of "Leopold". I did not realize that much more was done in the course of the cartoon than the shattering conclusion. There is a lot that television editing owes the television audience an apology for - certainly for weakening the full effect of an entertaining piece of work like this is one thing that a real apology is needed for. By shortening it, it made less sense to the viewer - as Bugs just seems to be there for that one long final act of his. We know Bugs. When he gets even - he gets even!

Bugs loves music. He's just out in the meadow, minding his own business, playing "A Rainy Night in Rio" on his banjo like any other fun-loving rabbit. But who should come outside but the great big pompous opera star, Giovanni Jones, needing quiet for his own rehearsal. After Jones smashes Bugs's banjo over his furry head, Bugs shrugs it off. "Music-hater," he concludes. He shrugs off the next attack with, "Rabbit-hater." The third attack? "Of course you know, this means war."

Later, during the star's performance at the Hollywood Bowl, Bugs sneaks in and finds devious uses for alum; a mallet; a bobby-soxer disguise; a pen that looks suspiciously like a stick of dynamite; and finally a long-haired white wig that will convince everyone he's Leopold Stokowski. The great "Leopold" will demand a performance from Jones that he'll never forget.

This hilarious Bugs Bunny short looks forward to Chuck Jones's even better spoofs on high culture, "The Rabbit of Seville" (1950) and "What's Opera, Doc?" (1957). This is highly recommended, but avoid TV prints until nervous broadcasters stop cutting out all the violence. We can't have the kiddies seeing opera singers beat up on rabbits who retaliate in kind, can we? The little darlings might go shooting up schools. Raise your hand if you'd like to see Bugs Bunny ignore Jones (Giovanni, I mean) during the next broadcast and go right after timid censors who want to chop comedy masterpieces all to hell.

"Oh, please sign my autograph, you big hunk of a pseudo-moralist you!"

Kaboom!

NOTE: This short is available on "Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume One," Disc 1.

. . . and its star, classical music conductor Leopold Stowkowski, Bugs Bunny declares, "Of course, you know, this means War!" Then Bugs goes after the "High Art" of the "House of Mouse" animators hammer and tongs--or hammer and dynamite, in this case. As Stowkowski, Bugs literally tricks the Disney-like Stuffed-Shirt opera singer into tumbling down the walls of his own private Jericho. No doubt by the late 1940s the ever-vigilant Warner Bros. Brass had caught wind of Disney's brewing plot against America, the World, and Common Sense. Namely, the frozen-in-amber nightmare that holds seven billion folks trapped Somewhere in Time this very moment. Specifically, we're nailed down to the long-ago year in which Disney was founded in the 1920s. Since then, Disney has monopolized the most mercenary lawyers to "fix" World Copyrights at that ancient year--FOREVER! As collateral damage, every NON-Disney word and image is equally held hostage by Big Money Fat Cat Corporations That Cannot Die But Just Grow Bigger Like the Blob! Seven billion of us are an unwilling captive audience surrounded by Disney's tangle of SLEEPING BEAUTY-land thorns. Don't say that Bugs Bunny and Warner did not try to warn us!