Hit or Miss: Hare Brush

[Marty26]

This was probably one of the oddest Bugs/Elmer cartoons as it showed them having a sort of role reversal. So what's the overall opinion of it?

I voted "Hit." The cartoon started off a little slowly but really picked up once Bugs was in that Psychiatrist's office. I also enjoyed its music and artstyle (both were very mid/late-50's Hanna Barbara like).

[Mr. Semaj]

Hit.

The funniest part is how Bugs calls the psychiartist a screw-ball, when it is he who is eventually one-uped.

Also, who could forget this line?

"I am Elmer J. Fudd, millionare. I own a mansion and a yacht."

Ultimately, Elmer doesn't come off as crazy as we're led to believe.

[Thad]

Miss. The cartoon shows huge promise up through the first half (up until Bugs leaves the doctor's office), but then takes a nosedive with a string of painfully unfunny gags of Bugs taking abuse. The ending with Bugs being taken off by the IRS is lame too.

[frizfrelengfan]

A hit. It's fun to see Bugs lose once in a while.

[Fibber Fox]

Miss. The cartoon shows huge promise up through the first half (up until Bugs leaves the doctor's office), but then takes a nosedive with a string of painfully unfunny gags of Bugs taking abuse. The ending with Bugs being taken off by the IRS is lame too.

I just didn't find it funny, either, Thad. OK, the roles are reversed. Now what? That's it? Oh.

FF

[Daffysleftfoot]

I voted Miss as well. It's an iteresting premise but they took too long to set it up. Not only that but the Bugs/Elmer vs Elmer/Bugs battle did not have the same spark that the 40's cartoons had. Maybe it would have fared better if anyone but Friz Freleng had directed it. I don't think he was suited to this kind of story.

[JPox]

It was a good role-reversal cartoon.
Elmer should be allowed to get the best of Bugs once in awhile.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

Miss. The cartoon shows huge promise up through the first half (up until Bugs leaves the doctor's office), but then takes a nosedive with a string of painfully unfunny gags of Bugs taking abuse. The ending with Bugs being taken off by the IRS is lame too.
I agree, that's why I also voted for miss.

[chuckamuck45]

A hit. It's fun to see Bugs lose once in a while.

I concur. And I love Elmer doing the bunny hop to iris out:D !

[oceansoul]

Hit. This is not a stunningly funny cartoon indeed, but decent enough, and I agree that it was a pleasure to see when Bugs losing a battle, and being so vulnerable as in the whole cartoon.

Btw. why Friz Freleng wasn't suited for this cartoon? :confused:

[Thad]

Btw. why Friz Freleng wasn't suited for this cartoon? :confused:

He was too cautious as a director, which was his greatest weakness (after the poor drawing style). Experimentation was not Friz's game.

[Marty26]

Hit. This is not a stunningly funny cartoon indeed, but decent enough, and I agree that it was a pleasure to see when Bugs losing a battle, and being so vulnerable as in the whole cartoon.

Btw. why Friz Freleng wasn't suited for this cartoon? :confused:

I think it was just a little surprising to see Freleng directing a cartoon like this since, after creating Yosemite Sam in 1945, he released very few Bugs/Elmer cartoons. Generally, if he released an Elmer Fudd cartoon, he would either pair Elmer with Sylvester (Kit For Cat) or against some one-shot foes (Ant Pasted). Not to mention the fact that the cartoon's music and art-style aren't very Freleng-esque (once again, they're very mid/late-50s Hanna Barbara-esque, especially during the cartoon's second half).

A little trivia, btw: This was the first Merrie Melodies short to use the Milt Franklyn 1955-1964 theme.

[Marty26]

He was too cautious as a director, which was his greatest weakness (after the poor drawing style). Experimentation was not Friz's game.

Agreed. In fact, this really would been more suitable as a Robert McKimson short than as a Freleng short IMO.

[oceansoul]

He was too cautious as a director, which was his greatest weakness (after the poor drawing style). Experimentation was not Friz's game.

I agree with you on this, altough I always thought Friz's biggest weakness is reusing old animation and gags in his cartoons which is annoying for a regular LT watcher.

But I still think Hare brush is a hit. Friz made a lot of Elmer Fudd cartoons, I think he handled the character at best in the 50s. He also made other role spinoffs like Gonzales tamales, Catty cornered etc.

[J Lee]

It's at the same time both a very inventive and derivative cartoon. Friz and Warren Foster worked hard on the first part, which seems to be an effort to find a better excuse for the Bugs-Elmer role reversal than Freleng and Maltese did for "The Hare-Brained Hypnotist" 12 years earlier. But then the cartoon's second half is simply a weaker remake of the first cartoon, and the end gag is way weaker than it could have been.

(It's also interesting to note than this cartoon and Jones' "Rabbit Rampage" came out at almost the exact same time and around the closing/reopening of the studio, and were the only two cartoons in which Elmer get the best of Bugs at the iris out. Given the shaky position of their job employment status at the time, the staff could have been acting out a little hostility towards J.L. and the rest of the suits over in Burbank by sticking it to the animation department's biggest bread-winner by doing cartoons with endings that were designed not to leave theater audiences very happy.)

[speedy fast]

I like this cartoon, though it's not one of my favorite Elmer Fudd cartoons. When I first saw it I thought it was stramge that the cartoon didn't at least show both characters getting back to normal (and at the time I first saw it I thought it was strange that Bugs ended up losing, as I did with every Bugs cartoon I saw where Bugs wasn't the winner).