Sahara Hare (1955) User Reviews

Visuals And The Ending Are Both Great

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 27 August 2007]

You could tell it was the beginning of the "Beatnik era" as Bugs explains, "Man, dig this crazy beach!"

Actually, Bugs - as usual - dug too far. Thinking he had burrowed his way to Hawaii, he winds up in the Sahara instead. His comment above was made sarcastically as he couldn't find the ocean in this vast desert. Finally, he sees a tiny oasis and says, "So this is 'The Big Pond.'" Wow, this latter-days Bugs Bunny cartoon must have featured our favorite hare in his years of senility. Bugs is getting old!

The really wild humor in this funny cartoon comes into play when an Arab - Yosemite Sam, no less! - spots "footy prints all over my desert" and races his camel to see who's making them. Sam is called "Riff Raff" in this cartoon.

Anyway, "Riff Raff" and his camel - who takes terrible physical abuse by the verbally and physically-abusive "Arab" - try to chase down Bugs in the rest of the cartoon. He also rides an elephant but Bugs outsmarts him at every turn. The elephant-and-mouse scene was great.

Beautiful golden colors with all the orange sand, brown palm trees and yellow skies made this another real visual treat.

Another treat was the surprise ending, guaranteed to put a smile on the face of every Looney Tunes fan!

Nothing Bugs Bugs

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 3 September 2019]

Most of these Bugs Bunny cartoons follow the same formula. Bugs, thinking he is at the beach, is actually on the Sahara desert. He runs afoul of Yosemite Sam who is in the foreign legion. He feels it is his duty to get rid of Bugs, one way or the other. There is nothing very new about this, just Mr. Bunny doing his things.

Warner Bros. animators take a stab at forecasting . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 5 May 2016]

. . . American military forays into the Middle East with this animated short, SAHARA HARE. Key Looney Tune stars are cast to fill out the infamous turn-of-the-century Love\Hate Triangle, with Bugs Bunny playing George H.W. Bush, Daffy Duck portraying George W. Bush, and Yosemite "Riff Raff" Sam tapped for the Saddam Hussein role. The story opens with Sam appropriating Bugs' Kuwait watering hole. Bugs assembles a coalition of the willing from the residents of the neighboring castle, and orchestrates a brief campaign of Shock and Awe to overwhelm the greatly out-gunned Sam. Some time later, Daffy Duck follows in Bugs' footsteps, seeking Riff Raff's (or Saddam's) rumored Waters of Mass Distribution (a.k.a., WMD's, or Miami Beach). Warner's animators ink in a harmless mud puddle to symbolize the fact that there will be no WMD's when W. sets out to assassinate Saddam 48 years after Daffy's run-in with Riff Raff Sam ("Sam" being an obvious contraction of "Saddam"). Which sort of makes Warner's opening "Keep off the grass" sign a literal caution to W's Neocons to quit smoking the Demon Weed before they doom us all in Real Life.

A visual delight and incredibly funny, one of the better Bugs and Yosemite Sam cartoons

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 31 March 2010]

I am a huge Looney Tunes fan, and I love Sahara Hare. Not only is it incredibly funny, but it is a visual feast as well.

The animation here is wonderful. Sahara Hare contains some of the most detailed and colourful drawings in a Looney Tunes cartoon, the skies so blue and the sand beautiful and golden. And I liked the Arabian flavour of the music score here too, it gave a sense of authenticity.

The dialogue is razor-sharp and very funny. Even funnier are the visual gags, that like the best of Looney Tunes come by thick and fast, and delivered with real energy and verve by the immortal Mel Blanc.

I liked how Bugs was cool-headed Bugs was compared to Yosemite Sam, who physically and verbally abuses his poor camel here. And Daffy makes a small appearance here, in an ending that is unpredictable and clever. Overall, this is a great Looney Tunes cartoon, one of the better ones with Bugs and Yosemite Sam together. 10/10 Bethany Cox

"Man, dig this crazy beach!"

[slymusic · 30 January 2008]

"Sahara Hare" is an excellent Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. Bugs has his sights set on Miami Beach, but that's not where he ends up. Instead, he finds himself in the middle of a bleak desert, where a hot-tempered Arab groundskeeper known as Riff-Raff Sam becomes a constant menace. Or, should I say, BUGS becomes a constant menace for SAM.

Here are, in my opinion, the funniest scenes from "Sahara Hare" (you'd be better off watching the cartoon first before reading the rest of this commentary). Upon Bugs' first appearance, after he runs with joy about his arrival on "Miami Beach," he is quite funny when he becomes out of breath, no longer running, ears drooped down, etc., which is even funnier with Milt Franklyn's muted trombone accompaniment. Sam has a hell of a time with his camel; whether he tells it to giddyup or to whoa, the indifferent camel does the exact opposite, which only adds more fuel to Sam's temper. And in a gag that would be repeated a few years later in "Knighty Knight Bugs" (1958), Sam demands Bugs to open a drawbridge door, but not directly on top of Sam!

For some entertaining fun out in the desert, try "Sahara Hare." There is even a surprise appearance at the end by another famous Warner Bros. cartoon character who (presumably) will not be able to outwit Sam like Bugs can.

Bugs and Yosemite do the desert-not exactly a dry run for Lawrence of Arabia!

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 23 October 2003]

Bugs once again fails to take that "left turn at Albuquerque" and winds up in the Sahara, where he runs into the Sheik of Yosemite, a trifle miffed at all those "footy-prints all over my nice clean desert". Sam naturally goes after Bugs, with predictably hilarious results. There's a great gag featuring a multiplicity of doors and entirely too much persistence towards the end. There's also a cameo by Daffy at the very last. I wonder if Bugs and Daffy have the same travel agent? Probably the Acme Travel Agency, complete with testimonials from satisfied customers like Ambrose Bierce and Judge Crater. Great cartoon, one of the better teamings of Sam and Bugs. Well worth watching. Most recommended.

"Must be low tide . . . "

[tadpole-596-918256 · 6/10 · 6 September 2016]

. . . says Bugs Bunny, with great disappointment, surveying Post-Tropical Storm Hermine's placid rows of sand dunes stretching along intact for miles beyond him, when the Weather Channel had been promising him all week a repeat of Superstorm Sandy's Epic Display of Beach Erosion. This forecast of America's favorite hare suffering an Enormous Labor Day Let-Down can be seen in its entirety, from crude crayon-drawn concept art to polished animated short, in something called SAHARA HARE STORYBOARD REEL, a "From the Vault" special feature on Disc 4, Volume 4, of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. Though it's hard to summarize the entire Koran in an eight-minute Looney Tune, Warner Bros. is able to accomplish this feat by omitting the controversial parts, the violent bits, those that would be rated NC17, the passages which do not readily translate into English, as well as anything considered to be too parochial or inordinately prosaic. Beyond that, Bugs Bunny is cast as a Navy SEAL-type American hero, while Prophet Yosemite is renamed "Riff Raff Sam" to avoid breaking any taboos. However, four fatwas remain in effect against the SAHARA HARE.

hilarious despite the "A-rab" comment

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 28 February 2007]

When Bugs Bunny ends up in the Sahara Desert - presumably after missing that left turn at Albuquerque - he leaves "footy-prints" all over the sand, incurring the wrath of Riff-Raff (Yosemite) Sam, the self-proclaimed "riffest riff that ever riffed a raff". But when Sam chases the carrot-chomping rascal into an outpost, Bugs immediately has a million ways to keep him out...one of which naturally involves dynamite! Anyway, "Sahara Hare" is just one of many cartoons showing how great the classic Looney Tunes cartoons were. Part of the reason that Bugs and Sam are such a great combo is that Bugs is so cool-headed while Sam is the ultimate hothead. Really great.

I wonder whether this was the only time that Yosemite Sam and Daffy Duck co-starred.

A cartoon with many good elements which sadly degenerates into predictable spot-gags

[phantom_tollbooth · 6/10 · 9 January 2009]

Friz Freleng's 'Sahara Hare' begins as a nice cartoon but descends into a so-so spot gag short by the halfway mark. Bugs Bunny takes another wrong turn and ends up in the Sahara desert instead of Miami Beach, where he encounters Riff-Raff Sam. There are several things that make 'Sahara Hare' notable. One is Sam's relationship with his camel, a scenario that would be replayed in several later cartoons. The ending of 'Sahara Hare' also features a nifty and unexpected cameo from another character. The opening signpost gag is also very funny but, aside from these features, 'Sahara Hare' is a fairly standard cartoon especially when Bugs finds sanctuary in a fort and Sam spends the rest of the cartoon attempting to gain entry through a series of predictable spot gags. Nevertheless, 'Sahara Hare' is a sufficiently entertaining cartoon which should provide at least a little amusement to most animation fans.