Release Date:

November 30, 1957

Main Character(s):

Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester

Summary:

All of the male Mexican mice hate Speedy Gonzales for always stealing the hearts of all the girl mice away from them. They decide to get rid of Speedy by writing a phony threatening letter to Sylvester. Despite Speedy having no idea why Sylvester is after him, he still outwits him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1472 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This one stands out among most Speedy cartoons in that this is the only cartoon where his fellow mice have ill feelings towards him (albeit only the other males).

The title card image is the same as the one in “Speedy Gonzales”.

This is the penultimate cartoon scored by Carl Stalling.

The version of “La Cucaracha” that Speedy sings in this cartoon is the first verse from the Mexican Revolutionary version from 1910 to 1920.

The line, “What’s left are Chihuahuas”, refers to younger women who are attracted to men significantly older than them (seems to be some sort of reverse pedophilia).

Favorite Scene:

Speedy taking apart Sylvester’s rifle piece by piece, leaving only the bullet that blows up in Sylvester’s face.

What Happens in This One:

In the village, two mice, Pedro and Manuel, are seen resting against the building of “Carta Blan” and talking. Manuel: “Pedro? What do you want to do tonight?” Pedro: “I don’t know, Manuel. What do you want to do?” Manuel: “Oh, I don’t know. Wanna go out with pretty girls?” Pedro: “All the pretty girls in love with Speedy Gonzales. What’s left are Chihuahuas”. One mouse is seen telling his girlfriend, Conchita, “Why not you forget this Speedy Gonzales fellow? Six years I courts you, it is time for one little kiss, no?” Conchita giggles, “Si. Conchita give you the kiss”. This mouse is about to kiss her when Speedy comes running past, sees what’s going on, and pushes the mouse aside for him to kiss Conchita instead. After Speedy runs off, Conchita sighs happily, “Speedy, he like me!” The mouse, however, is resentful, “Ooh, that Speedy! Someday!”, shaking his fist when vowing the latter word (animated by Virgil Ross).

Another mouse serenades his girlfriend from below her “balcony” in the manner of Romeo and Juliet by singing “La Paloma” on his guitar. She throws a rose down to him, only for Speedy to catch it instead, when he runs past (animated by Ross). Stopping a short distance away, Speedy sniffs it and bows, “Gracias, senorita mi amore! Adios! Hasta la vista! Yeh-hee!”, running off again. The guitar-playing mouse expresses his sadness with his sombrero drooping and walks away, sadly muttering to himself about Speedy having stolen his girl (animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

The male mice meet up with one of them standing atop a sardine can like a podium, “We got to do something about this Speedy Gonzales fellow! He take away all our girls! Anybody got it, an idea?” (animated by Ross) One mouse walks in, taking his friend in by the hand, “Hey, Jose got it, an idea!” (animated by Chiniquy) “Jose got it, an idea?”, the mouse on the can asks, before telling the others, “Hey, fellows! Jose got it, an idea!” before they all laugh (animated by Ross), with Jose soon joining them in said laughter. His friend requests, “Tell him what you told me, Jose. Go ahead”. Jose presents his idea, “Uh, why don’t we get this, uh, gringo pussycat to chase Speedy out of town?” (animated by Chiniquy) The mouse on the podium likes the idea, “The pussycat? That’s good! How you think of this thing, Jose?” (animated by Ross) Jose answers, “Jose, his wheels they go click-click-click!”, twirling his finger around his head and then laughing (animated by Chiniquy).

In the front yard of presumably a Mexican mansion, Sylvester is seen napping peacefully while three mice sneak across to a part of the wall where Sylvester won’t be able to see them, with one carrying a brick. After Sylvester briefly chuckles in his sleep, the brick comes flying down onto his head from the mice having thrown it toward him. The hit wakes him up, and upon spotting the note attached, Sylvester silently reads it. It turns out to be a phony one from the mice, “Gringo Pussy Cats- Eef I see you, I will pull your tail out by eets roots! Speedy Gonzales”, with “roots” underlined. Sylvester angrily throws it down, “Pull my tail, eh!? Why, that little rodent!”, before walking off to confront Speedy (animated by Chiniquy).

Sylvester arrives at Speedy’s hole and knocks on the wall with his arm for him to come out, “Here I am, wise guy! Come on out!” Speedy does so and greets, “Hello, pussycats!” Sylvester asks tauntingly, “So, you’re gonna pull my tail out by the roots, eh? Okay. Here! Just try it!”, as he hands Speedy said tail. Speedy runs off while holding the tail, and it actually IS pulled off by the roots! Speedy then returns, throwing the tail back to Sylvester, “Here’s your tail, pussycats!” Sylvester jumps on him, only for Speedy to run out from under him, back into his hole. Taking his tail with him as he leaves, Sylvester warns, “Okay, buster! You asked for it!” (animated by Arthur Davis)

Sylvester sneaks out from behind some trash cans and puts a wedge of cheese out in the open before sneaking back (animated by Davis). Having watched this from his hole, Speedy confides in an amused tone, “This pussycat’s trying to lure me with his cheese!” He shouts, “Okay, pussycats! I am luring!” and runs out (animated by Ross). Sylvester’s attempt to jump him is foiled by Speedy continuing out from under him (animated by Davis). Speedy comes up to the cheese- which is now oddly just a single piece- and thanks, “Gracias, pussycats!”, before munching on it. Sylvester looks at his now fur-less chest and angrily dares, “Okay, just try that again, buster!” As Speedy does his running shouts, Sylvester gets into a position ready to pounce on him. Speedy instead shows up from behind and startles Sylvester with a “Ya-ha!” (animated by Davis)

Sylvester chases Speedy back to his hole and returns with a rifle, aiming it at Speedy to shoot him. Speedy replies by taking the rifle apart piece by piece, with the bullet being the only thing left. With his finger still in a position to pull the trigger, Sylvester does so as if his rifle is still intact, causing the bullet to explode on him (animated by Davis).

As Speedy is heard singing the 1910-1920 Mexican Revolutionary version of “La Cucaracha”, Sylvester throws a grenade into the hole and runs back to hide against the wall and await the explosion. Speedy runs out to return the grenade to him. Sylvester throws it back into the hole and goes back to the wall, but this time makes a run for it when Speedy chases him to return the grenade a second time. Speedy catches up to him in the distance and runs back to his hole, with Sylvester running as fast as he can to get back to the hole, only for the grenade to explode on him before he can make it. Charred from the explosion and slowing down with a shocked expression, Sylvester tosses the grenade’s remainder into the hole (animated by Chiniquy).

Lastly, Sylvester starts up a wind-up toy female mouse that Speedy seemingly believes is real as he bows to her, “Buenas noches, senorita. You doing anythings tonight?” Sylvester then runs out into view, causing Speedy to flee, taking the wind-up toy with him (animated by Ross). Speedy jumps into a box of “Torrida Peppers” and fools Sylvester into believing he’s in one of them when he’s actually hidden under the propped up box, “I hide in one of these peppers, pussycats! You no find me!” Taking one pepper in each hand, Sylvester vows, “I’ll get ya if I have to eat every one of these things!” Eating one pepper is enough to make Sylvester turn red in the face and breath small flames, so he runs off and cools his mouth down by guzzling from the water cooler. He then eats a second pepper and tries to guzzle water again, only to find out that Speedy has substituted the water with Tabasco sauce! This causes Sylvester to turn completely red, and jump up into the air like a rocket. Pedro and Manuel, who are still resting against the building, observe this as Manuel asks, “Hey, Pedro. That thing in the sky. Is it a bird? Is it a plane?” and Pedro replies, “Nah. That is the gringo pussycat” (animated by Davis).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½