This is one of my favorite Bugs Bunny shorts, which deftly illustrates one of Chuck Jones's rules for his Bugs cartoons, which was that Bugs should never go after anyone for no good reason-he has to be the aggrieved party first in some way and merely evening the score with a bad guy. Because I want to discuss some of the details, this is a spoiler warning:
The short opens with Bugs on his way to meet his cousin Herman when he runs into a boulder-sized gold nugget. After whooping it up about his good fortune ("I'm rich beyond the means of avarice!"), Bugs suddenly turns paranoid and protective, none of which escapes the notice of Nasty Canasta, who opens up a "bank" where Bugs foolishly deposits his gold. Thinking better of it, he goes back to get his gold, only to have Canasta literally close the bank facade on and around him, trapping him inside. Placing a boulder on the cube encasing the rabbit, Canasta rides off with Bugs's gold, leaving only Bugs's eyes visible and we hear him say, "You realize that this will not go unchallenged!" and we know that Canasta is in deep trouble.
Some six months later, as Canasta is marking a deck of cards in preparation of the opening of his saloon and casino, who should come in but our hero, suited up as a hayseed with his hair full of hay? If you said Bugs, you win a carrot! He asks if he can use Canasta's "Telio-phone", pointing at a slot machine. Canasta chuckles and says "Sure!", at which point Bugs hits the jackpot and a huge pile of coins pours out. Canasta urges him to stick around and play some games.
We all know who's going to win-Bugs is the hero here, after all-the fun is in watching just how Bugs makes Canasta the patsy, when Canasta thinks he's got a live sucker ripe for the fleecing. They play "marbles, Frisco style", with Bugs winning a penny bet on 23, being told that here, the customer always wins, Bugs placing a huge stack on 23 again and Canasta not only nailing a block of wood in place over 23 (so no one else-in an empty casino-can bet on 23), but using a rigged wheel, only to have the ball go into 23 because of Canasta's actions.
They then play poker, with a few cute puns and Canasta says, "I got a full house-what you got?", to which Bugs says, "Does that beat two pair? I have a pair of red ones (aces) and a pair of black ones (also aces) and Canasta is visibly stunned at losing. As Bugs is getting ready to leave, Canasta pulls out a revolver, Bugs then spins the cylinder and hits another jackpot. After a predictable (but still funny) final visual gag, Bugs leaves with a final funny line, which I won't spoil here.
This short is available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 4 and is well worth having. Highly recommended.
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