Apes of Wrath

Apes of Wrath is a 1959 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on April 18, 1959, and stars Bugs Bunny. 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
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 incapacitates Bugs, dresses him in baby clothes, and delivers him to the gorilla parents.

Initially delighted, the gorilla parents, "Mama" and Elvis, are horrified upon seeing the "baby." Elvis attempts to eliminate the "ugly" baby, but Mama intervenes, insisting they accept him, no matter what he looks like. Upon regaining consciousness, Bugs realizes his predicament and while Mama immediately loves her new "baby", Elvis doesn't, roaring at Bugs when Mama attempts to get him to kiss him. Faking crying, which results in Mama hitting Elvis with a rolling pin as punishment, Bugs decides to manipulate the situation for his own amusement. Bugs then proceeds to make Elvis's life miserable, knowing Elvis cannot retaliate without facing Mama's wrath and her rolling pin. Eventually though, the stork arrives with the real baby gorilla, revealing the charade and horrifying Bugs as he now knows the jig is up. Elvis, eager for revenge, chases after Bugs with murderous intent. As Elvis prepares to drop a boulder on Bugs from a cliff, the bunny runs off and Mama unwittingly enters the danger zone, resulting in her being struck by the boulder instead. Elvis is left speechless and sobbing before Mama soundly thrashes him offscreen, much to Bugs’ amusement ("I'd like to see him 'eeh-ooh-aah-ooh' and 'but' his way outta this one!")

Suddenly, the drunken stork mistakenly congratulates Bugs on becoming a mother and hands him a bundle containing Daffy Duck, who, dressed as a baby and sporting a lump on his head which suggests a parallel to him and Bugs, calls Bugs "mummy" and kisses a disgruntled Bugs as the cartoon ends.

Home media
"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).