The Bugs Bunny/Road-Runner Movie (1979)

Bugs Bunny reflects on his past cartoon exploits.

Directors:

Chuck Jones, Phil Monroe

Writers:

Michael Maltese, Chuck Jones,

Stars:

Mel Blanc, Arthur Q. Bryan, Paul Julian

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Mel Blanc	...	Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck / Porky Pig / Marvin the Martian / Wile E. Coyote / Pepe le Pew / Dr. I.Q. High / Hassan (voice)
Arthur Q. Bryan	...	Elmer Fudd (voice) (archive footage)
Paul Julian	...	Road Runner (archive sound)
Nicolai Shutorov	...	Giovanni Jones (singing voice) (archive footage)

Storyline

The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie is basically a collection of Warner Bros. short cartoon features, "starring" the likes of Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Wile.E.Coyote. These animations are interspersed by Bugs Bunny reminiscing on past events and providing links between the individual animations which are otherwise unconnected. The Road Runner feature at the end consists of sketches from various RR separates (well it does in the 78-minute version anyway).

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Plot Keywords:

road runner | road runner the character | reference to daffy duck | cartoon rabbit | reference to marvin the martian | 

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Taglines:

It's classic encounters of the funniest kind!

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Genres:

Animation | Family | Music | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 September 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Great American Chase

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bugs's house, which is cantilevered over a carrot-juice waterfall, is modeled on Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater" house in Bear Run, Pennsylvania.

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Goofs

About 5 minutes into the movie as Bugs relates the beginning of man and he points out our fourth rate star, the Sun, you can see "Start 56+0 Filter 16 Yellow" written in the middle of the Sun.

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Quotes

Daffy Duck: Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin.

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Crazy Credits

After the credits, it says "That's REALLY All, Folks!"

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Connections

Edited from Hot-Rod and Reel! (1959)

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Soundtracks

"When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba"
(uncredited)
Music by Herman Hupfeld

User Reviews

GOOD COMPILATION FILM

"The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie" is a good example of the compliation film. It's one of those films that are a kind of Whitman's sampler that serves as a good introduction to a wide variety of short subjects. While it is true that these shorts are better seen in their original form, why trash these neat features? At least the Warners compliations are seamlessly edited and the bridging material is often above average.

It helps to know that this film was originally released as "The Great American Chase". In fact, that title is STILL in the film. It is in the opening 20 minute prologue that is engaging and original but irrelevant since the title was changed. Adults will forgive it, but from my own experiences (when I first saw the film 16 years ago on tape), kids will get restless.

But after that, we get to the good stuff. The film is a sampler of Chuck Jones' work, hence the title "Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie". Road Runner was Jones' creation as was Pepe Le Pew (both are featured in the film, but the Road Runner gets the bulk of the second half) and Jones reinvented Bugs Bunny in the 50s and 60s from his previous incarnations. There are many good shorts included in the film. Daffy Duck's battle with the animator and his brush. Bugs Bunny vs. Wile E. Coyote: Genius. Classic Road Runner/Wile E. footage. Bugs fights Marvin the Martian on Mars. I can't list them all, but you get the idea.

Most critics dislike these films because they cut the original shorts. But most of these shorts are edited by Cartoon Network for TV (for time and more recently, racial comments)and precious few are available on video. So we should be grateful that at least there is one way we can at least see these shorts in some format (very little is actually edited, most of the shorts are intact) We can see a lot worse these days.

**** out of 4 stars