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Apes of Wrath

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Apes of Wrath
Directed byFriz Freleng
Story byWarren Foster
StarringMel Blanc
June Foray
Music byMilt Franklyn
Animation byArthur Davis
Virgil Ross
Gerry Chiniquy
Layouts byHawley Pratt
Backgrounds byTom O'Loughlin
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • April 18, 1959 (1959-04-18)
Running time
6:28

Apes of Wrath is a 1959 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Friz Freleng.[1] The short was released on April 18, 1959, and stars Bugs Bunny with a cameo from Daffy Duck at the end.[2] This cartoon recycles the plot from the 1948 cartoon Gorilla My Dreams. The title is a parody of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.

This cartoon was featured in Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, but with a few slight changes, since the plot features Bugs and Daffy trying to sell books.

Plot

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An inebriated stork, tasked with delivering a baby gorilla in the jungle, loses the infant during a break. Fearing repercussions, the stork seeks a replacement and spots Bugs Bunny roasting a carrot and singing. He knocks Bugs out, dresses him in baby clothes, and delivers him to the gorilla parents. The parents, "Mama" and Elvis, are horrified upon seeing the "baby." Elvis tries to club him, but Mama insists that they accept him whatever he looks like. As Bugs awakens Mama offers him to Elvis for a kiss. When Elvis roars instead, Mama hits him with a rolling pin, and Bugs decides to play the situation for fun.

Elvis is forced to care for Bugs but continues trying to get rid of him, while Bugs takes every chance to get him in trouble with Mama and her rolling pin. Eventually the stork returns and gives Mama their real baby. Upon hearing this, Bugs runs for his life from an enraged Elvis. As Elvis prepares to drop a boulder on Bugs from a cliff, the bunny sees Mama approach. He runs away and the boulder hits Mama instead. Elvis stammers an explanation before accepting his punishment. As Bugs watches, the stork congratulates him and hands him a bundle. Daffy Duck leaps out, calls Bugs "dearest mommy," and kisses him as he frowns to the audience.

Home media

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"Apes of Wrath" is available, uncensored and uncut, on the Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire and Looney Tunes: Unleashed DVDs. However, in both cases it was cropped to widescreen. It was also included in the Stars of Space Jam: Bugs Bunny DVD, but this time in the ratio in which it was originally animated (fullscreen aspect ratio).

References

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  1. ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 315. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  2. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60-62. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
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Preceded by Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1959 		Succeeded by
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