The Bugs Bunny Road-Runner Movie (2024)

The Bugs Bunny Road-Runner Movie (originally entitled The Great American Chase) is a 1979 Looney Tunes film with a compilation of classic Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animatedwraparound produced by Chuck Jones, hosted by Bugs Bunny.

Cartoons Included[]

These cartoons, which also feature Elmer J. Fudd, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Pepé Le Pew, Penelope puss*cat, and Marvin the Martian, include (in order):

• "Rocket Squad" and "To Hare Is Human" [only backgrounds are used in the opening and ending credits]
• "Rabbit Seasoning" [only a brief clip is used in the beginning] Elmer Fudd shoots Bugs' hole and asks him his catchphrase "Eh, what's up Doc?"]
• "Hare-Way to the Stars" [Bugs Bunny accidentally arrives in space by a rocket. He soon discovers that Marvin the Martian wants to blow up the earth with his illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator and he finds himself chased by instant martians.]
• "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century" [Daffy Duck as Duck Dodgers wants to find Planet X, with the help of Porky Pig as his minion Eager Young Space Cadet, unfortunately, his rival, Marvin the Martian, wants the same thing too, and a battle starts between Daffy/Dodgers and Marvin.]
• "Robin Hood Daffy" [Daffy Duck appears as Robin Hood and tries to persuade Porky Pig who is Friar Truck that he really is the hero. Daffy tries many things, but none of them work.]
• "Duck Amuck" [Daffy Duck gets himself painted, changed, embarrassed and annoyed by a mysterious drawer.]
• "Bully for Bugs" [Bugs Bunny takes the job of a matador and fights a gruesome bull, using his many tricks.]
• "Ali Baba Bunny" [Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck arrive in a cave with treasures and Daffy finds himself chased by the guard Hassan.]
• "Rabbit Fire" [Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny argue about if it is rabbit season or duck season, while Elmer Fudd is there. Bugs always tricks Daffy into being shot by Elmer.]
• "For Scent-imental Reasons" [Pepé Le Pew chases Penelope puss*cat into a perfume shop, until she turns the tables on him.]
• "Long-Haired Hare" [Bugs Bunny annoys his cruel neighbor Giovanni Jones by playing a banjo, a harp and a tuba. So he disguises himself as Leopold [Stokowski] to ruin Jones' concert and have revenge.]
• "What's Opera, Doc?" [Elmer Fudd appears as an ancient hunter who chases Bugs Bunny in this opera in order to 'kill the wabbit'. In one scene, Bugs disguises himself as Brunhilde.]
• "Operation: Rabbit" [Wile E. Coyote uses his inventions to eat Bugs Bunny for supper.]

The cartoons are followed by a 19-minute compilation featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, with some 31 gags used from 17 cartoons. They are:

• "To Beep or Not to Beep" [the lasso scene and the catapult scenes]
• "Zoom and Bored" [The scene where Wile E. is tricked off a cliff and uses a jack-hammer]
• "Hopalong Casualty" [Earthquake pills scene]
• "Whoa, Be-Gone!" [Teeter-Totter scene, the Trampoline Scene and the high wire structure and dons a wheel-head scene]
• "There They Go-Go-Go!" [Rock Avalanche scene]
• "Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z" [ACME Bat-Man's outfit scene]
• "Going! Going! Gosh!" [Slingshot scene and Wile E. Coyote disguising himself as a woman Scene]
• "Stop! Look! And Hasten!" [The road wall scenes, ACME Bird Seed on Bridge scene and the ACME Leg Muscle Vitamins scene]
• "Beep Prepared" [The final cartoon to have the ending scene where Wile E. uses an ACME Little-Giant-Do-It-Yourself Rocket Sled]
• "Fast and Furry-ous" [ACME super outfit scene]
• "Scrambled Aches" [Spring Coil scene]
• "Hot-Rod and Reel!" [Trampoline scene]
• "Guided Muscle" [Human Bow and Arrow Scene and the slingshot scene]
• "Zip 'n Snort" [Human Bow and Arrow Scene and the Giant Cannon scene]
• "Wild About Hurry" [ACME Giant Rubber Band scene]
• "Zipping Along" [Human-canon Ball Scene and the Wrecking Ball scene]
• "Hip Hip- Hurry!" [Intro chase scene with mock-Latin names and the boulder attempt]

The original cartoons and bridging scenes were directed by Chuck Jones and written by Mike Maltese. The "Bugs at Home" bridging sequences were animated by Irv Anderson, Manny Perez, Phil Monroe, Lloyd Vaughan, and Virgil Ross; and the backgrounds were supplied by Irv Wyner and Production Design and Layout was supplied by Maurice Noble and Ray Aragon. A running gag is established at the film's beginning; Chuck Jones had put the "That's all Folks!" card in the wrong place, which Bugs corrects as "That's NOT all Folks!" This happens again at the end; That's all Folks! is being written again, but Bugs stops it, and causes it to reverse as the starting quote mark freaks out at his presence. With a snide "Well?", he makes it rewrite as "That's not quite all Folks!" with "not quite" in red and underlined, before the credits roll. Right at the end, just before the Warner Communications Company logo, the same catchphrase appears but already written out as "That's really all Folks!" then the word "really" is underscored. Prior to this, the WB Shield logo zooms in. On top is Bugs, and he says, "Eat your heart out, Burt Reynolds!" followed by him and the shield zooming out.

Availability[]

Notes[]

• No MPAA number appears on the end credits.
• On the original early 1980s VHS release of the film, at the start of the end credits, the original working title of the film "The Great American Chase" is presented. The film's 1997 VHS re-release instead uses the movie's final title.
• Music cues from this film would later be used in the short "Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century".

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