"For me, doc? Oh, you darlin'!"
The Heckling Hare is a 1941 Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Tex Avery, starring Bugs Bunny alongside a dumb dog known as Willoughby. It was the second-to-last Bugs Bunny short directed by Avery, the other being the infamous All This and Rabbit Stew.The plot is hardly anything special. Willoughby is hunting for a rabbit when he comes across Bugs Bunny, who then proceeds to waste no time in making a fool of the dog in his usual rascally ways.
This cartoon is notable in that it was originally planned to have an ending different from the one we are exposed to today, where Bugs and Willoughby fall from two more cliffs after their plunge from the first one, with the cartoon ending during the third fall. Naturally, Leon Schlesinger wanted this ending to be done away with for disputed reasons; he thought the "Hold on to your hats" line referred to an obscene euphemism, he did not like the idea of Bugs being killed off, or he found the ending too long and repetitive, but for whatever reason, Mr. Schlesinger just didn't like the planned ending and got into a fight with Tex Avery, who later left to work at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Tropes:
- Antagonist in Mourning: When he squeezes the tomato Bugs placed on his paw into pulp, Willoughby believes he killed Bugs and breaks down crying, even having the courtesy to leave a bouquet of flowers at Bugs' hole before the rabbit shows up unharmed.
- Anti-Climax: Bugs and Willoughby are both falling from the sky after tumbling off a cliff and screaming their heads off, getting closer and closer to the ground with each second... then they brake in the air and land safely without a scratch.Bugs: Nyeh, fooled you, didn't we?Willoughby: Yeah!
- Batter Up!: After tricking Willoughby into not stopping making faces, Bugs subdues him with a hard whack from a baseball bat, which snaps in half upon making contact with the dog's head.
- A Bloody Mess: While Willoughby is reaching through a tree trunk in hopes of capturing Bugs, the latter gives the former a tomato, which he inadvertently crushes into pulp with his paw. When Willoughby retracts his paw, he sees the tomato juice oozing all over it and believes he's killed Bugs.
- Dogs Are Dumb: Willoughby. He is easily outsmarted and manipulated by Bugs and even takes a while to realize he is a rabbit when he meets him for the first time.
- Hit Flash: An exaggerated example. Bugs raises a baseball bat to hit Willoughby, then there's a flash and Bugs is holding the broken bat while Willoughby is on the ground with a Cranial Eruption. Instantly showing the aftermath without showing the swing makes the hit seem ten times more violent.
- Hypocritical Humor: Willoughby almost tunnels through a cliff in pursuit of Bugs, manages to get back up before he falls and walks away while remarking he should be more careful... but he isn't looking where he's going and falls off for real. As Bugs looks on, he walks away, remarking Willoughby should've watched his step... while he himself is not looking in the direction of the hole left by the dog and falls through as a result.
- I Fell for Hours: The cliff that Bugs and Willoughby accidentally tumble from is roughly the height of a skyscraper, so the two spend almost 40 seconds plunging from the sky, screaming and yelling all throughout.
- Mirror Routine: The first trick Bugs plays on Willoughby is mimicking the facial expressions and gestures the dog makes towards him. They keep doing it until only Willoughby is continuously making faces, allowing Bugs to clobber him with a baseball bat.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Willoughby is reduced to a sobbing wreck under the assumption that he inadvertently killed Bugsnote . He even goes as far as to lay out flowers at Bugs' hole before the latter reveals himself to be alive and takes the bouquet.
- Not the Fall That Kills You…: At the end of the cartoon, Bugs and Willoughby manage to save themselves from falling to their deaths by putting on the brakes in midair, giving them a safe landing.
- Overly Long Gag: The fall from the cliff Bugs and Willoughby take near the end of the cartoon lasts for almost 40 seconds. During production, it was intended to be even longer, with Bugs and Willoughby falling off two more cliffs with the cartoon ending during the third one, but for the reasons mentioned above, it was scrapped.
- Simpleton Voice: Willoughby speaks with a low, dim voice to illustrate how much he lives up to the Dogs Are Dumb stereotype.
- "Take That!" Kiss: Three times.
- Bugs plants a kiss on an unconscious Willoughby's nose after hitting him with a baseball bat, and we briefly see the latter waking up as the former runs off to a lake.
- He later does it again after scratching Willoughby's lower half while standing on it and causing him to scratch it with his leg.
- Finally, after he takes the flowers Willoughby intends to give him after his supposed "death".
- Talking with Signs: Bugs brings up a "Silly, isn't he?" placard when he manages to trick and distract Willoughby into continuously making faces.
