Apr 3, 2021
‘Night of the Lepus’ (B-Movie Review) (1972) — Part Three
And now for the final installment of this multi-part movie review. Almost as weird and fun as watching the movie itself. Without the bad aftertaste, along with having to actually watch it.
It’s Part Three of the review of Night of the Lepus! Now, let’s see what those waskelly wabbits have gotten up to! 🙂
So to stop the great big bunny-wunnies, the gang arranges this bizarrely well-coordinated roundup, that involves announcing to a bunch of drive-in theatergoers that movie time is over (for them, not us, unfortunately). They are directed by the sheriff (I think) through a bullhorn to drive off in an orderly fashion and arrange themselves in a line to pen the rascally rabbits in. And they do so with such ease, you’d think they drilled for this moment.
And then they create some kind of electrical circuit involving train tracks. But there’s a slow-moving train holding things up. So … suspense! Will the train make it through in time? Will the movie ever, ever end? And, of course, the answer is yes!
Oh, and the National Guard declares rabbit hunting season is open! So, between the gunplay and the electrical rabbit fricassee along the train tracks, there’s plenty for everyone in town to make rabbit stew.
Did I forget to mention that Gerry (Janet Leigh, in a part so thankless, she deserves a medal for playing it) tries to leave town with Little Blondie in an old kind of combination pickup truck and RV. But she gets stuck in the soft, sandy dirt of the off-road trail on her map. You gotta wonder what Roy was thinking when he gave her those directions.
So there’s plenty of opportunity for Gerry and the kid to be threatened by oversized rabbits and for Gerry to fire a rifle at them. She also uses a flare to keep them at bay, wielding the burning device in Mandalorian fashion, as help choppers in.
And, in the end, all the bad, flesh-eating, catsup-covered bunnies are killed, and the movie concludes with a shot of Little Blondie and her male friend running through a field where small, nice bunnies nibble grass and possibly eat the occasional lettuce leaf or what have you. As nature intended.
