Knighty Knight Bugs

Knighty Knight Bugs
Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny) series
As Yosemite Sam climbs up the rope, Bugs Bunny, mallet in hand, prepares to knock Sam back down.
Directed by	Friz Freleng
Produced by	John W. Burton
Story by	Warren Foster
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Milt Franklyn
Animation by	Gerry Chiniquy Arthur Davis Virgil Ross
Layouts by	Hawley Pratt
Backgrounds by	Tom O'Loughlin
Studio	Warner Bros. Cartoons
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	August 23, 1958
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	6:28

Knighty Knight Bugs is a 1958 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons and released by Warner Bros. Mel Blanc provided for the voices of all the characters in this cartoon.

Bugs Bunny, the court jester of King Arthur, must recover a singing sword from Yosemite Sam (as the Black Knight) and his fire-breathing, often sneezing, dragon. The film is a partial remake of Freleng's earlier Sahara Hare, which was also largely about Bugs inside a building (in that case, a fort) and Sam on the outside, repeatedly trying (and failing) to get inside.

This cartoon is notable for being the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win an Academy Award, in 1959, for Best Animated Short Film.^[1]

Plot

King Arthur is sitting with his Knights of the Round Table, complaining about hard times that have befallen the kingdom ever since the Black Knight stole the Singing Sword. He asks his knights—among them Sir Osis of Liver and Sir Loin of Beef—for a volunteer to get the sword back. The knights complain that the Black Knight is invincible and has a fire-breathing dragon guarding the sword. King Arthur angrily demands to know if the knights are all chicken, and is dismayed when he hears clucking and sees chicken feathers flying. Bugs, as the court jester, dances in and tells King Arthur that "only a fool" would be crazy enough to go after the Singing Sword. The King agrees ("A good idea, fool."), and tells Bugs that he has to get the singing sword, or else face being executed ("Put to the rack, burned at the stake, and beheaded"). Bugs at first laughs at the idea, but then starts crying when he realizes that the king is serious.

At the castle of the Black Knight—shown to be Yosemite Sam dressed in black armor—there is a fire-breathing dragon that belongs to Sam, but the dragon has come down with a cold from allowing its fire to get low, and thus, is prone to fits of sneezing, causing jets of flame to shoot from its nostrils. Sam feeds the dragon some coal to fuel the dragon's internal fire, and then goes back to taking a nap on his chair. Bugs sneaks in to the castle, past Sam and the dragon and to the chest where he pulls out the singing sword. He openly wonders why it's called a "singing sword" and finds out when it starts vibrating, via a musical saw, to the tune of "Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine". Sam wakes up and chases Bugs, but Bugs slams the door in Sam's face, causing his armor to fall off. Sam then wakes up the dragon ("Wake up, you fire-breathing lizard!"), who unintentionally breathes fire on him ("Stop breathing on me, you idjit!").

Bugs runs outside the castle, chased by Sam on the dragon. Bugs ducks into a hole, and Sam slides off the dragon when trying to stop. Bugs then runs back to the castle and raises the drawbridge as Sam approaches, causing Sam to fall into the moat. When Sam demands that Bugs lowers the drawbridge, Bugs lowers it right onto Sam's head, who yells in a muffled voice to raise it back up again. A flat Sam shouts: "Okay, rabbit! You've forced me to use force!" Sam then uses the dragon to pull a catapult in place, gets on it and launches himself to the castle, but misses the window Bugs is looking out of, flattening his front (In a "cramped" voice, Sam declares: "You'll pay for this, varmint!"). Next, Sam lassos a rope around one of the battlements of the castle, but as he is climbing up, Bugs whacks Sam on the head with a mallet, causing Sam to side down the rope outside of his armor.

Thinking the coast is clear, Bugs sneaks out of the castle. Sam and his dragon are hidden behind a rock waiting for Bugs, but the dragon sneezes on Sam again, alerting Bugs to their presence. Bugs then runs back into the castle, followed by Sam and the dragon. Bugs runs into a room, Sam and the dragon follow, then Bugs sneaks out and locks the door to what is now shown as the explosives room. Surrounded by explosives, Sam tries to keep the dragon from sneezing again ("No, no! Don't sneeze, you stupid dragon, or you'll blow us to the moon!"). As Bugs walks away from the castle, the dragon sneezes again, and the tower Sam and the dragon are in takes off like a rocket, flying towards the moon (Sam glares at the befuddled dragon and says, "Dragons is so stupid!"). Bugs waves goodbye, saying: "Farewell to thee". The singing sword picks up on this and starts humming "Farewell to Thee" as Bugs walks out of sight, ending the cartoon.

Awards

Among all of the Bugs Bunny cartoons, this is the only one to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 1959. In doing so, it beat out cartoons Walt Disney Studios' Paul Bunyan and Terrytoons' Sidney's Family Tree.^[1] It was the third Oscar-nominated Bugs Bunny cartoon, after A Wild Hare in 1940^[2] and Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt in 1941.^[3] The Oscar was presented to John W. Burton, the producer of this cartoon.

In the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Who Bopped Bugs Bunny?", the Oscar win of Knighty Knight Bugs is a major plot point. It is revealed that in 1959, a cartoon of Sappy "Slaphappy" Stanley (an elephant, voiced by Jonathan Winters) was defeated for the "Sclockser" (a parody of the Oscar) award by Knighty Knight Bugs. As a result, Stanley scorned the US film industry and relocated to France, where he became a national star (parodying the similar career move of Jerry Lewis), but he still nursed a bitter grudge against Bugs, culminating in the episode's plot. Sappy Stanley is not a pre-existing cartoon character, having been created for the episode, but a parody of Terrytoons character Sidney the Elephant, a.k.a. "Silly Sidney", whose cartoon Sidney's Family Tree was indeed nominated for an Academy Award the same year as Knighty Knight Bugs.

The phrase "Sir Loin of Beef" was used in Bugs Bunny parody Rabbit Hood by Bugs to con the gullible Sherriff of Nottingham.
The phrase "Sir Osis of the Liver" was used in the Bugs Bunny parody Knight-mare Hare.
The gag on a dopey fire breathing dragon was also used in Knight-mare Hare and on the cartoon series Here Comes the Grump.

DVD availability

This cartoon is featured uncut on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4 DVD set,^[4] Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection, and The Essential Bugs Bunny. It is also available in the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3 Blu-ray and DVD.

Attractions

Bugs' White Water Rapids is a Hopkins Rides log flume themed to Knighty Knight Bugs that opened in 1998 at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, Texas.^[5]^[6]^[7]

References

1 2 "1958 academy awards". Retrieved 2007-09-20.
↑ "1940 academy awards". Retrieved 2007-09-20.
↑ "1941 academy awards". Retrieved 2007-09-20.
↑ "Looney Tunes - Golden Collection, Volume Four DVD Review". Retrieved 2007-09-20.
↑ "Bugs' White Water Rapids". Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
↑ "Fiesta Texas History". Retrieved December 14, 2011.
↑ "Bug's White Water Rapids". Retrieved December 14, 2011.

External links

Knighty Knight Bugs at the Internet Movie Database
Knighty Knight Bugs at The Big Cartoon DataBase

Preceded by Now Hare This	Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1958	Succeeded by Pre-Hysterical Hare

Films directed by Friz Freleng

1930s	Buddy the Gob (1934) Buddy and Towser (1934) Beauty and the Beast (1934) Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name (1935) I Haven't Got a Hat (1935) My Green Fedora (1935) The Cat Came Back (1936) I'm a Big Shot Now (1936) Bingo Crosbyana (1936) Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (1936) Toy Town Hall (1936) Boulevardier from the Bronx (1936) The Coo-Coo Nut Grove (1936) Pigs Is Pigs (1937) The Fella with the Fiddle (1937) She Was an Acrobat's Daughter (1937) Clean Pastures (1937) The Lyin' Mouse (1937) Jungle Jitters (1938)

1940s	Confederate Honey (1940) The Hardship of Miles Standish (1940) You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940) Porky's Bear Facts (1941) Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941) Notes to You (1941) Rhapsody in Rivets (1941) The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (1942) Fresh Hare (1942) The Hare-Brained Hypnotist (1942) Ding Dog Daddy (1942) Pigs in a Polka (1943) The Fifth-Column Mouse (1943) Greetings Bait (1943) Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk (1943) Yankee Doodle Daffy (1943) Daffy – The Commando (1943) Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944) Snafuperman (1944) Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944) Duck Soup to Nuts (1944) Hare Force (1944) Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears (1944) Payday (1944) Three Brothers (1944) Stage Door Cartoon (1944) Herr Meets Hare (1945) Life with Feathers (1945) Hare Trigger (1945) Ain't That Ducky (1945) Peck Up Your Troubles (1945) Baseball Bugs (1946) Holiday for Shoestrings (1946) Hollywood Daffy (1946) Of Thee I Sting (1946) Racketeer Rabbit (1946) Rhapsody Rabbit (1946) The Gay Anties (1947) Tweetie Pie (1947) Rabbit Transit (1947) A Hare Grows in Manhattan (1947) Along Came Daffy (1947) Slick Hare (1947) Back Alley Oproar (1948) I Taw a Putty Tat (1948) Buccaneer Bunny (1948) Bugs Bunny Rides Again (1948) Hare Splitter (1948) Hare Do (1949) Kit for Cat (1948) Wise Quackers (1949) High Diving Hare (1949) Curtain Razor (1949) Knights Must Fall (1949) Bad Ol' Putty Tat (1949) Dough for the Do-Do (1949) Which Is Witch (1949)

1950s	Home Tweet Home (1950) Mutiny on the Bunny (1950) The Lion's Busy (1950) Big House Bunny (1950) His Bitter Half (1950) All a Bir-r-r-d (1950) Golden Yeggs (1950) Bunker Hill Bunny (1950) Canary Row (1950) Canned Feud (1951) Rabbit Every Monday (1951) A Bone for a Bone (1951) His Hare-Raising Tale (1951) The Fair-Haired Hare (1951) Room and Bird (1951) Putty Tat Trouble (1951) Tweety's S.O.S. (1951) Ballot Box Bunny (1951) Tweet Tweet Tweety (1951) Gift Wrapped (1952) Foxy by Proxy (1952) 14 Carrot Rabbit (1952) Little Red Rodent Hood (1952) Ain't She Tweet (1952) Cracked Quack (1952) A Bird in a Guilty Cage (1952) Tree for Two (1952) Hare Lift (1952) Snow Business (1953) A Mouse Divided (1953) Fowl Weather (1953) Southern Fried Rabbit (1953) Hare Trimmed (1953) Tom Tom Tomcat (1953) A Street Cat Named Sylvester (1953) Catty Cornered (1953) Robot Rabbit (1953) Dog Pounded (1954) Captain Hareblower (1954) Bugs and Thugs (1954) Dr. Jerkyl's Hide (1954) Muzzle Tough (1954) Satan's Waitin' (1954) Yankee Doodle Bugs (1954) Goo Goo Goliath (1954) Pizzicato Pussycat (1955) Sahara Hare (1955) Sandy Claws (1955) Hare Brush (1955) Tweety's Circus (1955) This Is a Life? (1955) Hyde and Hare (1955) Speedy Gonzales (1955) Red Riding Hoodwinked (1955) Roman Legion-Hare (1955) Heir-Conditioned (1955) Tweet and Sour (1956) Rabbitson Crusoe (1956) Tree Cornered Tweety (1956) Napoleon Bunny-Part (1956) Tugboat Granny (1956) A Star Is Bored (1956) Three Little Bops (1957) Tweet Zoo (1957) Tweety and the Beanstalk (1957) Piker's Peak (1957) Birds Anonymous (1957) Bugsy and Mugsy (1957) Greedy for Tweety (1957) Show Biz Bugs (1957) Hare-Less Wolf (1958) A Pizza Tweety Pie (1958) Knighty Knight Bugs (1958) Trick or Tweet (1959) Apes of Wrath (1959) Tweet and Lovely (1959) Mexicali Shmoes (1959) Wild and Woolly Hare (1959)

1960s	Goldimouse and the Three Cats (1960) Hyde and Go Tweet (1960) From Hare to Heir (1960) Lighter Than Hare (1960) D' Fightin' Ones (1961) Rebel Without Claws (1961) The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (1961) Prince Violent (1961) The Last Hungry Cat (1961) The Jet Cage (1962) Shishkabugs (1962) Devil's Feud Cake (1963) The Unmentionables (1963) Nuts and Volts (1964) The Pink Phink (1964) Road to Andalay (1964) The Wild Chase (1965) Cats and Bruises (1965) The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation (1965) The Ant and the Aardvark (1969)

1980s	The Chocolate Chase (1980) The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981) Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982)

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film

1932–1950	Flowers and Trees (1932) The Three Little Pigs (1933) The Tortoise and the Hare (1934) Three Orphan Kittens (1935) The Country Cousin (1936) The Old Mill (1937) Ferdinand the Bull (1938) The Ugly Duckling (1939) The Milky Way (1940) Lend a Paw (1941) Der Fuehrer's Face (1942) The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943) Mouse Trouble (1944) Quiet Please! (1945) The Cat Concerto (1946) Tweetie Pie (1947) The Little Orphan (1948) For Scent-imental Reasons (1949) Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950)

1951–1975	The Two Mouseketeers (1951) Johann Mouse (1952) Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953) When Magoo Flew (1954) Speedy Gonzales (1955) Magoo's Puddle Jumper (1956) Birds Anonymous (1957) Knighty Knight Bugs (1958) Moonbird (1959) Munro (1960) Ersatz (The Substitute) (1961) The Hole (1962) The Critic (1963) The Pink Phink (1964) The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (1965) A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966) The Box (1967) Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) It's Tough to Be a Bird (1969) Is It Always Right to Be Right? (1970) The Crunch Bird (1971) A Christmas Carol (1972) Frank Film (1973) Closed Mondays (1974) Great (1975)

1976–2000	Leisure (1976) The Sand Castle (1977) Special Delivery (1978) Every Child (1979) The Fly (1980) Crac (1981) Tango (1982) Sundae in New York (1983) Charade (1984) Anna & Bella (1985) A Greek Tragedy (1986) The Man Who Planted Trees (1987) Tin Toy (1988) Balance (1989) Creature Comforts (1990) Manipulation (1991) Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase (1992) The Wrong Trousers (1993) Bob's Birthday (1994) A Close Shave (1995) Quest (1996) Geri's Game (1997) Bunny (1998) The Old Man and the Sea (1999) Father and Daughter (2000)

2001–present	For the Birds (2001) The ChubbChubbs! (2002) Harvie Krumpet (2003) Ryan (2004) The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation (2005) The Danish Poet (2006) Peter and the Wolf (2007) La Maison en Petits Cubes (2008) Logorama (2009) The Lost Thing (2010) The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2011) Paperman (2012) Mr Hublot (2013) Feast (2014) Bear Story (2015)

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