The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
Movie, 1979, Saturday mornings, Set in A Chuck Jones compilation
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie is #3 of 18 in release order and #3 of 18 in chronological order in the Looney Tunes.
The story
A collection of Warner Brothers short cartoon features, "starring" the likes of Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Wile E. Coyote. These animations are interspersed by Bugs Bunny reminiscing on past events and providing links between the individual animations which are otherwise unconnected. This 1979 feature-length compilation includes several of his best cartoons. Among the 11 shorts shown in their entirety are the classics "Robin Hood Daffy," "What's Opera, Doc?," "Bully for Bugs," and "Duck Amuck". The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Movie provides a showcase not only for Jones's razor-sharp timing, but for the work of his exceptional crew, which included designer Maurice Noble, writer Mike Maltese, composers Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn, and voice actor Mel Blanc.
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie recap
A 1979 feature-length compilation of Chuck Jones's classic Warner Bros. shorts, with new linking scenes animated for the film. Bugs Bunny gives a tour of his home, a modern house built over a waterfall of carrot juice, and reminisces about the history of comedy and his career while introducing the cartoons. The first half is mostly Bugs and Daffy Duck: Hare-Way to the Stars with Marvin the Martian, Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Half Century, Duck Amuck, Bully for Bugs, Ali Baba Bunny, Rabbit Fire, Long-Haired Hare and What's Opera, Doc?, along with Pepe Le Pew in For Scent-imental Reasons and Wile E. Coyote in Operation: Rabbit. Several are shortened. The second half is a single extended Road Runner chase, cut together from seventeen Road Runner and Coyote shorts into one continuous pursuit. Jones directed the new material with Phil Monroe, and Mel Blanc voiced the cast.
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie ending explained
The film ends with its long Road Runner and Coyote sequence, the Coyote failing with one Acme device after another. Afterward Bugs steps outside and looks up at the night sky, where the constellations of the Road Runner and the Coyote are still running. It was followed by more compilation films built the same way, starting with The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981), assembled by Friz Freleng.
Where to watch The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie isn't on a US streaming service right now. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.3/10, Rotten Tomatoes 100%
Where it fits
- Release order: after The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, before Tiny Toon Adventures.
- Chronological order: after The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, before Tiny Toon Adventures.
What to watch before The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
In release order, the essentials before The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979) are Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies (1930) and The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour (1968).
Cast
- Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck / Porky Pig / Marvin the Martian / Wile E. Coyote / Pepe le Pew / Dr. I.Q. High / Hassan (voice)
- Arthur Q. Bryan as Elmer Fudd (voice)
- Paul Julian as Road Runner (voice)
- Nicolai Shutorev as Giovanni Jones (voice)
- Joan Gerber as Cavewoman (uncredited)
Directed by Chuck Jones, Phil Monroe.