Purely Joyful Movie!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Absolutely the worst movie.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

" . . . Carson City," Bugs Bunny blabs to a couple Conservative-looking bank professionals near the beginning of the Warner Bros. animated short, BUGS AND THUGS. "He knows too much," concludes the lead Acquisitions Banker. It's already been shown by this point that Bugs is a sharp enough banking services consumer to keep his assets in a safe deposit box, rather than risking exorbitant banking penalties and fees, tellers' errors, identity theft, Russian hackers, and worse by maintaining a "bank account." When the bank's money managers realize that Bugs' financial savvy is paired with a detailed knowledge of the Seats of Government Power, they conclude that Bugs is the sort of person who can upset their applecart. The remainder of this cartoon consists of a virtual fight-to-the-death between Bugs and the financiers who've kidnapped him. Though Bugs is able to twice maneuver them into a gas chamber (where the worst Public Enemies were Euthanized during the 1900s), the Big Money pair get off on technicalities both times. However, even today BUGS AND THUGS constitutes a valuable Personal Finance Primer for Young Americans.

I always loved it when Looney Tunes parodied the old Warner Bros. gangster pictures. In this short, Bugs Bunny gets mixed up with a pair of bank robbers, diminutive Rocky and his dimwitted sidekick Mugsy. This short is similar in many ways (including a lifted gag involving an oven) to the classic Racketeer Rabbit. This one has a lot going for it on its own, though. The music is energetic, the colors are lovely, and the animation is creative and fun. The peerless Mel Blanc handles all of the voices so you know what kind of quality you'll get there. The pace is fast and the jokes are very funny. Bugs is as likable as ever and the two thugs are goofy caricatures you can't help but enjoy.

Having already kidnapped Daffy Duck and Tweety in previous cartoons, gangsters Rocky and Mugsy get out of their depth when they try and take on Bugs Bunny. Friz Freleng's 'Bugs and Thugs' is an often hilarious cartoon which nevertheless pales in comparison to Freleng's earlier take on a similar scenario, 'Racketeer Rabbit'. 'Bugs and Thugs' climactic routine, which involves Bugs faking a conversation with the law while the gangsters are hidden in an oven, is taken directly from 'Racketeer Rabbit' but performed in a slightly more hurried fashion as if Freleng is already bored with the gag. 'Bugs and Thugs' is still a sufficiently funny and entertaining cartoon but it isn't nearly as handsome or well timed as its predecessor.

Even if you're not totally familiar with gangster movies from the '40s and '50s, "Bugs and Thugs" still comes out quite funny. When Bugs Bunny accidentally enters a gangster car while crook Rocky is robbing a bank, Rocky decides that Bugs knows too much (e.g., 2+2=4, Carson City is the capital of Nevada, George Washington was our first president), so they take him hostage. As always, Bugs is ahead of everyone. But it's not until the end, during a trick involving the cops - Irish, natch - that Bugs shows his true, normal colors. I probably would have done what Rocky and Mugsy did.It's just always great how the Looney Tunes cartoons played off of the popular culture of their era. Rocky was probably a parody of James Cagney, and Mugsy just seems to be a big excuse to be dimwitted. Anyway, it's a really funny cartoon, even if we have to wait a little while until Bugs does his usual stuff.