"Neh, my mudder told me dere'd be days like dis..."
Big House Bunny is a 1950 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam.
In this short, Bugs, in trying to avoid hunters during hunting season by digging underground, finds himself in Sing Song Prison ("No Hanging Around"), where he is mistaken for an escapee by guard Sam Schultz. While incarcerated, Bugs repeatedly matches wits with Sam and gets him into trouble with the warden.
Big House Bunny provides examples of:
- The Alcatraz: The prison itself. The name "Sing Song" is a play on the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York.
- Big Ball of Violence: Happens when Bugs tricks Sam into putting on a prisoner outfit and sics a bunch of guards on him.
- Bowdlerise:
- Many American TV airings, like those on ABC, The Merrie Melodies Show (the syndicated and FOX versions) and even Cartoon Network and Boomerang, cut the scene where Sam falls through the trap door of the gallows and gets stuck in a noose. In The Bugs Bunny Mystery Special (which aired in 1980), the scene was replaced with one in which Sam presses the button and the trapdoor becomes a spring trap that launches him into the air.
- In addition, ABC cut the part where Bugs (as the warden) offers Sam a cigar and a seat — on the electric chair (with predictable results).
- The Merrie Melodies Show (syndicated and FOX version) left in the electric chair part, but not the gallows part. Also, they cut the part where Bugs plays a crooked prison guard and gives Sam a tunneling kit so he can break out (only for Sam to end up in his boss's office and get in trouble).
- Clothing Switch: When Bugs boasts that Sam doesn't look so tough without his uniform, Sam tries to prove it, and Bugs takes the opportunity to take his striped prisoner's outfit off and swap clothes with Sam.
- The Coats Are Off: Bugs taunts Sam by saying he wouldn't be so tough without his guard uniform, so Sam takes it off while Bugs takes his prison uniform and prepares to exchange blows. Bugs then "decides" that Sam is tough enough and pulls the Clothing Switch described above.
- Couldn't Find a Lighter: Bugs, disguised as the warden, gives Sam a cigar and tells him to "have a light". He then flips the switch of the electric chair Sam is sitting on and reduces the whole cigar to ash.Bugs: Warm enough for ya, Schultz?
- Cover Identity Anomaly: When Bugs disguises himself as the warden, Sam eventually sees through the ruse when the false mustache inadvertently comes off.
- Cranial Eruption: After Bugs' impersonation of the Warden, Sam comes back in the Warden's office, thinks it's still Bugs in disguise and clubs his own boss on the head. A swelling about as tall as Sam himself erupts on the Warden's head, who then emerges with a Death Glare, and Sam sheepishly taps it back into the Warden's head with his club. Cue another round of yelling and job loss threat on Sam from the pissed off Warden.
- Crocodile Tears: Bugs sheds them after being "imprisoned" by Sam — or rather, after tricking Sam into switching places with him so that Bugs is now free and Sam is the one locked in the cell meant for Bugs.
- Da Chief: The Warden gets increasingly pissed off at the antics of Sam (which are triggered by Bugs) and yells loud enough to be heard clearly in the whole prison.Warden: I won't stand for any more of your nonsense, now get out!!! OUT!!!!!
[...]
Warden: I've had all the tomfoolery I'm gonna take from you! QUIET!!!! One more slip-up, you strudel-brained bonehead, and you'll be looking for another job, now get out!!! OUT!!!!!!!! - Dub Name Change: In the French dub, Sam is called "Schwartz" instead of "Schultz".
- From Bad to Worse: Parodied; Bugs tunneled inadvertently into the prison yard to escape from hunters chasing him, and got mistaken for an inmate attempting to tunnel out. Between Bugs and Sam, there's no debate as to who gets the worst in this trope.
- Get Out!: In the end, Sam decides he can't take it anymore and simply orders Bugs out of the prison with this command.
- Hammerspace: The little cake-shaped bag Bugs gives to Sam contains a whole escape tool kit with a pickaxe, a shovel, a map, a compass...
- Hanging Around: One of the pranks Bugs pulls on Sam involves Sam falling through a trapdoor on the prison’s gallows and getting caught in the noose. This being a cartoon, Sam doesn’t come to lasting harm. As mentioned under Bowdlerise above, this scene is occasionally cut out or altered for television audiences.
- Harmless Electrocution: Happens to Sam when Bugs, disguised as the warden, puts him in an electric chair.
- Institutional Apparel: Bugs wears stripes when claiming he's not #777174, but "three and a half". At the end, Sam is dressed in stripes when he's sentenced for letting Bugs go.
- Jail Bake: Played with; when Sam is locked in a cell, Bugs, disguised as a guard, gives Sam a loaf of bread that turns out to be an "Ajax Escape Kit", which zips open and contains digging tools and a map.
- Jump Scare: "SCHULTZ! Just what is the meaning of this?!"
- Mistaken for an Imposter: When Sam sees through Bugs' warden disguise, he chases him out of the office and back in again. He then runs up to the desk and clubs who he thinks is Bugs over the head... only to discover it's the real warden! And the Warden (now with a big Cranial Eruption) gives Sam one hell of a Death Glare when he pops back up after being clubbed!
- Not So Remote: When Sam digs his way out from inside a cell with help from a map, courtesy of a disguised Bugs, he emerges in what appears to be a lush jungle. When Sam parts the plants, he discovers, to his horror, that he's actually among the oversized potted plants in the Warden's office.Warden: SCHULTZ! Just what is the meaning of this?!
- Oh, Crap!: Sam whenever he gets called into the Warden's office.
- "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Sam gives one when he realizes he had attacked the Warden and not the disguised Bugs.
- Or My Name Isn't...Sam: You'll do fifty years, or my name ain't Sam Schultz!
- Prison Episode: An Bugs Bunny short where Bugs ends up in a prison by accident.
- Running Gag: "SCHULTZ! OFFICE!"
- Sure, Let's Go with That: After Bugs corrects Sam that he's not 777174, but "three and a half", Sam goes with it and arrests Bugs on the spot anyways.Sam: Alright, then! You're three and a half! (chuckles)
- The Stool Pigeon: After Sam, pushed to his limit, orders Bugs to leave the prison, the rabbit squeals to the warden that Sam apparently allowed a prisoner to escape. In fact, the cartoon ends with a shot of Bugs cooing on a stool.
- Verbal Judo: After Sam locks Bugs up in a cell, Bugs asks why Sam locked himself up. They argue back and forth until Sam trades places with Bugs... thus locking himself up for real.
- Villainy-Free Villain: Sam is a prison guard who probably takes a little too much joy in trying to stop prisoners from escaping.
- Wig, Dress, Accent: When Bugs passes as the Warden, he dons his uniform, his cap and a mustache. Sam only figures out who he is when the mustache gets stuck on the cigar and gets accidentally removed by Bugs.
- Working on the Chain Gang: Mistaking Bugs for an attempted prison escapee, Sam has the rabbit labor on the rock pile. In the climax, Sam has Bugs simply leave the prison grounds for good, thinking he successfully drove him away — only to immediately be fired and arrested by the warden for (allegedly) letting a prisoner go illegally, and the cartoon ends with Sam laboring on the rock pile.
