The Fair-Haired Hare

The Fair-Haired Hare is a 1951 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam.[1] Released April 14, 1951, the cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng.[2] The voices were performed by Mel Blanc.

The Fair-Haired Hare was the first short released in which Yosemite Sam was drawn with his mouth in his red mustache for the entire film. It is also one of the few cartoons where Sam refers to Bugs by name, and is also one of the few where Sam actually attempts to save Bugs from danger.

In the film, Bugs and Sam have their respective residences located in close proximity. They argue over property rights on the land which they both claim, and they are forced to share it by a court decision. The decision also declares them to be each other's legal heirs, and Sam is ready to kill to get his inheritance.

Bugs Bunny—contentedly singing "Home on the Range," adding in that rabbits also live on the prairie—is startled after Yosemite Sam builds a cabin above his rabbit hole. Bugs tries to find out what's going on, interrupting Sam's banjo rendition of "I Can't Get Along, Little Dogie" (M.K. Jerome/Jack Scholl); Sam attributes this disturbance to mice. Bugs saws a hole and climbs out through a bearskin rug. Its mouth closes as Bugs is halfway out, causing the bunny to panic; Sam sees this and shoots the rug repeatedly ("Playin' possum for 20 years! That'll learn ya!"). The two then begin quarreling over who has rights to the property; Bugs claims he was there first and should live there undisturbed ("Oh, uh, there must be some mistake. You see, through some error you built your house on my property. I'm afraid I'll have to ask ya to move it, doc."), while Sam isn't interested in listening to a rabbit's opinion ("What?! Ooh, listen, rabbit! Yosemite Sam never makes a mistake! Now get that flea-bitten carcass offin' my real estate! AND stay out!")

Bugs decides this may be a civil matter and plans to go to "the highest court in the country"—which they do: It is literally the "highest court" in the land, the courthouse being atop a mountain [elevation: 6,723 feet (2,049 m)]. There, the judge declares that both Bugs and Sam shall share the land equally ... "and in the event that one of you should pass on, the other shall inherit the entire property." Sam chuckles evilly, making Bugs uneasy.

The rest of the cartoon sees Sam trying to kill Bugs, but all of his schemes go awry:

Sam runs back and immediately chases Bugs back into his hole. He then realizes the only way to kill off the rabbit is to pack his hole with explosives. However, Bugs diverts the dynamite under the house foundation. Sam then lights the fuse, but realizes too late that his house is about to be blown up. In the end, Bugs watches from his unharmed hole as the cabin fly straight up into the air, much like how the cabin did in the tornado in the 1939 film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. A dazed Sam stumbles out onto his house's front porch and, upon realizing his fate, remarks: "Well, whaddya know, I've got a cabin in the sky!", as his house continues to fly upward.

The Fair Haired Hare at IMDb