Half-Fare Hare (1956) User Reviews

"In droves? But I don't have a drove."

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 28 September 2015]

Bugs Bunny hops a train bound for Chattanooga because it's too cold for carrots to grow in whatever state he's in. In one of the train cars there are two hobos based on Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton from The Honeymooners. When they spot Bugs, the two starving bums think he would make a delicious meal. Bugs, of course, has something to say about that. An amusing if never hilarious short that probably plays better to people who have a familiarity with The Honeymooners. Great voice work by Mel Blanc as Bugs and Daws Butler as Ralph and Ed. The animation is nice with lovely colors. The music is lively and cheerful. It's a fun cartoon but not one of Bugs' best.

What does it all mean . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 10 April 2018]

. . . when the so-called "Ralph Kramden" character, a hobo riding the rails, suffers full immersion THREE TIMES during one train ride as HALF-FARE HARE unfolds? (First Ralph is boiled lobster red inside a large lidded cannibal-style cooking pot apparently intended for Bugs Bunny; then Bugs lures Ralph and his sidekick "Ed Norton" into a tank car full of snapping reptiles bound for a Florida alligator farm; and finally Bugs turns an empty box car into a natatorium by means of the water chute at a wayside station.) Perhaps in a contemporary context, this constant threat of being underwater had no larger meaning. However, the eponymous Warner Bros.--producers of all the Looney Tunes--served for decades to warn we Americans of (The Then) Far Future about our upcoming Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti. Therefore, it's safe for an experienced interpreter of the offerings from Warner's crack division of Animated Shorts Seers to contend that these clairvoyant prognosticators were using HALF-FARE HARE to alert 21st Century Citizens of the financial meltdown which began in America late during 2007, when the Stock Market tanked, and many mortgage holders found themselves hopelessly "underwater" (just like Ralph and Ed) regarding their housing loans. The conclusion of HALF-FARE HARE suggests that the Looney Tuners further predicted that the miserable miscreants behind this monetary miasma would seep back into Washington's Swamp of Power a decade later to drown all the financial reforms that representatives of an outraged Public had managed to enact after the Billionaires Misbehaved.

4.5 rating of 10?? I don't think so...try 9 at least

[jfm3 · 10/10 · 1 September 2001]

This one is hilarious! ...Especially Ralph ....."dont steam me,alligators..don't steam me I said! "Where did he go,where did he go" (Ralph mocking Norton sarcastically) then bellows..."HOW DO I KNOW WHERE HE WENT!!" Ralph losing his temper in this one is actully funnier than Jackie Gleason himself.

All aboard the Chatanooga Choo-Choo...

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 30 August 2012]

I'd see anything in regard to Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny as I love them with all my heart. Half-Fare Hare may not be one of my all-time favourites from either, but it is still absolutely hilarious. The animation is well-drawn and detailed if not as vibrantly coloured as other Looney Tunes cartoons. The music however is really beautiful and characterful, with a couple of delightful tunes that some will recognise and lively orchestration from especially the strings. The pacing is crisp and energetic and makes the already well-told story all the more enjoyable. The gags are imaginative and clever, but it is the dialogue and characters that really make Half-Fare Hare so worth watching. Bugs' closing line, the exchange in regard to looking like boiled lobster and "Say! We must be going through Los Ann-Gull-lees" raised a number of chuckles from me, but the best parts for me were "Hey, Ralph. You want to know something? I'm hungry./You're hungry? Why, I'm so hungry my stomach thinks my throat's cut. If I don't get something to eat soon, I'll go nuts!" and "Where is he, Ralph? Where'd the rabbit go?/Where'd he go? where'd he go? How do I know where he went!?" Bugs is crafty, arrogant yet still very identifiable to the audience, and Ed and especially Ralph are great foils. Mel Blanc's voice work is stellar as is Daws Butler's, in Yogi Bear-sounding mode for Ed and a more aggressive tone for Ralph. In conclusion, a hilarious short that is helped enormously by the writing and characters. 9/10 Bethany Cox