In the late 1970's animation legend Chuck Jones was called back to once again work with the Looney Tunes characters. This began with a couple of TV specials, Carnival of the Animals (1976) and A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court (1978). This TV specials had enough success that it was decided to have Chuck Jones head a feature film starring Bugs Bunny. The feature would consist of Chuck Jones most popular Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts with new animated scenes directed by Jones (and written by his long time collaborator, Michael Maltese) connecting the shorts. Unlike late compilation movies, The Bugs Bunny/ Road Runner Movie does not try to tie these shorts into a storyline. Rather the movie centers around Bugs giving us a tour through his home and remembering his past adventures (the classic cartoon shorts). Much to the delight of cartoon fans everywhere, these cartoons are mostly unedited (except for the opening titles). The exception to this is a great 15 minute compilations of spot gags from the roadrunner cartoons. This structure works extremely well creating a light, breezy and unpretentious feel to this movie that I find hard to resist.
This movie includes such classic cartoon shorts as Hare-Way to the Stars (1958), Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century (1953), Robin Hood Daffy (1958), Duck Amuck (1953), Rabbit Fire (1951), Bully For Bugs (1953), Ali Baba Bunny (1957), For Scent-imental Reasons (1949), Long Haired Hare (1949), What's Opera Doc (1957) and Operation Rabbit (1952). There is a reason these cartoons are considered classics. They are comedy masterpieces on the level of anything Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton ever made (and with how much I love their movies that is saying a lot). The timing, the humor and the characterizations are all top notch and couldn't be better.
The new scenes while not on the level of the classic shorts (what could be?) are delightful. Michael Maltese's writing is still very sharp and witty and these new scenes include some easy and fun to quote lines that delight me each time I watch. Having these scenes have the same director as the classic shorts certainly help them transition very naturally into the cartoons (something later compilation movies would have trouble with). Also helping this out is that some of the classic Looney Tunes animators worked on the new scenes including Phil Monroe, Ben Washam, Virgil Ross, Lloyd Vaughan and Manny Perez.
This film unfortunately only received a limited theatrical release and was not a great success there. However it would have quite a bit of success later on TV and home video. The movie would also spawn 4 more compilation features (The Looney, Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981), Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie, 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982), Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983), Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988)).
Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
The Animated Movie Guide Edited by Jerry Beck
I still remember seeing TV commercials for this when it was called The Great American Chase. Had this title remained, it should have been considered foolhardy not to include the ultimate Jones chase cartoon, Fair and Worm-er (1946).
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