Captain Hareblower

Captain Hareblower
Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny) series
Lobby card
Directed by	I. Freleng
Produced by	Edward Selzer (uncredited)
Story by	Warren Foster
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Carl W. Stalling
Animation by	Manuel Perez Ken Champin Virgil Ross Arthur Davis
Layouts by	Hawley Pratt
Backgrounds by	Irv Wyner
Studio	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date(s)	January 16, 1954
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7:03
Language	English

Captain Hareblower is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short released in 1954. It was directed by Friz Freleng and starred Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam, with both voices provided by Mel Blanc. The short was animated By Manuel Perez, Ken Champin, Virgil Ross, Art Davis, and written by Warner Bros. veteran Warren Foster.^[1]

Plot

A one-man Pirate crew Captain Yosemite Sam is sailing over an ocean on his ship singing "Blow the Man Down." Yosemite Sam looks through a telescope and sees a trading sailship nearby. Captain Yosemite Sam reveals his new desire to steal the ship for himself. He lines up side-by-side with the ship ordering its surrender. Since Sam is a legendary intimidating pirate the crew on the other ship surrender and abandon ship. Bugs Bunny, lying in a box filled with carrots, hears the commotion on the ship and asks Yosemite Sam "What's up doc?" Yosemite Sam orders Bugs to surrender the ship. Bugs says "Surrender? Never hoid the woid. So you'll have to try and take this ship!" Sam just fires a warning shot through Bugs' Napoleonic hat and between his ears, leaving a lump on Bugs' head ("Now, he should know better than that!").

Bugs and Captain Sam battle each other in a fierce duel. Bugs first manages to find and shoot Sam first time ("Blast, ya rabbit! Two can play that game!"), and when Sam tries to himself, he ends up being shot again. When Sam is filling his cannons and firing them, Bugs wanders onto Sam's ship and shoots Sam as he is filling one, turning Sam into a pile of rubble. Later, Sam tries the same method on Bugs but this time, the cannon instead launches backwards into Sam, shooting himself out of the ship's side. Sam then tries to swing aboard Bugs' ship. However, there is another cannon in Sam's path resulting in Sam landing in the cannon. The cannon fires as Sam tries to retreat.

Sam then makes a model sailship using a barrel of dynamite. He lights it and blows air to push the ship at Bugs' ship. Bugs tries to blow the explosive model ship back to no avail. Bugs then uses an electric fan to blow the ship back at Sam's ship; when Sam tries to blow it back it explodes when it reaches his face.

Then Sam dresses up in a diving suit. Sam then lights a fuse to a bomb and dives underwater (How his bomb does not light out from the water is not explained). When he is swimming towards Bugs' ship with the bomb, a shark comes up from behind and eats Sam. Seconds later the bomb detonates and all that is left of the shark is its skeleton (Sam himself is left dazed by the explosion).

Sam eventually corners Bugs on the crow's nest of Bugs' ship. Sam tells Bugs to surrender but Bugs challenges Sam to climb up and get him first. Sam in reply uses an axe to chop down the mast and to avoid being hurt by the falling mast Sam takes cover when it is almost completely cut apart. When it remains still balanced on its last chunk holding it up, Sam walks under the rested mast to chop the final chunk of it off but before he can do anything the mast falls on itself and crushes Sam.

Sam eventually climbs out of the mast and glares up at Bugs. He climbs up the net ladders and corners Bugs on the rigging. Bugs decides to take a dive in the ocean instead of facing Sam. When Sam tries to dive after Bugs he lands head-first onto a rock and falls in the water in massive pain.

Sam gives a final warning to Bugs once back on ship. Bugs Bunny tosses a lighted match into Sam's ship powder room. Sam frantically retrieves the match and tells Bugs "Ya doggone idjit galut! You'll blow the ship to smithereenies! And if ya does that once more, I ain't a-goin' after it!". Bugs uses this stubbornness as an advantage to throw another match into the powder room forcing Sam to stand and wait like he said he would. Sam changes his mind and runs after the match but by the time he does so, the ship blows up.

An injured, ragged, burnt Sam is blown onto Bugs' ship. To retaliate, Sam lights a match himself and tosses it into Bugs' ship powder room ("What's good for the goose is good for the gander!"). Bugs however refuses to go after it and realizing that Bugs is serious, Sam panics, dives off the ship and swims off. Bugs Bunny reveals that his powder room is actually a make-up room, commenting "talcum powder doesn't explode". However this is proven false as after Bugs reveals the room, the ship up to smithereens, as well. As a defeated Bugs is tossed in the air he sadly stares as he says "I could be wrong you know".

See also

• List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
• List of Yosemite Sam cartoons

References

External links

• Captain Hareblower at the Internet Movie Database
• Captain Hareblower at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• yosemite-sam.net