Roman Legion-Hare (1955) User Reviews

Bugs Bunny In The Lions Den

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 17 August 2007]

Despite the story taking place in 54 A.D., the writers get their digs in early on the West Coast culture at the time as we see a sign for "Another Appian Freeway for your Safety" sign. It was during this time that many of the freeways in California were being built.

Anyway, we are in the Roman Coliseum and Emporer Nero wants a victim. (If the writers knew what brutal savage Nero was in real-life, would they still be doing a cartoon with him?) Yosemite Sam, the captain of the guards, and he goes out with a small legion to find victims to feed to the lions. Bugs Bunny sees the "parade" asks what's going on. He tells Sam, "Well, it looks like your out of luck. There's no one around but me." Mmm.....not a smart thing to say. The chase is on.

I liked Bugs comment about "these hot-rod kids," after Sam cracks up his chariot.

Overall, this was an entertaining Bugs cartoon. Even if Bugs has to battle lions, you know who is going to come out on top!

Here, Lions!

[phantom_tollbooth · 7/10 · 9 January 2009]

Friz Freleng's 'Roman Legion-Hare' is set in Rome AD 54, where Emperor Nero tells Captain of the Guards Yosemite Sam to find a victim to throw to the lions for his entertainment or else Sam himself will have to fill the role. The victim Sam selects is, of course, Bugs Bunny. Although simply placing an established rivalry in a new setting can lead to repetitive cartoons, Freleng always seemed to pull it off far better with Bugs and Sam than he did with Tweety and Sylvester. The ancient Rome backdrop, which chiefly focuses on the Colleseum's lion enclosure, allows for some great gags as Bugs finds new ways to cause Sam to be savaged. The real star of 'Roman Legion-Hare' is Warren Foster's very funny script, which includes one of my favourite lines in cartoon history. As Sam attempts to cross a pit filled with lions on a pair of wooden stilts, Bugs tosses a selection of cutting tools into the pit with the unforgettable exclamation "Here, lions"! 'Roman Legion-Hare' is not especially attractive to look at and the direction is fairly run-of-the-mill but none of this takes anything away from the one essential ingredient it does boast: it's very funny.

Of bluster and pride

[fayremead · 8/10 · 17 September 2006]

This cartoon is a quintessential Friz Freleng short -- well-paced, a bit morbid (a poster reads, "undefeated lions out for first taste of victory"), derivative at times but always entertaining. Yosemite Sam is well cast as a guard captain under the command of Emperor Nero (a Charles Laughton caricature, based on the actor's portrayal of Nero in the 1932 movie "The Sign of the Cross"). Nero learns that his empire has been depleted of lion food and orders Sam to find a victim on pain of being fed to the Coliseum's pride.

Enter Bugs Bunny, who naively presents himself as a potential victim. He seeks safety in the Coliseum ... among the lions! But the first character who gets mauled is Sam ... if he had talked with the Sylvester of "Ain't She Tweet," he would not have used stilts. The Coliseum becomes a metaphorical hurricane and Bugs finds himself in the eye -- the safest part for him. Sam and Nero are at the edge of the eye, the most dangerous part once the lions are loose.

Freleng's skillful direction overcomes his minor vices of recycled gags and occasional animation cutbacks. Some of the animation is very good, as in an early scene with a blustering Nero. Later we see fine shadow work as Bugs and Sam head to their first encounter with Panthera leo and generate further mayhem in the bowels of the stadium. The aural side is first-class: Milt Franklyn's music fits the action perfectly, and Mel Blanc lends a distinctive tone to each character up to Bugs' anachronistic closing line. This cartoon is a good way to eat seven minutes.

-Tony

Bugs battling lions? I sure didn't see that coming!

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 25 June 2010]

I am an avid Looney Tunes fan, and I love Roman Legion-Hare. It is a little slow and obvious to begin with, but once it picked up I forgot about these minor misgivings. The animation is excellent, colourful, crisp and smooth, the backgrounds especially and like it is with many Looney Tunes cartoons the music has a lot of energy. The dialogue is witty and incredibly funny, Bugs and Sam both have a lion's share of great lines, and the sight gags particularly in the lion's den(Nero playing a violin before supposedly being mauled by the lions) are clever. Sam has great lines and is a great foil, he doesn't look too bad in Roman gladiator garb either, and Nero(a caricature on Charles Laughton?) is good too, but Bugs steals the cartoon just by his wit alone. Mel Blanc as always is superb, bringing life to these characters with terrific gusto. Overall, terrific. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Clever and funny little spoof thanks to Sam's running gag

[bob the moo · 3 May 2004]

It is 54 AD and Emperor Nero has run out of victims to throw to his award winning Detroit Lions in the coliseum. He dispatches his Captain of the Guard Yosimitus Sammus to find a good victim and bring him back. Sammus and his men find Bugs bunny relaxing in the area and decide that he will do as good as anything else. However Bugs proves more than a match for both Sammus and the lions.

Opening with a very clear spoof of Charles Laughton, this cartoon marks itself out as a spoof of the 1950's Roman epics that were all the rage at the time. Generally the Looney Toons films were pretty sharp at spoofing big films and their stars - even if they didn't make them their rasion d'etre. Here the majority of this cartoon is the usual straight chase between Bugs and Sam, here with a great reoccurring joke where Bugs constantly exposes Sam to the lions. It is obvious but still very funny and much of this is down to the work of the characters.

Bugs is really good after a slow start for him and he not only tricks Sam but also does good work to free up the lions. Sam is really good and is an enjoyable foil for Bugs - he is not his equal but he does react really well to the regular lion attacks and makes them all the funnier for his good work. The gags are consistently funny and they are delivered really well.

Overall this is a funny cartoon that trades on a great running joke involving Sam and a pit full of lions - a clever and funny little short.

only in one of these cartoons could you find a Roman soldier who talks like a cowboy

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 23 May 2005]

It's Rome, 54 AD, and there's a game at the Colosseum. Unfortunately, they're all out of victims for the lions. No problem! Emperor Nero - bellicose as ever - orders Captain of the Guards Yosemite Sam to find one, or he'll be the victim. As you might have guessed, Sam decides that a certain long-eared, carrot-chomping rabbit will make an ideal victim. But of course Bugs Bunny isn't going to submit so easily, especially when the lions seem to be pretty hungry for Yosemite Sam.

Admittedly, the whole thing's rather silly. But there's nothing unpleasant here. Quite the opposite: Bugs plays some hilarious tricks on Sam. And the end puts a new kind of spin on the story of Nero playing his fiddle.

Every sports fan is familiar with the Billy Goat Curse . . .

[oscaralbert · 9/10 · 27 April 2016]

. . . and the Curse of the Bambino, but--strangely enough--the worst curse of them all stems from this Looney Tunes animated short, ROMAN LEGION-HARE. Jack L. Warner, the face of Looney Tunes, always championed the Working Man. He hated the Overlords, epitomized by would-be Automobile Monopolist Henry Ford (a Facsist who employed gun-toting "security" thugs to rub out any workers who dared to talk to each other on Ford Assembly Lines). Jack decided to tout the Detroit Lions regularly in Warner offerings, since he viewed them as great Role Models for Blue Collar America. For instance, there's a sign on-screen for 8 seconds (0:49 through 0:57) during 1955's ROMAN LEGION-HARE which reads "Detroit Lions Season Opener (at the) Coliseum: Undefeated Lions out for first taste of victory." Sure enough, this good omen produced a World Championship for the Lions in '57 (as predicted by the timing of the fade-out of the sign). However, referring to a team yet to play a game as "undefeated" served as an implicit warning from Jack L. to Detroit's Ford Crime Family to keep their mitts off the Lions, unless they wanted the Motor City Maulers to become an eternal joke. Despite this caution, the Fords latched onto the Lions the day U.S. President John Kennedy was rubbed out in Dallas (whose Cowboys consequently replaced the Lions as "America's Team"). Since that doubly tragic day in 1963, the Lions are the ONLY NFL franchise embarrassing a single city during the entire 50-year Super Bowl Era by being totally absent from the Big Game. The Detroit Lions also are the ONLY NFL team to finish a season 0-16 (changing Warner Bros. cartoon headline to "Winless Lions out for first taste of victory in season closer")!

"Now where'd that skunk of a rabbit go?!?"

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 11 July 2016]

Very funny Bugs Bunny short directed by Friz Freleng. This one takes place in ancient Rome, where Roman guard Yosemite Sam chases Bugs around the Coliseum while Emperor Nero looks on. It's a fun cartoon with some dated references and jokes that history buffs should enjoy. By history I mean both Roman history and of the time in which this was made. The animation is good, with lovely colors and well-drawn characters and backgrounds. Nice music from Milt Franklyn. Great voice work from the incomparable Mel Blanc. It's a funny cartoon, hilarious in spots, with several memorable lines and gags. Of all the cartoons that took Sam out of his natural setting and had him play dress-up, this is one of my faves. Watching him start the chariot by telling the horse to "giddup mule" is priceless.

When in Rome

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 2 September 2019]

Nero is out of victims for the Coliseum. So Yosemite Sam (the Roman version of him) is sent to find one. Well, there seems to be only one rabbit available. So our hero is beset by Sam and has several potential encounters with he kings of beasts. It is colorful and a lot of fun. Sam, of course, is decimated over and over and over, but he never seems to lose heart.

"Get that rabbit! CHARGE!"

[slymusic · 27 March 2009]

"Roman Legion-Hare" is a mighty decent Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The setting: Ancient Rome, 54 A.D. At the Coliseum, Emperor Nero orders the captain of the guards (Sam) to find a victim for the "Detroit Lions". And who do you suppose Sam's target will be? You guessed it, Doc!

Highlights: Watch the smug expression on Bugs' face as he lowers an alarm clock downward into the dungeon, where Sam is trying really hard not to awaken the sleeping lions. From underneath a barricaded door, the lions grab Sam and tear him to shreds, even though we don't see them doing it, which makes the scene even funnier! And speaking of humor from things not seen, Sam uses stilts to cross a lion pit in order to capture Bugs; Bugs simply throws a bunch of tools downward into the pit and says, "Here, lions."

"Roman Legion-Hare" is a fine film denoting yet again the struggles of the fiery-tempered Yosemite Sam in capturing that pesky, long-eared galoot! Milt Franklyn's music score is really put to good use during the chase sequences up & down stairs and around corridors.

Not exactly an epic

[Chip_douglas · 18 March 2004]

Rome, 54 A. D. Emperor Nero,who may or may not be played by Charles Laughton, enters the Colosseum for the season opener as a sportscaster introduces us to the undefeated champions, the Detroit Lions. When it turns out they are all out of victims, Captain of the Guard Yosimitus Sammus takes out his legion (all of whom resemble Elmerus Fuddus) to go get one. Guess who he finds?

Don't expect much gladiator combat, for after a very promising start, "Roman Legion-Hare" becomes yet another Bugs vs. Yosemite chase caper, only with horse and chariots and lots of caged lions. In fact each and every room in the Colosseum seems to connect to the lion's den. Strategists take note: when faced with a situation like this, make sure the man eaters get a whiff of your opponent. This way, when you take a wrong turn, the lions will prefer the taste of his flesh over yours.

The fifties were the golden age of the Roman epics, so a loony spoof could not be far behind. It must have been especially amusing to see this at the cinema with a real horse and chariot extravaganza following, although being very lengthy films, they probably did not have Merry Melodies as it's opening act. Bugs more likely opened for Doris Day and Jerry Lewis instead.

6 out of 10