RyothChatty ridiculous rating

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Mightyzebra This was an interesting episode, in the way that it is the earliest I have seen of Bugs Bunny where he is most like his later, fully developed self. He plays many gags that he plays in his most famous episodes and of course outwits the dog who is trying to catch him. I enjoyed the episode because these gags were done well, the dog was an amusing character (and not voiced by Mel Blanc, which is surprising, instead voiced by a Looney Tunes director), Bugs Bunny was amusing and the animation was good (the background animation was reminiscent of "Bambi).There was one thing which slightly put me off the episode, which was the screaming of the dog and Bugs Bunny as they are falling from a high height at one point in the episode. In the era this episode was made, for some reason, you find the occasional long scene of screaming, or pain, which is not only boring but off-putting.In this cartoon, a dog is sniffing along the ground, obviously hunting, when he realises he has passed a rabbit hole. He starts sniffing into the hole, Bugs Bunny popping up his ears to investigate the intruder and then going above ground through a different hole, while the dog digs a hole elsewhere. Sound familiar? Yes, if you are familiar with Bugs Bunny episodes where he is being hunted, the way Bugs Bunny constantly outwits the dog will be in no way a surprise to you.I recommend this episode to people who like Bugs Bunny and the way he outwits people trying to kill him. Enjoy "The Heckling Hare"! :-)8 and a half out of ten.

ackstasis Bugs Bunny sure was a mischievous rascal, particularly in his early years. A smug, conceited and pitiless little fiend, Bugs often appeared to take a near-sadistic pleasure in tormenting his enemies. Of course, that he is the "prey" works considerably in his favour, and audiences will always continue to cheer him on, as nobody likes to see a cute little wabbit become a hunter's next meal. But the most interesting aspect of these cartoons is how the writers cunningly invert the usual scenario, with Bugs, in effect, becoming the hunter of the story, though we instinctively continue to celebrate his successes. Willoughby the hunting dog may be an exceedingly dim-witted canine, perhaps even bordering on mental retardation, but the audience considers him fair game for Bugs' farcical style of bullying. Just why is Bugs the hero in this cartoon, and, indeed, in most of his cartoons? A worthwhile counterpoint to this trend is in Tex Avery's 1941 short 'Hare Beats Rabbit,' starring Bugs and Cecil B. Turtle, in which the bigheaded rabbit is decisively beaten in a foot-race by the quietly-deceitful reptile.These tantalising questions aside, Tex Avery's 'The Heckling Hare (1941)' provides some solid entertainment, which is the real reason why we're watching it. After Willoughby (voiced by Avery) catches Bugs' scent at the entrance of a rabbit-hole, he goes into digging-overdrive, and is so focused on the task at hand that he fails to notice the rabbit (Mel Blanc, as always) idling above him with a carrot between his teeth. Numerous outrageous chase sequences ensue, one ending in the depths of a river and another in a thousands-of-metres plummet from a ridiculously-high cliff. There is some very convincing personality animation in the sequence where Willoughby believes himself to have crushed Bugs to death with his own hands, and he touchingly collapses into tears as he lays a bouquet of flowers at the entrance to the rabbit-hole. Bugs, displaying that uniquely-compassionless streak of his, thinks nothing of this emotion and merely exploits it for some further humiliation.'The Heckling Hare' moves at a brisk pace for seven minutes, and continues at this pace until the closing seconds, when it forgets to add an ending. In actual fact, the cartoon's conclusion was severely truncated by producer Leon Schlesinger, who allegedly felt that the final punchline ("Hold on to your hats, folks. Here we go again!" as the pair fall off another cliff) would somehow be perceived by audiences as having undesirable connotations. This lack of resolution blemishes the film to an extent; I liked the idea of the unusually-protracted freefall, but I was waiting for another good idea to bookend the gag, and it never came (perhaps the instantaneous brakes were a spoof of traditional cartoon physics, abused so frequently for comedic effect). In any case, Avery was aghast at the changes made to his cartoon, and he stormed out of the studio. He eventually wound up with the fortunate folks at MGM, with whom he worked until 1953.

movieman_kev The last Tex Avery Bugs Bunny short is not only his best, but one of the best Bugs Bunny cartoons if not ever, then certainly the early years of the rabbit. We follow Bugs Bunny as he cons Willoughby the mentally retarded dog over and over again.Every single gag in this short is hilarious and makes this film a timeless classic. This animated short can be seen on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Greg Ford.which is interesting in itself. Furthermore it has a little featurette "Behind the Tunes - A Conversation with Tex Avery" that I'll get more into in the listing for that on this site.My Grade: A+

Robert Reynolds This short led directly to the exit of Tex Avery from Warner Brothers. Some sources say he was fired, others that he quit, but Leon Schlesinger's mistake was Avery's, animation's and MGM's gain. Avery did some fantastic work at MGM, animation gained from his influence on another studio and MGM gained by having the competition between Avery and Hanna and Barbera, which improved both teams. Avery's influence can be seen on the Tom and Jerry series in the mid to late 1940s and it's open to question whether Droopy or Screwball Squirrel would have developed at a crowded Warner Brothers. Who knows what would have developed (or not developed) at Warner Brothers had Avery NOT gone to MGM. Excellent short. Most highly recommended.