Dumb Patrol (1964 short)

Dumb Patrol is a Looney Tunes cartoon short released January 18th, 1964 starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam with a cameo appearance by Porky Pig. It was Bugs & Sam's last cartoon together during the Golden Age of American Animation. This cartoon short was directed by Gerry Chiniquy, a longtime animator in Friz Freleng's unit. This cartoon short is set during World War I opening "somewhere in France" in 1917.

The name of the cartoon is an allusion to The Dawn Patrol a 1930 movie by Howard Hawks that also deals with World War I pilots. The same title was also used for an unrelated, early Looney Tunes short starring Bosko, released in 1931.

This cartoon does not fall into the normal pattern found in most other Bugs Bunny cartoon shorts. Bugs Bunny is not disturbed from a serene state as in most of his other shorts. Also, he is the attacker, reversing his normal role of the victim.

Plot
In 1917, somewhere in France during World War I, the men of the French Air Force assemble to determine who must rid the skies of the German pilot, Baron Sam Von Shamm. The General decides to settle this by drawing straws, stating whoever gets the longest straw wins. The men all draw short straws, finishing with Porky Pig (addressed as Captain Smedley in this cartoon) getting the longest straw.

Next day, at dawn, while Porky is suiting up for the flight, Bugs Bunny knocks him out with a brick and takes his place, because Porky has a Wife and Six Piglets to take care of.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Germany, Sam stands to the attention of his general and receives an Iron Cross. Sam, however, is sick of getting those things and wants a well deserved long furlough. Bugs drops him a bunch of flowers and a note. Sam reads the note and finds it not only insulting, but the word "baron" has been spelt with a little "b." A P.S. adds that Bugs wrote the big "B" in Sam's flowers. When Sam looks at the flowers, a bee flies out and lands on Sam's nose, which it frightens him.

Angered, Sam tries to take off, but his stubborn plane won't "contact" on cue, and when Sam hits it with a mallet, it won't "whoa" on cue. Sam catches up to Bugs, but Bugs pulls up into the clouds. While Sam tries to get Bugs to come out by the count of three, he crashes into a mountain.

Sam runs back to the airfield and grabs another plane. While he looks for Bugs, Bugs comes up behind him and buzz-saws right through Sam's plane.

Back in the sky again, Sam starts shooting at Bugs with a machine gun, but Bugs dodges every time. Sam's shooting only ends up shearing his own plane to bits, leaving only the undercarriage which becomes a unicycle when he lands.

Sam then takes to the skies in a bomber. After finding Bugs and getting him in his sights, he releases the bombs, but he falls out of his plane and gets caught in the explosion of his bombs on the ground.

Sam takes to the skies in a dinky little biplane, which at the push of a lever becomes a fierce fighting monster triplane loaded with machine guns. Once the plane's transformation is complete, Sam switches to full power, but this rips the plane into three pieces, causing Sam to fall and get blasted to bits in the ammunition dump. Bugs then comments he's heard of Hell's Angels, but he never thought he'd actually see one. The final scene then shows Sam (in a devil's suit, under an angel ring and playing a harp) floating skyward.