Several of Chuck Jones' most memorable Warner Bros. shorts returned to the big screen in 1979, stitched together into the feature-length The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie. Originally released as The Great American Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Chase, the film included clips from more than a dozen cartoon classics, most presented nearly in full.

Bugs himself introduces the film in a freshly-animated bit, welcoming the audience into his lush home, where portraits of animation greats like Jones, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng and voice artist Mel Blanc line the walls. After giving a comical history of animation from cave drawings to the present, Bugs starts the shorts, tying bits together when necessary.

Bugs and Daffy's famed "Duck season/Wabbit season" argument from 1949's "Wabbit Fire" is included, as are Marvin the Martian in "Hare-Way to the Stars," the space spoof "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century," Bugs' "Bully for Bugs" bullfight, a compilation of several of Wile E. Coyote's schemes to catch the Road Runner, and Daffy's unforgettable battle with an unseen animator in 1953's "Duck Amuck." But for many, the highlight will always be Bugs' and Elmer's operatic opus, "What's Opera, Doc?," which gave Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" the immortal lines, "Kill the Wabbit! Kill the Wabbit!"

The chance to see Bugs and the gang back in theaters was a dream come true for kids who had grown up with the Warner Bros. characters, whether back in their big screen heyday or on the long-running Saturday morning Bugs Bunny Show. A few more compilation features were released to theaters over the next few years-The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, Bugs Bunny's Third Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island and Daffy Duck's Quackbusters-but even after the feature films dried up, the Warner characters lived on in perpetual TV reruns.