| Roman Legion-Hare Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny) series |
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|---|---|
 Emporer Nero makes orders to "release the lions" |
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| Directed by | Friz Freleng |
| Produced by | Eddie Selzer (uncredited) |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Milt Franklyn |
| Animation by | Virgil Ross Art Davis Gerry Chiniquy |
| Layouts by | Hawley Pratt |
| Backgrounds by | Irv Wyner |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 12, 1955 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7:09 |
Roman Legion-Hare is a Looney Tunes animated short released in 1955. The title is a play on the words Roman Legionnaire. After being ordered by Emperor Nero to find a victim to be tossed to the lions, Yosemite Sam tries to capture Bugs Bunny.
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The setting is Rome, 54 A. D.; the camera pans past a billboard announcing "Another Appian Freeway for Your Safety (Slow Chariots Keep Right)" before settling on an exterior view of the Coliseum. As spectators file into the Coliseum, their shadows fall on a poster describing the day's sporting event:
The sign was a reference to the the NFL team with the same name.
A radio-style sportscaster describes the scene for his audience and the entrance of Emperor Nero into the arena (in a chariot with tail fins from a 1950s Cadillac). Nero is represented as a caricature of actor Charles Laughton who had played the character in The Sign of the Cross in 1932.
The announcer reports that Nero has "consented to throw out the first victim". When it turns out they are all out of victims, Nero commands Captain of the Guard Sam to take his legion out to get one (informing Sam that if he fails to provide a victim for the lions, Sam will be the victim).
Along the way, Sam and the legion (which looks more like a squad) cross paths with Bugs Bunny who is looking at them expecting a parade. Sam sends his troops after Bugs but he trips them with his foot.
Sam then chases after Bugs in a chariot where he once again is victim of the "giddyap! horse/whoa! horse" routine.
Through the rest of the picture, Sam and Bugs are running through the labyrinth of the Coliseum where the lions seem to be lurking behind every other door. Bugs finally escapes but accidentally gets himself in the middle of the arena. Sam victoriously joins Nero in his box as the lions are released. The lions run by Bugs and straight to Sam and Nero who must take refuge atop a column. Bugs puts on a Roman crown and says, "Well, as the Romans say, E Pluribus Uranium". As the enraged lions slowly chop down the column, Nero plays "Taps" on his fiddle as he and Sam await their fate, with the cartoon fading to black.
This cartoon represents the eighteenth time Bugs Bunny was pitted against Yosemite Sam. As with Sahara Hare released earlier the same year, it was an attempt to move Sam and Bugs Bunny out of the contexts of westerns or pirate movies where most of their previous pairings had occurred. The 1950s were the golden age of sword and sandal and Roman Epic movies which provided a good new locale for the two characters. The film is notable as it was the first one where the director is credited as Friz Freleng instead of Isadore or I. Freleng.
Parts of this film were re-used in the Friz Freleng short film Devil's Feud Cake in 1963.
Roman Legion Hare was released on the Bugs Bunny's Wacky Adventures VHS as part of the Golden Jubilee video set. The short is also part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4 DVD set.
| Preceded by Knight-mare Hare |
Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1955 |
Succeeded by Bugs' Bonnets |
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