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1948 film by Friz Freleng

Bugs Bunny Rides Again is a 1948 Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on June 12, 1948, and stars Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. The animated short is both a Western and a parody of the genre's conventions. Voice characterizations are performed by Mel Blanc. It is the third cartoon to pair Bugs and Yosemite Sam, after Hare Trigger (1945) and Buccaneer Bunny (1948). The title is a typical Western reference, as in "The Lone Ranger rides again", and also suggests a reference to the Jack Benny comedy, Buck Benny Rides Again (1940).

Underscored by a high energy version of "Cheyenne", a constant hail of bullets flies around the Western town of Rising Gorge. A stream of them sail one way along the main street; a traffic light (an Acme Regulator, in keeping with Looney Tunes tradition) turns red and those bullets hover in mid air while another torrent of them shoot by on the cross street, though they hesitate to resume when they get the green light when one last bullet zips past on the cross street, running the red light. Inside the Gunshot Saloon ('Come in and get a slug') at the bar a cowboy shoots another, apparently only for his drink. Outside there is a commotion and women screaming, then Yosemite Sam, guns smoking in his hands, walks in (being so short, he passes beneath the saloon doors). The patrons react with fear, yelling his name as the score quotes from Erlkönig When Sam returns to the surface and is immediately confrontational, Bugs draws lines in the sand, each time daring Sam to step over them. Sam does so, for quite a distance, until he falls off a cliff. During Sam's fall, Bugs places a mattress at the bottom saying, "Me conscience bodders me sometimes", before taking the mattress away ("But not dis time!") and letting Sam crash to the bottom. The two end up on horseback, Sam giving chase, through a series of gags until Bugs suggests they play cards, as is common in "the Western pictures" to determine who leaves town. The two play gin rummy, and Bugs wins the game (by cheating); he rushes Sam onto the stagecoach to the train station accompanied by a rushed rendition of Cheyenne. As he is shoving Sam onto the train, they discover that the passenger car is the Miami Special, full of swimsuit clad women heading for a beauty contest. Accompanied by a rendition of Oh You Beautiful Doll fit for a striptease number, the plot twist completely changes the tone. Bugs fights with Sam to be the one boarding the train, and prevails (to the strains of Aloha Oe) as usual, with lipstick kisses on his face shouting, "So long, Sammy! See ya in Miami!"

Yosemite Sam's statement when he first enters the saloon "the roughest, toughest he man stuffest hombre that's ever crossed the Rio Grande, and I don't mean Mahatma Gandhi" is changed in some versions of the film to "And I ain't no namby pamby" instead of "Mahatma Gandhi." This modification was probably due to Gandhi's assassination between the cartoon's production and its release.

Because the film is organized as "one gag after the next", rather than clearly defined narrative segments of exposition, climax, and conclusion, Carl Stalling created a series of short musical cues accompanying and fitting each scene or gag. A total of 18 such cues appear in this short. The full version of Finale part of "William Tell Overture" would be used in 2008 rhythm game Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor.

The animated parody short received favourable critical response. Animator historian Greg Ford praised the musical accompaniment to the horse chase, and author Piotr Borowiec describes it as "Probably the funniest cartoon starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam". In Cartoon Carnival: A Critical Guide to Best Cartoons, writer Michael Samerdyke considers it as "one of Friz Freleng's best."