BUNNIES GO TO THE MOVIES

Here are the beginnings of a list of movies with bunnies in them. It makes no attempt to be definitive, and should be expected to grow and grow. Feel free to send additions or corrections to Wayne Gloege, the author, at mallard@u.washington.edu. All participants are welcome! It has been attempted to provide links to reviews or other web sites.

ADDAMS FAMILY (the Addams children are talking about the tortoise and the hare. Wednesday Addams indicates proper treatment of a hare is to skin it, boil it up, and eat it!)

ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT (Includes passing reference to rabbits, to paraphrase: "The only life we've seen in the past 1000 miles is rabbits, and most of those are caught in the treads of the bus now!")

ADVENTURES OF THE AMERICAN RABBIT (Dazzlingly cute, most heroic, and every inch is Red White and Blue)

ALICE IN WONDERLAND--the 1951 Version (Disney's Classic with the glorious White Rabbit, and the notorious March Hare!)

ALICE IN WONDERLAND--the 1999 Version (Has really super-duper March Hare and great jittery white rabbit!)

ALL ABOUT EVE (Marilyn Monroe has a throwaway line, indicating her unwillingness to date producers because they are like "scared rabbits".)

AMELIE (During Amelie's childhood, she looks at clouds, and sees remarkable images, including a glorious rabbit!)

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (Reprise of "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun" includes line "If I shot a rabbit")

BACK TO THE FUTURE III (Our heroes are offered a very dead rabbit, and then are served the cooked corpse of that rabbit)

BAMBI (Thumper!)

BARBARELLA (It is reported that the film includes blue rabbits)

BATMAN BEGINS (Stuffed bunnies are used to hide dangerous psychoactive drugs.)

BATMAN RETURNS (Catwoman feeds her extensive stuffed animal collection down the garbage disposal. Is there a stuffed bunny there?)

BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS (Angela Lansbury transforms several characters into large white rabbits!)

BLAZING SADDLES (During riot late in the movie, a dancer named "Bunny" is injured, leading to mayhem a-plenty)

BROTHER BEAR (Has one bunny in a bit role, who joins many other creatures during the wonderful Mammoth Ride)

BROTHERS GRIMM (Very brutal scene where Angelika guts and skins a bunny!)

BUGS BUNNY ROAD RUNNER MOVIE (Of Course)

BY HOOK OR BY CROOK (A bit role for a great bunny 6 minutes in. I have not yet seen this one)

CANCAN (1960) (In the Four Arts ball ballet, one of the characters has a rabbit's head)

CHRISTMAS STORY (Pink Bunny Suit with built-in bunny slippers received as Christmas gift by Ralphie.)

CLIFFHANGER (Includes rabbit wearing radio-tracking collar. Thugs shoot at it and miss. $33,000,000 [more or less] goes away!)

CON AIR (A small stuffed bunny is a major character. Fighting words are "Put the Bunny Back in the Box!" Later on, the lead thug says "Make One Move and the Bunny gets it!" Continuity on the bunny is great; he becomes a key player from near the beginning until the very end.)

CUJO (Rabid Rabbit starts all of it.)

DANTE'S PEAK (Earthquakes and initial eruptions are beginning. We see and hear a crying child. Upstairs, we see a large stuffed pink bunny in the window! We are not informed as to whether this being survives.)

DEAD BUNNIES, (A short subject from 1983, involving post mortem vengeance executed by slaughtered rabbit. This one I have not seen myself)

DESK SET (Katherine Hepburn's magnificent character is named "Bunny Watson." Her would-be suitor presents her, as a Christmas gift, a large stuffed bunny, filled with a champagne bottle.)

DIE HARD...WITH A VENGEANCE (Willis likens his energetic staying power to that of the Energizer Bunny))

DOCTOR DOLITTLE (Rabbits play bit parts in Rex Harrison's Veterinary offices)

DONNIE DARKO (Featuring a creature in a bunny suit which appears in the lead's hallucinations and impels the action)

DOT AND THE BUNNY (A rabbit who wants to be a kangaroo!)

E. T., THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL (Includes a startled bunny extra in a minor role, as the spaceship is taking off at the beginning of the film)

EASTER PARADE (Astaire dances with large stuffed bunny. Later, Judy presents a small live bunny to him, wrapped in a top hat. Lucky Astaire))

ELMO SAVES CHRISTMAS (Easter Bunny cantankerously played by Harvey Fierstein. Also, view the unique Moo-Bunnies!)

ERAGON (Silhouetted in the window of a butcher shop we see familiar shapes hanging by their ears)

EVIL UNDER THE SUN (Maggie Smith stumbles on mutilated corpse of perished rabbit)

FANTASIA 2000 (Rabbit pulled out of hat in intro to "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and plethora of rabbits used to great comic effect in the Elgar "Noah's Ark" sequence)

FATAL ATTRACTION (In which Glenn Close does the unthinkable--she dunks the family's pet rabbit in a pressure cooker!)

FIERCE CREATURES (In a staff meeting called by their new director, zookeepers hold and pet a variety of gentle mammals. One of these is a very placid rabbit. He is strictly an extra in this film)

FIRE (1977 version) (An heroic lumberman saves a baby bunny from the forest fire)

THE FIRM (Includes brief glimpse of the ramsacked McDeere home which shows a super print of rabbits on the walls)

FRANKENSTEIN (1931 version) (One of Frankenstein's colleagues, when confronted with Frankenstein's scientific project, misunderstanding, suggests it would cause no harm to experiment on small animals, dogs or rabbits.)

FUN WITH DICK AND JANE (Dick's burglar mask makes Jane call him the "Easter Bunny Bandit")

FURTHER TALES OF THE CITY (TV Miniseries, features gruesome fate of bunnies in Sitka in their interactions with Jimmy Jones character)

GANGS OF NEW YORK (An Irish gang is named DEAD RABBITS, and dead rabbits are their symbol.)

GEISHA BOY (Starring Jerry Lewis and his pet rabbit Harry.)

GOLDEN COMPASS (Sam Elliott's Demon or familiar is a rather tatter-eared rabbit.)

GREASE 2 (During great song "reproduction" a very cute bunny is held up as an example of a prolific reproducer; also, the singer representing Spring in the "Girl for All Seasons" talent show number has extravagant, red rabbit ears)

GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE (When Basil of Baker Street and Dawson visit the toy shop, they see several rabbit toys, and one ingenious wheeled device which features a rabbit almost runs over them)

GREG THE BUNNY (not a film, but a fun short-lived TV series, starring Greg, a rabbit hand puppet, and a zany crew of puppets and people involved in producing a children's TV series)

GREMLINS (In the department store chase towards the end of the film, the Gremlin Stripe hides on a shelf of stuffed toyw including Bugs Bunny)

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (In Diagon Alley, we see the marquee of the Weasley Brothers' magic shop, which features a mechanical magician which lifts and lowers his hat over a rabbit)

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX (Luna evokes her Patronus, which is a delightful rabbit or hare!)

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (We see a rabbit crouched near the path Harry and friends are going down on their way from Hogwarts to Hagrid's cottage.)

HARVEY (Of course, you don't actually SEE the title character, but his portrait does show up.)

HERCULES--the Disney Version (An overly-cute bunny is but one of the false images assumed by the evil imps.)

HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, 2005 (Merest bit part for a rabbit, shortly before the hero's house is reduced to rubble, we see a great rabbit.)

HOME ON THE RANGE Disney, 2004 (Lucky Jack is a great character. A peg-legged jackrabbit, loud, opinionated, and tons of fun!)

HOODWINKED 2005, Animated (a bunny is -- gasp! -- the villain!)

HORTON HEARS A WHO 2008, Animated (Includes Vlad, a very cute bunny who carries plates of chocolate chip cookies)

HOUDINI (This 1953 Tony Curtis film includes--what else--rabbits being pulled from hats.)

HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (Unfortunately, one of the characters wants to move to Montana and go hunting for....rabbits!)

IGOR (One of the featured critters is an eternally-lived rabbit created by Igor)

JESSE STONE: DEATH IN PARADISE (Opens with shots of a marsh, including a very cute bunny hopping around)

KNOWING (Son Caleb is seen with pet rabbit at beginning of film. At end, aliens rescue Caleb, Abby, and 2 magnificent large white rabbits)s

KUNG FU PANDA (Many of the creatures living in this world are rabbits)

KUNG FU PANDA : SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE (The Panda's Kung Fu pupils are little rabbits)

THE LADY VANISHES (1938 Hitchcock classic. During the fight on the baggage car, a number of magician's props get disturbed, exposing first 1 bunny in a disappearing box, then 3 bunnies in a top hat who watch the action. Bunnies here are strictly bit players, but are teriffically cute!)

LAST MIMZY (A charming stuffed bunny is the center of attention. Does he live? Can he talk? Is he an alien artifact?)

LOCAL HERO (Unfortunate rabbit hit by car, nursed by hero, then served up in a meal! I haven't seen this one)

LORD OF THE RINGS--THE TWO TOWERS (Smeagol, the Gollum, brings rabbits to his two hobbit masters, and starts to eat them, raw! The hobbits prepare them into a stew.....)

LOST IN SPACE (They are discussing constellations, and marking friendly ones on the steamed-up glass. One is "The Great Big-Eared Bunny--Bugs.")

MAME (One of the Upson sons-in-law is named "Bunny")

MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH (Which features the wonderful character Rabbit)

MARIE ANTOINETTE (2006) (The future Louis XVI and a couple of his buddies are out hunting, and complain about the absence of rabbits)

MARY POPPINS (Includes 2 grey bunnies in the animated 'Jolly Holiday with Mary')

THE MATRIX (The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland is referred to several times; there is talk of "falling down the rabbit hole"; one character has a White Rabbit tattoo)

MERLIN [1998 TV Miniseries] (Brief cameo role for an ultracute bunny when Merlin is first reunited with Nimue towards the end of the movie)

THE MISFITS (Wherein Clark Gable discovers bunnies have allegedly been nibbling on his lettuces, and Marilyn Monroe is shocked at his desire to slaughter said bunnies)

MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM (We see the ears of toy or stuffed bunnies silhouetted near the beginning and near the end of the film)

MR. TOAD'S WILD RIDE, also known as Wind in the Willows (Live Action Film from Disney, with many many rabbit extras, including a military band and a jury. Rabbits are decent sorts, lustful of course, and easily swayed).

MONSTER HOUSE (Bones, greasy teenager, abuses a stuffed bunny)

MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL (The Trojan Rabbit, also the attack rabbit which slays knights)

MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (The likely boy whom Scrooge sends to get the Turkey? A RABBIT!)

MY DREAM IS YOURS (Includes both animation of Bugs Bunny and a number of actors in bunny suits.)

NASTY RABBIT (a Rabbit is to be the carrier of a horrendous plague which will kill off all the people of the U.S. I have just seen this pathetically awful film; do miss it if possible. Oh yes, the rabbit occasionally talks. Best actor of the litter!)

NATIONAL TREASURE 2: BOOK OF SECRETS (The heroes visit the White House during the Easter Egg rolling contest, and encounter a person in a bunny suit; also, in the Oval Office there are a whole bunch of stuffed bunnies)

NATURAL BORN KILLERS (Evidently contains several dream sequences about running rabid rabbits)

THE NET (Angela Bennet is inadvertently saved at the Santa Monica pier by the unwitting intervention of a pushy fellow in a purple and yellow bunny suit!)

NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA (On a rather brutal note, during the Russian Front scene of the war between Russia and Germany, two soldiers dismember and eat a bunny raw, before killing their officer!)

NIGHT OF THE COMET (The youg girl who survives the comet-induced disaster appears throughout with a much-cheriashed brown and white stuffed bunny, several times referred to in the script. Perhaps some of the best acting in the film is that of the bunny!)

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (This is a totally classic sci-fi film. NOT your usual small, cute, and cuddly bunnies here!)

NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (One of the prisoners the goblins capture is a thoroughly confused and upset Easter Bunny)

NINE TO FIVE (Several animated cute bunnies participate in Lily Tomlins fantasy revenge on her boss)

OKLAHOMA, 1999 Jackman TV Production (Ado Annie's pa brings a gift of freshly-killed rabbits to Aunt Eller. These are obviously stuffed bunnies, fairly life-like.)

OMEGA MAN (In an early scene, Heston is cruising the dead city. We see him from inside a ruined classroom. Draped over a chair in that classroom is a ruined, rather large, stuffed bunny)

101 DALMATIONS (or -- alternatively) -- Disney Live Action, 1996 (Includes a passel of rabbits who help obscure the trails left behind by the 101 escaping dalmations)

102 DALMATIONS (One of the mad scientist's creatures is a wonderful big white rabbit)

OPEN SEASON (Bunnies provide interesting amunition in spats among the creatures)

OPEN SEASON 2 (As with original movie, bunnies serve as ammunition when wild creatures and domestic creatures do battle)

OUT OF SIGHT (Ex-Magician's Assistant is girlfriend of crook-hero seen cuddling bunny in her apartment}

OVER THE HEDGE (On top of the exterminator's truck is mounted an mechanical rabbit, which is repeatedly bashed by a mechanical exterminator. The real estate lady wears bunny slippers.)

PAN'S LABYRINTH (The cruel Captain Vidal orders his underlings to cook two poor little rabbits--perhaps in a stew)

PERRI (Disney brings us the fictionalized life of a real squirrel, with several rabbits as extras, at least one of whom does not end up happily)

PIRANHA! (A passing glance--did we really see it? In the "abandoned" military laboratory, peeking up at the bottom of the screen, are 2 ears which suspiciously resemble those of a ... RABBIT!)

PRESTO (A short Pixar film released with WALL-E, featuring Presto the magician and his rabbit Alec Azam and their hilarious magical hi-jinks)

THE PRODIGAL (The Priestess of Astarte, Samarra [Played by Lana Turner], watches a playlet acted by characters in animal masks, one of which is a white rabbit)

PSYCHO (A real small role for a rabbit---towrds the end, the camera explores Norman Bates room and discovers, on a shelf, a rather bedraggled STUFFED BUNNY)

PTERODACTYL (Hunters about to be attacked by the Pterodactyl in the Turkish forest are carrying a brace of freshly-killed rabbits)

PULP FICTION (Vincent and Mia go to "Jackrabbit Slims" for dinner & dancing--Thanks to Maverick for this reference)

REAL GENIUS (Bunny Slippers significant items of apparrel for 2 characters)

THE RED SHOES (Ballet impresarrio Lermontov is heard to remark to the effect that "you can't pull a rabbit out of a hat if the rabbit isn't in the hat in the first place.")

THE RESCUERS (A rabbit is among the creatures who help Bernard & Bianca rescue Penny)

THE RITZ (Brick's code name for Carmine Vespucci is "Bunny")

ROMANCING THE STONE (The emerald is encased---are you ready---in a rather tawdry ceramic rabbit!)

ST. HELENS (Strictly stock footage scene early in movie shows most handsome rabbit)

SECRET OF NIMH (Lots of rabbits as extras)

SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (Most unfortunate line in the song Goin' Courtin': "Oh it's fun to go and grab a gun, and to catch a rabbit on the run." Fortunately, this is not followed up by actions!)

SHORT CIRCUIT (Ally Sheedy is showing Robot Johnny 5 around her home... she gestures at a cage and says "These are 2 of my bunnies!)

SHREK THE THIRD (Snow white calls her bird & animal friends to help in the epic battle of good vs. wicked, including some fine bunnies)

SLEEPING BEAUTY Disney again (Rabbits hop around in the Prince's shoes, during the dance number with the Beauty.)

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (The bunnies here are only "hop ons", but there are lots of 'em! Bunnies are first forest creatures to interact with Snow White)

THE SNOWMAN (During the motorcycle run through the woods, several bunnies are startled and hop about)

SONG OF THE SOUTH (Brer Rabbit!)

SPACEJAM (With virtuoso basketball action from star Bugs Bunny!)

SPIRAL STAIRCASE (Mute Helen is walking through spooky woods, and is startled by ominous sound, which is that of small and very cute bunny)

STEEL MAGNOLIAS (Begins and ends with Easter celebrations. Noteworthy is Sammy Desoto's ride in an easter bunny suit on the back of a motorcycle)

STREET SCENE (The Kurt Weill Opera. In this production, one of the families of the tenement is being evicted, and a box is brought out containing a large stuffed rabbit. A child rescues the rabbit.)

SUN VALLEY SERENADE (Sonja Henie, a Norwegian refugee, is welcomed by her host. Host thought she'd be a chiled and equipped a nursery, including several great stuffed bunnies. Later, in Sun Valley, Milton Berle is a disastrously bad skier. It crashes through a bush, trapping a live rabbit in his snow suit.)

SUPERGIRL (Supergirl lands in the wood on earth, and is greeted by a very cute bunny)

THE SWARM (Wherein one briefly sees several small furry lumps which are described as the only survivng rabbits from a series of tests trying to find an antidote to the deadly African bee venom)

SWORD IN THE STONE (One of the disguises Merlin assumes during hilarious fight with Mme. Mim is that of a rabbit)

TALE OF THE BUNNY PICNIC (Delightful Puppetry!)

TARANTULA (The scientist's lab shows a giant bunny which has grown large thanks to his growth-stimulation shots. Also, a brief of a wild rabbit or hare in the dessert)

10TH KINGDOM (The Wolf is in a blue mood. A rabbit provides consolation, though we are not sure if the rabbit survives the episode)

THREE MUSKETEERS (1973 version) (During the costume ball scene late in the movie, we several times see somebody in a great rabbit costume)

EL TOPO (I have not seen this myself, but it was reported by a correspondent that it includes a pen full of rabbits, who start to die)

TORCH SONG TRILOGY (Oodles of rabbit decor, Stuffed Bunny, Lagomorphs galore!)

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (A major prop is the body of a bunny shot by one of the characters. It is hard and stiff as a board.)

TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (Includes--evidently--monster rabbit pulled out of hat.)

TWISTER (One of the storm-chasers, played by Alan Ruck, is named "Rabbit")

VELVETEEN RABBIT (Narrated by Meryl Streep, a very effective presentation of the classic tale, enhanced by sensitive drawings and George Winston accompaniments.)

VOLCANO (Includes a bunny in a tiny bit part---a TV broadcast within the film shows veterinarians helping animals hurt during the eruption, and there is a lovely golden tan rabbit!)

WALLACE AND GROMET IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT (Bunnies, bunnies everywhere. Attacking gardens and giant vegetables. A most interesting metamorphosis here. A total must-see!)

WARRIORS (1999) (Kindly reported to me by T-- P---. As yet unable to verify nature of bunny content).

WATERSHIP DOWN (ALL about rabbits, in stylized artistic format)

WHAT A WAY TO GO (The Pinky Benson sequence includes shots of his backyard and pool, all dyed pink, with a large rabbit, also dyed pink)

WHAT'S UP DOC (Referring to Bugs Bunny, perhaps a guiding spirit for this wonderful film!)

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (Really heroic detective's assistant, with ooh-la-la wife!)

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (Honey, in an advanced state of intoxication, declares herself a Funny Honey Bunny)

X (THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES (In the original theatrical prologue, which explores the senses, the sense of touch is personified by a wonderful somnolent rabbit)

ZORRO THE GAY BLADE (Zorro's special brother goes under the name "Bunny Wigglesworth")