Racketeer Rabbit



Racketeer Rabbit is a 1946 animated short film in the Looney Tunes series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. It stars Bugs Bunny, who duels with a pair of racketeers or gangsters, Rocky and Hugo, forerunners who resemble Edward G. Robinson (Rocky, not to be confused with the aforementioned Rocky) and Peter Lorre (Hugo) in appearance and voice. Directed by Friz Freleng; written by Michael Maltese; animated by Manuel Perez, Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy and Ken Champin; music by Carl Stalling, and voices by Mel Blanc and, uncredited, Dick Nelson (as "Robinson").

Plot
Bugs Bunny, looking for a place to pass the night, happens on an abandoned farm house, which, unbeknownst to Bugs, is the hideout of two gangsters, Rocky and Hugo. After claiming "Huh! Sounds like Inner Sanctum!" while opening the squeaky front door, he drills a hole in the ground and sleeps. Shortly thereafter, Rocky and Hugo return after being pursued by the cops. Bugs comically gets up in the middle of the firing session to use the bathroom and returns to bed just as the gunfight ends.

That night, while Rocky is doling out his and Hugo's money, Bugs slyly cuts in after noticing Rocky isn't paying attention. He poses as several gang members until he gets all of their money. Rocky now wises up, and demands the money. Bugs refuses, even suntanning under the light he focuses on him. Rocky then has Hugo take Bugs for a ride, which he gladly accepts, claiming "I could use a breath of fresh air!" Bugs returns to the house without Hugo, and Rocky at first doesn't notice. When he does, he threatens Bugs continuously (all the while demanding that he help him get dressed). He demands to know where the "dough" is, and after promising not to look (since Bugs doesn't want him to know where he hid it) gets a bowl of pie-dough in the face.

Bugs then poses as Mugsy, another gangster (flipping a coin like George Raft), who threatens and fulfils a promise to give him curtains {"Aw, they're adorable", Rocky purrs}. Bugs then pretends to be the police, and has Rocky hide inside a chest while he "deals with" the police. In faux pas, Bugs acts out the police breaking in, demanding to know Rocky's whereabouts, a fight ensuing over the chest which he is in, and Bugs eventually throwing the cop out the window. Sometime during the phony fight, Bugs had placed a time bomb inside the chest (advising Rocky to "hold me watch"), and it now promptly blows up.

Rocky asks which direction the cops went, and after Bugs points the way, flees the house, not wanting to be left "with that crazy rabbit!" Bugs sighs while imitating Rocky, "Some guys just can't take it, see? Nah, nah, nah, nah!"

Trivia
As the police chase the gangster, their cars pass a billboard reading "Hotel Friz", a reference to the picture's director.

In a typical example of the Warner cartoonists "getting away" with something, after an explosion that partly disintegrated his clothing, the "Rocky" character dives out the window, and for a fleeting second is seen to be "bare-bottomed". However, in the next scene, running down the street, the seat of his pants is intact.

When Bugs is helping Rocky get dressed the gangster says "hand me my shirt." However, Bugs gives him his jacket as Rocky is already wearing a shirt.

Censorship

 * On the now defunct WB channel, all of the gun gags (specifically Rocky shooting his pistol at the police out the window of the house, Hugo needing a board to keep himself standing while firing his machine gun, and Bugs walking under a line of gunfire and saying, "Low bridge" while getting some milk from the kitchen [unaware of what's transpiring]) were edited from the cartoon's beginning. Also cut was the scene where Rocky points a gun at Bugs to get him to confess and Bugs begins babbling in the style of the famous Lucky Strike tobacco auctioneer (L.A. "Speed" Riggs) heard on radio's Your Hit Parade at the time (a frequently-used WB gag).