Wild and Woolly Hare 1959

In 1889 Canasta Flats, a frontier town brimming with dusty streets and swinging doors, the day-to-day life centers around a trio of saloons—the Last Chance Saloon, the Next to the Last Chance Saloon, and the Fat Chance Saloon—where locals gossip, bet, and swap tall tales. The atmosphere crackles with jealousy, bravado, and a hint of danger as cowboys lean into wooden bar rails and exchange sly grins. Into this rough-and-tumble scene rides a famous name, sparking curiosity and a ripple of tension that threads through every corner of the room.

A mustached cowboy leans close to his friend and pipes up that Bugs Bunny is in town, a disclosure that sends his companion scrambling with a flimsy excuse about a cake left in the oven. The chatter grows louder when another cowpoke boasts that Yosemite Sam is the West’s quickest draw, a boast quickly met with a counter-claim from Injun Joe that Sam has never met him. The stage is set for a collision of wits and will, with pride and reputation hanging in the balance.

When a sharp-dressed, pink-shirted cowboy spots Sam approaching the Fat Chance Saloon, tension spikes. Sam strides in with a swagger that demands attention, and the air hums with the promise of a duel. Bugs Bunny, ever the rogue with a sly grin, steps forward with a calm counterpoint to Sam’s bluster. The quiet exchange escalates into a showcase of uncanny marksmanship. Bugs proves his prowess by firing a bullet that ricochets off a string of objects and carves a line through Sam’s hair, splitting it down the middle in a humorous display of skill.

Sam, unfazed yet irritated, counters with a demonstration of “real” shooting by tossing a can into the air and blasting it full of holes. Bugs, equally composed, tosses the can up himself and shoots Sam in the face, prompting a heated glare and a demand for payback. The invite to duel becomes a cheeky exchange about standards and sportsmanship, and Sam agrees to settle things in a gentlemen’s manner—only to abandon principle the moment Bugs refuses to play fair.

Their confrontation shifts from a classic Western stand-off to a chaotic barroom shootout, with both combatants moving in tandem along opposite ends of the bar. Each attempt to outshoot the other ends in a rapid exchange of blasts, with Bugs darting ahead and delivering a blistering series of shots that leave Sam reeling. The duel seems to tilt toward Bugs, until a train whistle cuts through the noise and interrupts the escalating chaos.

Sam checks his watch at 5:15, declares that he will abandon the gunfight to catch a train—and then doubles down on hijacking it. Bugs is not about to let that happen. He follows Sam onto the locomotive, swaps his own hat for a train engineer’s cap, and races toward the engine’s cab to take control. Sam grabs the throttle and orders Bugs to retreat, holding fast to a dangerous, high-stakes rhythm of pursuit.

The clash of engines becomes the centerpiece of their rivalry. Sam’s green-painted 4-4-0 American-type engine (#791) charges toward Bugs’ red, tenderless 4-2-0 locomotive (#99). They trade challenges and threats, each insisting the other must stop first. The regulators squeeze the pistons, the whistle shrieks, and the collision that seems inevitable never comes. Bugs ingeniously extends the cars’ legs on his train so that Sam’s engine passes harmlessly under, only to hear a cruel twist—the track ends at an ominous sign: End of Line. In a dramatic misstep, Sam’s locomotive careens off an unfinished trestle and plunges into a lake, steam and soot billowing into the air as the wheel spins to a stop.

With the showdown resolved in Bugs’ favor, the rabbit horn dances into a final farewell as he drives away, taunting his defeated rival with a cheeky line of good-natured contempt. The last image lingers on Sam’s locomotive, now sunk up to its smokestack in the lake, a soot-streaked portrait of frustration and defeat, as he coughs out the franchise’s famous closing sentiment.

I hate that rabbit!