| Duck! Rabbit, Duck! | |
| Director: | Charles M. Jones |
| Story: | Michael Maltese |
| Animator: | Ken Harris Abe Levitow Richard Thompson Lloyd Vaughan Ben Washam |
| Layout Artist: | Maurice Noble |
| Background Artist: | Philip de Guard |
| Starring: | Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan |
| Music: | Carl Stalling Milt Franklyn |
| Producer: | Edward Selzer |
| Studio: | Warner Bros. Cartoons |
| Distributor: | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Color Process: | Technicolor |
| Runtime: | 6:49 |
| Language: | English |
Duck! Rabbit, Duck! is a 1953 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Charles M. Jones.[1] The cartoon was released on October 3, 1953 and stars Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd.[2]
The cartoon is the third of Jones' "hunting trilogy", which began with 1951's Rabbit Fire and 1952's Rabbit Seasoning.
In the winter landscape, Daffy Duck embarks on a campaign to remove and incinerate "Duck Season Open" signs to stave off the threat of being hunted. Daffy then manipulates Elmer into believing it is rabbit season. In the ensuing confrontation, Daffy lures Bugs out under false pretenses, only to face Bugs' counter-deception regarding his purported status as an endangered fricasseeing rabbit. Daffy's agitation prompts him to coerce Elmer into shooting Bugs, leading to an exchange involving the spelling of "fricasseeing" and a mischievous alteration by Bugs.
Subsequently, Bugs orchestrates a series of encounters with Elmer, characterized by misidentifications and reactions. Notably, Bugs constructs a snow rabbit effigy, morphs into an angelic guise post-explosion, and later disguises himself as a duck. Daffy's sanity eventually unravels, culminating in a frenetic insistence on being shot, while Elmer spirals into confusion, ultimately mistaking a disguised Bugs for a game warden proclaiming baseball season.
As Elmer departs in a frenzy of baseball-themed gunfire, Bugs reveals his true identity and questions Daffy about the hunting season. Daffy, resigned to the inevitable, asserts the prevailing duck season belief, prompting a synchronized volley of shots from concealed hunters. Defeated, Daffy, in a symbolic gesture, pronounces Bugs "despicable".
In a commentary by Eric Goldberg, he cites the short as his favorite in the hunting trilogy. Goldberg praises the setting, describing it as "Maurice Noble's beautiful snowscape", reasoning "it makes the action read that much cleaner".[3] When discussing the whole hunting trilogy, Forrest Wickman at Slate states "The formula is simple, but what makes the cartoons classics are the small variations in execution." Wickman praises the various ways Daffy is shot.[4]
Animation historian David Gerstein writes, "Duck! Rabbit, Duck! succeeds because the exaggeration of the villain role blends perfectly with the cartoon's exaggeration of Bugs, its exaggeration of Elmer — and its exaggeration of logic. Duck! Rabbit, Duck! is a cartoon that derives its entire mood from pushing gags past conventional Looney Tunes limits."[5]
A small clip from this cartoon (specifically the scene where Daffy says to Elmer, "I'm an elk! Shoot me!") is briefly seen in the film Space Jam, right after the camera moves away from the clip from Muzzle Tough.