Piker’s Peak (1957)

Piker’s Peak Review

Piker’s Peak is a 1957 animated short film from the Looney Tunes series. It is a very good cartoon.

This short is set in the Swiss Alps, which is always just a lovely setting for any cartoon. The mayor announces a competition with a great prize for anybody who reaches the summit of one very tall mountain. Yosemite Sam is instantly in the race, but Bugs Bunny is there to thwart his plans. The band sequences were not clear to me in their purpose as that type of music wasn’t essential for this story, but other than that, the movie is very strong and so much fun.

The ending twist is solid, but it is the action on the cliffs that takes the cake as the highlight of this picture. The boulder gags are definitely overused in animation, especially in the Looney Tunes series, but here they were executed with extra level of attention and even some very innovative outcomes. Bugs is terrific and Sam has rarely been better as his drive to succeed is infectious.

Piker’s Peak has its small issues, but the overall setting did wonders for the action while the classic characters are both reliably outstanding.

My Rating – 4.1