The Wild Chase

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The Wild Chase
Directed by Friz Freleng
Co-director:
Hawley Pratt
Story byFriz Freleng
Cal Howard
(both uncredited)
Produced by David H. DePatie
Friz Freleng
Starring Mel Blanc
Paul Julian
Edited byLee Gunther
Music by Bill Lava
Animation by Norm McCabe
Don Williams
Manny Perez
Warren Batchelder
LaVerne Harding [1]
Layouts byDick Ung
Backgrounds byTom O'Loughlin
Color process Technicolor
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • February 27, 1965 (1965-02-27)
Running time
6 min (one reel)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Wild Chase is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt. [2] The short was released on February 27, 1965, and stars Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester and Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. [3] This cartoon was the only Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoon to be directed by Freleng or Pratt, who specialized in Speedy and Sylvester cartoons. It is also noted as a crossover between the Sylvester/Speedy and Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoons.

Contents

This is the only Speedy Gonzales short to feature Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, likewise it is the only Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner short to feature Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester, it is also the final time Speedy appears with Sylvester the Cat. This is also the final classic era cartoon to be directed by Friz Freleng.

The cartoon largely consists of reused animation and gags from previous Coyote/Road Runner cartoons.

Plot

Speedy Gonzales, the fastest mouse in all Mexico, races against the Road Runner, the Texas road burner, in the Mexico–United States border zone. During the race, Sylvester the Cat and Wile E. Coyote join forces in an attempt to catch their speedy opponents, with predictable results. Often they mistakenly end up injuring each other in comical fashion.

1. As the race starts, Wile E. chases after the Road Runner, only to run into a cloud of dust and fall off the cliff (reusing animation from Zoom and Bored). Sylvester tries the same thing, only to find Speedy on the other side of the cliff, before the Road Runner scares him off the cliff.

2. As the racers are coming, Wile E. and Sylvester catapult rocks to flatten them, but this backfires when the rocks crash into each other and land on their owners instead.

3. The duo then places iron pellets under bird seed and slices of cheese; while the racers eat, the two attach a grenade to a roller skate with a magnet, but only the magnet part of the roller skate leaves and when Wile E. checks it (as he doesn't want Sylvester to check), the grenade blows up in his face (A scene reused from Wild About Hurry).

4. More reused Wild About Hurry animation is seen as Wile E. rolls a flat rock to flatten the racers, but the rock does not move - it stays on the edge of the cliff. Wile E. attempts to make it drop, but it still does not move. Sylvester comes to help and they both jump up and down on it, then the rock finally drops the two of them off the cliff.

5. The duo decide to blow a culvert as the racers are coming, but as Wile E. is placing the dynamite and Sylvester is watching from the tunnel, the detonator handle pushes down further as Wile E. goes deeper into the tunnel, and eventually, the dynamite explodes on them. This reuses a gag from Hopalong Casualty.

6. One more idea from Wild About Hurry finds the duo using a rocket car to chase Speedy and the Road Runner, but they zoom past them and technically finish first to win the race. However, they do not get the trophy as the only contestants were Speedy and the Road Runner. Sylvester and Wile E. then fly up into the air and the rocket car explodes into a firework as the end card fades in.

Crew

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References

  1. ↑ Beck, Jerry (1991). I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety. New York: Henry Holt and Co. p. 153. ISBN   0-8050-1644-9.
  2. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 351. ISBN   0-8050-0894-2.
  3. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons . Checkmark Books. pp.  137. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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