the audience applauded

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Blistering performances.

The gags start early in this Bugs Bunny short; the opening shot shows a train crossing the desert; its headboard proclaims that it is the 'Super Chief' and features an Indian chief in a superman costume! On board Bugs is in the mail car singing a song when pint sized bandit Yosemite Sam tries to hold up the train; what follows is a series of shootouts interspersed with gags, visual puns and even a couple of live action sequences!This short provided a new adversary for Bugs Bunny in the form of the short, red-haired gunslinger Yosemite Sam; on the strength of this outing I'm not surprised he became a regular character. The train robbery setting nicely spoofed westerns where characters fire their six-shooters constantly without needed to reload. Other funny gags include Bugs sketching a gun when Sam tells him to draw and later Bugs sitting on Sam's head while pretending to be entering the carriage from various directions and ultimately pouring red ink on Sam's head so he thinks he's been hit. Mel Blanc does a fine job providing totally different voices for both Bugs and Sam.

I love Looney Tunes, always have done, always will do, and I love the pairings of Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. With them, I am used to razor-sharp dialogue, clever sight gags and explosive character interaction. With Hare Trigger I was not disappointed at all! The animation is colourful and looks as though care has gone into it. And the music is very energetic and fits with the story and action well.The cartoon goes at a fast pace, and has a good and rarely predictable story. The chemistry between Bugs and Sam is a sheer delight, Bugs is his witty and likable self, while Sam bags the best lines and utters them with relish. Mel Blanc's stellar vocals only add to the fun, Blanc's voice work is always consistent and as I've said many times he had a knack of elevating even the weakest of material.Hare Trigger's real creme de la creme is in the humour. The dialogue is razor-sharp and very witty and with the chemistry between Bugs and Sam as explosive as it already is it has the impact of firecrackers going off. But it is actually the action and sight gags that drive it. The action is exhilarating, while the sight gags do not fall into the trap of being predictable and work on repeat viewings.All in all, a hilarious cartoon and a must for fans of Bugs or Yosemite Sam. 10/10 Bethany Cox

It's hard to rely on someone else's advice to choose a comedy to watch. Every joke may not be funny for everybody, for everyone has different sense of humour. Although, there are some jokes made up of pure intellect; and especially those jokes have a hidden kernel which always keeps its freshness. They just don't get staled by time. That's what, when Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam came together for the first time, they have created.There are more than a couple of cross-referencing sequences from Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short's western-comedy epic "Three Amigos(1986)" to this little episode of Bugs Bunny. The most memorable one for me is when someone lies dead in a scene, his pal suddenly comes right in front of our eyes playing a Mexican guitar, singing a Mexican Indian song, wearing a traditional Mexican hat and says: "It's only a red ink bleeding from the top of your head. This is just a comedy. In comedies, people don't die." even before Yosemite Sam wonders: "Why did you pour ink on my head?". From start till the end, Hare Trigger shines at all levels. A simple story has made very gripping with less script and more action. It's very rare to come across that much of a short script before the modern Sylvester&Tweety chapters. The best jokes and the loudest laughters come through the direction of the animation. It's also a pioneer on adding a wasted 35mm. footage of real life filmmakers and their films, appearing as a surprise segment. Freleng and his animation crew has created a truly epic. At this level, the character intros have been done very wisely. So it became easier than thought to create this intimate friend for Bugs: Yosemite Sam... Quick-tempered, vengeful, selfish, the midget cowboy who always seeks trouble.Among all of his pals, Yosemite Sam is the best one who gets very closer to overcome Bugs Bunny every time. In this first episode of their endless quarrel, Yosemite Sam actually overcomes Bugs Bunny. He does for a short time. When we left Bugs Bunny tied up and hanging upside down from the top of the train going over a bridge, we fearfully thought "there must be something wrong with this" ; this time Bugs Bunny overcame the screenwriter, Michael Maltese. Bugs changes the screenplay before it occurs to his life's end. He still bears his title; he's still the one and the only unbeatable(even though there is sometimes no clear explanation "How?" at all).

Introducing Bugs Bunny's newest nemesis - YOSEMITE SAM! A villain with a large, droopy moustache, a harsh, fiery temper, and an exceedingly short stature, Sam turned out to be a perfect foil for Bugs, thanks to director Friz Freleng, who simply hated the stupid Elmer Fudd. In "Hare Trigger", Sam attempts to hold up a train, on which Bugs just happens to be a passenger.My favorite scenes: At the very beginning of the cartoon, the train's whistle blows "Yankee Doodle", complete with some great sound effects by Treg Brown. Sam gives Bugs one second to "draw" a gun, so Bugs whips out a pad & pencil; Carl Stalling's musical accompaniment of this scene is hilariously PERFECT! Sam introduces himself with such adjectives as "rip-roarinest" and "Edward Everett Horton-est"."Hare Trigger" can be found (finally) on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6 Disc 1. One question that has existed in my mind for quite awhile: Was director Friz Freleng Yosemite Sam? Many say Friz was, but he denied it. We may never know the answer.