Forward March Hare (1953) User Reviews

A decent cartoon, but not one of Bugs' best

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 28 August 2012]

I adore Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny, and while I loved Forward March Hare as a kid I only like it now. I also think that the story is rather silly, the idea of not being able to tell the difference between a human and a rabbit is rather hard to swallow, and instead of the arrogant, intelligent and sharp-witted personality that he is so famous for he is rather obtuse and somewhat of a buffoon, messing things up a lot of the time and not realising. However, the animation is wonderful especially in the beautiful silhouetted opening sequence, though the fluidity and lavish colours are apparent also in the military sequences. The music score is terrific, characterful and enhances the action brilliantly, and the dialogue is fresh and witty, "So they're inducting rabbits" is just one of the jewels. Not all the gags work, but there are a fair few that do, the sequence with the eye-chart shows briefly Bugs in the persona we know and love, and Bugs knocking all the soldiers over, the sergeant exploding and Bugs running around with a baseball bat are just as effective. The Sergeant is a great character, while Mel Blanc's voice work is brilliant. All in all, decent but not great. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Where's Waldo Emerson once said that "A foolish consistency . . ."

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 1 May 2016]

" . . . is the hobgoblin of small soles," so Bugs Bunny sets out to prove WWE wrong in FORWARD MARCH HARE. Though Bugs is later shown to have much keener eyesight (and, consequently, reading ability) than a human, all of the events of FORWARD are predicated upon Bugs mistaking an Army Draft Notice addressed to "B.(ERTRAM) BONNY" as a missive intended for B. BUNNY (that is, himself). As one might expect, it takes many days for an army officer to exclaim, "Jumping catfish, we've inducted a rabbit!" Setting aside this example of military intelligence, FORWARD is about as graphic as FULL METAL JACKET in depicting the horrors of boot camp. For instance, when Bugs is punished with K.P. (Kitchen Patrol) Duty and ordered to clean and dress a flock of roosters for officers' mess, the very literal hare tricks out the fated fowl in tuxedos! This reminds me of a Real Life incident in which a close relative of mine drew similar duty, only his was to cut grapefruit for 50 men at breakfast. Never having handled this jumbo citrus fruit before, he bisected all of them pole-to-pole, instead of at their equators!

nearly impossible to classify

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 29 May 2007]

Knowing that Bugs Bunny is usually the cleverest character in the cartoons, it's quite jarring to see him engage in the buffoonery portrayed in "Forward March Hare". True, he makes a living being irreverent, but his actions here border on the sorts of things that one would expect to see on "Gilligan's Island". But if we try to call him stupid, as a previous reviewer did, that gets countered by his super-vision.

So why didn't he realize that the letter bore a slightly different name? Well, that was an honest mistake. But it does seem that he should have suspected something strange about suddenly getting a letter announcing that he's been drafted. Still, it's really funny to see him walk around with a deadpan expression, befuddling the X-ray man and getting the general angry at the sergeant.

So, it's a funny cartoon, but kind of strange.

"So they're inducting rabbits."

[slymusic · 9 June 2009]

Bugs Bunny mistakenly receives a draft letter from the United States Armed Forces. Seeing his patriotic duty, he immediately complies. But with Bugs wearing an ill-fitting uniform, you can be sure that there are some good laughs to come in "Forward March Hare", directed by Chuck Jones.

Here are my two favorite sequences from this cartoon. First, Bugs does an about-face and knocks over all the other soldiers like bowling pins. The hot-tempered sergeant does a wonderful silent take and then explodes, after which Bugs exchanges dialogue with the sergeant and the colonel regarding some Looney Tunes characters. And second, Bugs is hilarious as he runs with a baseball bat in order to silence the "bugler".

One final point I must make: The next time you watch "Forward March Hare", do yourself a favor and pay close attention to Carl Stalling's music score throughout the film. It is terrific!

G.I. Bugs

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 26 December 2015]

A different kind of Bugs Bunny short from the great team of Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Bugs accidentally gets someone's draft notice and thinks it was meant for him. He shows up for Army training and causes all kinds of mischief. The reason why I said this is a different kind of Bugs short is that here we have Bugs being a bit of an oaf. Instead of being the witty character who gets the best of everyone, he's basically a moron for the sake of the plot he had no business being involved with in the first place. I don't know the backstory to this cartoon but I wouldn't be surprised if this was originally meant for another character and Bugs was substituted at the last minute. It just doesn't feel like a Bugs short and the Jones/Maltese combo certainly knew Bugs by this time. Now, all of that being said, it's not a bad cartoon. The animation is crisp and colorful with well-drawn characters and backgrounds. Carl Stalling's music is lively as ever. The voice work from the incomparable Mel Blanc is flawless. There are laughs to be had, including the "Sergeant Porky Pig" bit, but most of the gags are corny slapstick. Worth a look for Bugs fans but don't expect a classic.

Bugs Bunny joins the Army.

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 21 December 2006]

This is a very funny short which plays on a series of coincidences and misunderstandings to put Bugs Bunny in position to be inducted into the United States Army. Because I want to discuss some details, this is a spoiler warning: The short opens with an induction notice being delivered to one "B. Bonny", only the notice winds up in Bugs Bunny's hole in the ground and he mistakenly assumes it's for him. Thus, we now go off to the physical.

The physical is hilarious, with reactions ranging from the nonchalant "So they're inducting rabbits" through nervous laughter to incredulous shock, as when Bugs takes the eye exam and reads the whole chart, fine print included. Bugs obviously passes the physical, because we next see him in boot camp for basic training.

His Sargeant looks and sounds like the construction worker Bugs did battle with in a couple of other shorts and he fares about as well here as he did there. Bugs first causes headaches in general for the Sargeant and then gets him into hot water with a Colonel who clearly didn't care much for the Sargeant even before all the problems with Bugs develop. Bugs bowls the colonel over during drill, bathes in the colonels helmet, dresses chickens for the Officer's mess (he dresses them in tuxedos) and hammers a nail into the wall using a live shell! With each passing incident, the Sargeant loses a little more rank, until he's a private.

It's at this point that the former Sargeant realizes that Bugs is a rabbit, as it slowly dawns on him that Bugs really isn't "just like all the other guys". Watching the fog start to lift on the erstwhile Sargeant's comprehension is great! A compromise of sorts gives Bugs a job at a munitions plant, with a finale that I won't spoil here. This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth seeing. Recommended.

Graphics Are Great; Story, A Dud

[ccthemovieman-1 · 5/10 · 27 August 2007]

This episode reminded me of a "Sergeant Bilko" television classic in which a chimp was inducted into the army, carelessly being passed along an assembly- type line, getting through the physical and passing his way into the army. It's all way more than just a bit of a stretch, but so is this cartoon, especially since Bugs usually is a little smarter than he appears in this adventure. Of course, none of the humans are too observant, either. I mean, you can't tell the difference between a human face and that of a buck-toothed rabbit?! It takes several days before sometimes notices the "Private" has long ears and a tail and might be a bunny?

In this cartoon, Bugs mistakenly gets a letter addressed to a neighbor, "B. Bonny,": and thinks it's for him, so it opens it. (A gust of wind had blown the letter out of the mailbox into Bugs' hole)

The letter flying into this rabbit hole, and Bugs not being careful with what he's reading both turn out to to be his misfortune because the letter it's a "draft notice." The rest of the cartoon detail a couple of Bugs' days in the Army. Like his final scene, most of the gags were "duds."

Once again, we get superlative graphics and colors with these Warner Brothers "Collection" DVDs. The opening silhouette shot was great as were the golden hues in many of the military scenes, such as the one in which they were climbing a hill. It's just beautiful artwork.

Bugs is an idiot???

[phantom_tollbooth · 5/10 · 27 January 2007]

Throughout my childhood I sat transfixed through many hundreds of Warner cartoons and as an adult my appreciation and love for them has grown. Chuck Jones's 'Forward March Hare' is one of the many cartoons I distinctly remember watching and enjoying as a youngster. However, I watched it last night on the excellent Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 4 and something didn't quite ring true about it. Slowly, it dawned on me what it was. Bugs is an idiot! When I was young, of course, such a blatant disregard for character didn't register. It's also worth mentioning that Bugs' character has often been experimented with very successfully. I love the cartoons that cast Bugs as the loser for a change, such as 'Falling Hare' or 'Tortoise Beats Hare'. However, even when playing the loser, Bugs generally remains a strong, smart-alecky personality. In 'Forward March Hare' he is an oblivious buffoon with nary a wisecrack to offer.

Throughout the cartoon, only one gag (incidentally, the funniest in the whole film) fits in with the Bugs character we know and love: It involves an eye chart and a jaw-dropping display of superior eyesight, presumably due to enormous carrot intake. Apart from this one display of superior abilities, however, there is no sign whatsoever that Bugs is aware of his disruptive behavior. From the mix up which kick-starts the action through numerous military disasters (including an unintentional misunderstanding of an order to dress some chickens), Bugs is wide-eyed and willing to serve his country but can't stop messing up. The moment when he attempts to hammer in a nail with live ammunition confirms that Bugs isn't heckling, as he usually would in this situation; he's just plain getting it wrong.

Character experiments in the Warner Brothers cartoons were often very rewarding (notably, the expanding of Daffy's character from nutty maniac to greedy, manipulative but ultimately sympathetic loser), and putting a new slant on Bugs' character frequently worked a treat. However, while 'Forward March Hare' proves entertaining enough, the concept of Bugs the well-meaning buffoon is impossible to accept for any long-standing cartoon fan.

Bugs joins the Forces

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 30 July 2015]

This is a 7-minute short film from over 60 years ago and like so many other it was directed by Chuck Jones, written by Michael Maltese and voiced by Mel Blanc. Still, I have to say this is not the best work from the trio, especially Maltese as I felt this one was not written really funny enough to make a memorable impact. Bugs Bunny gets a letter that was actually intended for somebody else and the letter says that he gets drafted. Lucky day for Daffy, Porky and Elmer as Bugs will get on somebody else's nerves this time. So when in the army, Bugs has a tough time running for miles with heavy luggage, but his commander seems to have an even harder time. And we find out that Bugs has the eyesight of an eagle it seems. Military-themed cartoons were far more popular during the days of World War II, but these were also really more motivational. This one here is exclusively comedic, but not as funny as I hoped it would be. Not recommended. Hundreds of superior Warner Bros. cartoons out there.