Favorite"Hunter Trilogy" short?

[kaseykockroach]

Out of the three "Hunter Trilogy" shorts, which one do you prefer? My favorite is "Duck,Rabbit,Duck" due to its great winter backgrounds.

[Marty26]

I second your favorite.

[JPox]

I third that favorite!
"I'm a fiddler crab! Why don't you shoot me?! It's fiddler crab season!!"

[MF TOON]

I hate them all.

[Sean Gaffney]

I like the first, Rabbit Fire, best as I find that Daffy is at least vaguely likeable in this one, and it has the best surprise ending. I will admit that Rabbit Seasoning is better written, though.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

I forth your favorite.

"Look, I'm a fiddler crab!"

[Chow Hound]

Duck, Rabbit, Duck! because Daffy is so over the top in this one.

[Mr. Semaj]

Rabbit Fire

The Hunter Trilogy was at its best when it was Bugs & Daffy vs. Elmer, which is why I absolutely loved the twist ending.

[AardvarkDog]

"Duck! Rabbit! Duck!" Daffy's freak out has some of the best animation WB has made! :D Although I am fond of the clever writing in "Rabbit Seasoning" and the Elephant Gun gag in "Rabbit Fire".

[Spike]

None Of Them.. I don't like them at all.. :(

[oceansoul]

I would be lying if I say I don't like "Duck Rabbit Duck", but IMHO it's a bit overrated, and probably the weakest one of the very strong series. Some of the gags are a bit forced.

My vote goes to Rabbit fire. :bugs2: :daffy: :befuddled

[Cartoon King]

Put me down for Rabbit Fire. Love the ending! :bugs2: :daffy: Although the "pronoun trouble" bit in Rabbit Seasoning is hilarious!:cool:

[frizfrelengfan]

"Rabbit Seasoning" for the wordplay.

[J. B. Warner]

"Duck, Rabbit, Duck" is tops in my book. Daffy's reactions in this cartoon are brilliant, from his twangy-eyed take after Elmer's "But I haven't got a wicense to shoot a fwicaseein' wabbit", to his perfectly timed high-pitched "What?" right before another shotgun blast to the head, to his brilliantly psychotic surrender animated lovingly by Ken Harris ("I'm an elk! Shoot me! Go on, it's elk season! I'm a fiddler crab! Why don't you shoot me? It's fiddler crab season!") Everything in this cartoon - the animation, the writing, the backgrounds, the music, the voice acting - it's nothing short of perfect.

My least favorite is probably "Rabbit Seasoning", though, as it's surprisingly slow for a 1952 Jones cartoon. Mike Maltese's "pronoun trouble" dialogue is great, sure, but it seems to be primarily Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer standing around talking without much action until the second half of the cartoon.

[captchucky]

All three are wonderful. I really like, "Duck, Rabbit, Duck" I suspect because of the winter backgrounds. It makes this short a little different. I think this contains one of Daffy's best scenes, the whole cordite and crab bit. I don't think I'll ever tire of this cartoon.

[AcmeCoyote]

Tough call, but I will go with "Duck Rabbit Duck". Here is the culmination of the formula that was started in the previous two films.

[Marty26]

"Duck, Rabbit, Duck" is tops in my book. Daffy's reactions in this cartoon are brilliant, from his twangy-eyed take after Elmer's "But I haven't got a wicense to shoot a fwicaseein' wabbit", to his perfectly timed high-pitched "What?" right before another shotgun blast to the head, to his brilliantly psychotic surrender animated lovingly by Ken Harris ("I'm an elk! Shoot me! Go on, it's elk season! I'm a fiddler crab! Why don't you shoot me? It's fiddler crab season!") Everything in this cartoon - the animation, the writing, the backgrounds, the music, the voice acting - it's nothing short of perfect.

My least favorite is probably "Rabbit Seasoning", though, as it's surprisingly slow for a 1952 Jones cartoon. Mike Maltese's "pronoun trouble" dialogue is great, sure, but it seems to be primarily Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer standing around talking without much action until the second half of the cartoon.

I agree that Rabbit Seasoning was probably the weakest of the three shorts (now, mind you, we're talking about the weakest of three superb shorts - so that's definitely nothing to be ashamed of). It just seems like too much of a reprise of Rabbit Fire, in pretty much the same setting and with very similar jokes.

Though Elmer's reaction after getting kissed by the disguised Bugs has to be one of the best moments ever in a Chuck Jones cartoon.

[Speedy Boris]

"Duck Rabbit Duck". "Shoot me again! I enjoy it! Look, I'm a fiddler crab!"

[houserunner]

Tie between RABBIT FIRE and DUCK, RABBIT, DUCK. I love both cartoons. Michael Maltese's writing is full flower here.

[Gossamer]

I love that short!

May this find you happy and healthy.


Robert Reynolds
Tucson AZ

[mmtper]

I agree that Rabbit Seasoning was probably the weakest of the three shorts (now, mind you, we're talking about the weakest of three superb shorts - so that's definitely nothing to be ashamed of). It just seems like too much of a reprise of Rabbit Fire, in pretty much the same setting and with very similar jokes.

Though Elmer's reaction after getting kissed by the disguised Bugs has to be one of the best moments ever in a Chuck Jones cartoon.

Well, I'm going to a bit against the consensus and say Rabbit Seasoning is my favorite by a very small margin, and Duck Rabbit Duck is the weakest (things are getting a tiny bit strained when Bugs dons an angel disguise). But I agree with Marty that they're three superb shorts--three of the best comic films ever made (animated or non-animated!)


JB Warner says: My least favorite is probably "Rabbit Seasoning", though, as it's surprisingly slow for a 1952 Jones cartoon. Mike Maltese's "pronoun trouble" dialogue is great, sure, but it seems to be primarily Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer standing around talking without much action until the second half of the cartoon


That's why I like it, J.B.! To my mind, Bugs and Daffy and Elmer are like three old vaudevillians doing a "Who's On First" or "Vhy a Duck" or "NIAGARA FALLS!" routine here, rigidly written out and dependant on nuance and delivery and micro-second timing! ("So Shoot Me Now!!"="Third Base!!") I think it's also an example of Jones's great direction; I love & admire Robert McKimson and will often defend him, but imagine him directing the first half of this film, and it'd probably lie kinda flat, characters "standing around talking" (especially by the late '50's), but with Jones it's a virtual textbook of body language and expression and slow set-up/pay-off! and short set-up/PAY-OFF!!! McKimson was very very good, but Chuck was a genius.

[Eugene the Jeep]

Yeah, I'll go with Rabbit Seasoning, too. That's been my favorite since I was little.

[lonesome-lenny]

These three cartoons all kinda melt together into one big epic for me. All three show Jones and Maltese's growing self-consciousness, which would later border on smugness (as in BEANSTALK BUNNY).

That self-consciousness is what distinguishes these three cartoons. Jones and Maltese have an over-riding attitude that controls their work: "We're hip to what's going on. We're not just guys making cartoons--we're guys who KNOW we're making cartoons, who KNOW all the cliches and formulas, and we're messing with 'em!"

The "pronoun trouble" routine is a perfect example of this meta-hipness. Such a speech would have been unimaginable in any other director's cartoons. Its blend of cool intellect and gymnastic patois is uniquely the work of Jones/Maltese.

Their clamorous breach of the fourth wall, in these three cartoons, seems to me a reaction to the work of Tex Avery. From day one of his tenure as a cartoon director, Avery had kicked at that fourth wall--albeit in a quieter, humbler way.

These "golden period" Jones/Maltese cartoons are an echo of Avery's pioneering work--and a refraction of his shattering ideas back into the chattier, more character-driven WB cartoons of the early '50s.

In the "hunting trio" cartoons, Jones and Maltese repeatedly trumpet the news that THEY are in the driver's seat, know the score, and are poking some new holes in the cartoon formulae.

While this attitude was fresh (roughly, from 1950 to the temporary closure of the WB studios in '53), Jones and Maltese made some magnificent, vibrant cartoons. When this self-aware hipness became a formula, their work, ironically, became almost exactly what it set out to puncture.

These three cartoons are all of a piece, variations on a theme, and the work of two inspired individuals who are on each other's wavelength.

Have you ever seen an audience's reaction to any of these? People seem to sense that there is something special about them. They are favorite cartoons of people who know nothing about the nuts and bolts of animation history.

[guy incognito]

Great insights, lonesome-lenny. Of course, Duck Amuck took the self-referentialism one hilarious step further.

[Lee Glover]

My favourite has to be "Duck! Rabbit! Duck!". It has an hilarious premise (Bugs holding up signboards whenever Daffy calls himself a particular animal), and the scene where Daffy's eyes bounce sideways always makes me crack up with laughter. :daffy:

[kaseykockroach]

I hate them all.
What's wrong with them?:confused:

[frogboxer]

My favorite is "Rabbit Fire" by the slimmest of margins. All 3 of them are really good shorts, so there's no way for me to say that any one of them is far superior to the others.