The Unmentionables is a 1963 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. It stars Bugs Bunny in his third and final encounter with gangsters Rocky and Mugsy, who would also make their final appearance, period, during this time.
This cartoon is an Affectionate Parody of The Untouchables. Set in The Roaring '20s, a time of mobster violence, the government decides to send Agent Elegant Mess (Bugs) into the criminal underworld of Chicago to bring in Rocky and his right-hand man, Mugsy.
Tropes:
- Accidental Murder: Bugs having kicked Rocky so hard up under his hat that he drops his guns and can't see anything, he feels around for his guns and finds them, firing blindly. Rocky realizes he has been set up and sics the other gangsters on Bugs, only to discover that in blindly firing his guns everywhere, Rocky had gunned down the other gangsters by mistake.Mugsy: Gee, Rocky, you made a booboo.
Bugs: (entering again, this time in a trenchcoat) Yeah, and I'm bookin' ya for murder! - Acme Products: The chase leads to the ACME Cereal Factory, where the two gangsters wind up trapped in cereal boxes and brought in by Bugs.
- Affectionate Parody: Of the TV crime series The Untouchables. Not only is the title similar, but the narration, provided by Ralph James, is derivative of Walter Winchell's narration. Above all, Bugs takes on the role of crime-fighter Elegant Mess, a reference to Eliot Ness.
- Ash Face: The result of Rocky and Mugsy getting shot by Bugs' carrot gun.
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: Having chased Bugs into the darkened cereal factory, Rocky orders Mugsy to turn on the lights to see where they are. Mugsy obliges — only for Rocky to discover Bugs aiming a gun at him. Rocky yells for Mugsy to turn the lights off again, which he does, but not before Rocky gets shot by Bugs.
- Bittersweet Ending: Bugs arrests Rocky and Mugsy, who are sentenced to 20 years of hard labor. Unfortunately for Bugs, he lost the keys to his handcuffs, so he is forced to join them.
- Bowdlerization: This cartoon was edited on two separate occasions:
- On the syndicated Merrie Melodies Show, the two scenes of Rocky getting shot by Bugs, once by his carrot gun and the other in the darkness of the cereal factory, were cut.
- On the WB! network, the scene of a man running into the phone booth to call the operator to get in contact with the police was edited to remove him and the booth being shot in half by offscreen gunfire. Only the first part, with the man going into the booth to call the police, was shown.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The opening narration describes the Roaring '20s as "the Jazz Age, with the sound of strumming banjos and wailing saxes, the era of short fobs and long beads, big bands and tiny dance floors, and... violence." Cue two cars, both full of gangsters, as they fire machine guns at one another.
- Cement Shoes: After capturing Bugs, Rocky has his feet encased in cement and thrown off a pier. Bugs manages to survive by breathing through a pipe and hopping back to land.
- Comically Missing the Point: As cement is being poured on his feet, a blindfolded Bugs complains "Look, fellas, how many times do I have to tell you? I haven't got a cold!"
- Disguised in Drag: Bugs tries to gain entry to Rocky's hideout by disguising himself as a flapper who pops out of Rocky's birthday cake — and kicks Rocky repeatedly while dancing.
- End of an Age: It is the final Bugs Bunny cartoon to be directed by Friz Freleng, and the second-to-last short by Freleng, period, during the classic era.
- Funetik Aksent: Rocky's birthday cake is labeled "Happy boithday Rocky".
- Half the Man He Used to Be: During the opening sequence, a man in a phonebooth is desperately calling for the police when machine gun bullets rip the booth in two. The bottom half falls off... leaving only the top of the man hanging in midair. To top it off, the telephone operator says the line has been disconnected.
- Jumping Out of a Cake: Bugs infiltrate's Rocky's birthday party by dressing as a flapper and jumping out of the cake.
- Meaningful Name: Parodied. The nicknames of the gangsters at Rocky's party are taken literally; "Baby-face" Half Nelson has a baby's face, "Pistol-nose" Pringle has a gun barrel for a nose, and so on.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: One gangster at Rocky's party, "Teeth" Malloy, has giant teeth that take up almost his entire face.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: One of the gangsters at Rocky's party is Jack "Legs" Rhinestone, a parody of real-life gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond.
- Packed Hero: Well, Packed Villains as Mugsy and Rocky fall afoul of a cereal factory.
- The Roaring '20s: The time in which the cartoon is set.
- This Banana is Armed: Bugs aims a carrot at Rocky, who just chuckles at it... until it fires and leaves him and Mugsy charred. Unfortunately, the carrot only has one load.Bugs: That's the trouble with carrots. They're only good once.
- Wasn't That Fun?: As Rocky and Mugsy are caught inside the cereal factory.Mugsy: Hey, boss, this is fun. Like in the amusement park.
Rocky: Shaddup. - Working on the Chain Gang: In the end, Bugs succeeds in bringing Rocky and Mugsy to justice, handcuffing the two in each arm. They are sentenced to twenty years of hard labor on the rock pile. Alas, Bugs is to spend the entirety of that sentence with the two crooks, as he had lost the keys to the cuffs.
