oscaralbert Review of Rabbit Fire

Rabbit Fire (1951)

In the Looney Tune which inspired Gary Larson's "The Far Side" . . .

[8/10 · 7 January 2016]

. . . Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck wind up turning the tables on self-professed vegetarian Elmer "I only hunt for the sport of it" Fudd. After some early ambiguity over whether it's actually Duck Season or Rabbit Season, Bugs and Daffy discover that it's really "Elmer Season," and the pair are last seen blasting away at Mr. Fudd with hunting rifles. With RABBIT FIRE, Warner Bros. is drawing attention to the fact that an average of 718 hunters are gunned down in American forests each year (though less than 10% of these are field dressed). Since Elmer is a slob hunter, he shoots Daffy five times without inflicting a fatal wound. (When he runs out of ammo, he overlooks the one in the chamber; but since Daffy is holding Elmer's piece when blasted by THAT round, Daffy's sixth wounding here is technically self-inflicted.) In RABBIT FIRE, Warner's seems to be saying that only a slob hunter needs an extended magazine, whether he's hunting rabbits or first graders. At one point Daffy illustrates this concept by implying that if you cannot bring down your prey with a single shot, you ought to be playing tennis, a pastime in which extended volleys are NOT considered shameful.