Release Date:

December 10, 1955

Main Character(s):

The Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote

Summary:

The seventh chase between Wile E. Coyote (Eatibus Almost Anythingus) and the Roadrunner (Velocitus Delectiblus).

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1344 and was released as a Looney Tune.

Philip DeGuard did the layouts for this one while Richard H. Thomas did the backgrounds.

Carl Stalling scored this one.

The title is a pun for “guided missile”. Other studios used this pun as well such as Walter Lantz with the Woody Woodpecker cartoon, “Misguided Missile” (1958) and MGM with the Tom and Jerry cartoon “Guided Mouse-ille” (1967)- the latter of which was also one of the 34 Tom and Jerry cartoons from the mid-1960’s that Jones’ unit worked on during their stint at MGM (where they also worked on the 1966 version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”).

The bow and slingshot gags were used in the 1979 compilation movie, “The Bugs Bunny-Roadrunner Movie”.

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

While it’s common knowledge that being tarred and feathered is a very brutal punishment (and one that thankfully doesn’t happen a lot nowadays), it’s certainly hilarious here due to tar not being a harmful substance in cartoons (and equally hilarious in Pixar’s “Cars” whenever Bessie the non-sentient road-paving machine spits out tar all over whoever pulls her).

This is one of the few times where Wile E. gives up in the end.

The end gag also features him pulling the end card across the screen with “That’s all Folks!” already written out, only half of the 1955-1964 Looney Tunes end theme playing, and with the usual “Looney Tunes” and “A Warner Bros. Cartoon” appearing when they usually do.

Favorite Scene:

The tarring and feathering machine.

What Happens in This One:

Wile E. is seen cooking something for dinner, stirring what’s in there in a beaten up bucket over a flame. He then cranks pepper in it and also puts a drop of salad oil in there. After stirring a few more times, Wile E. takes out what he was cooking- a tin can. Wile E. goes over to sit down at his makeshift table from a rock to have his can meal but just as he’s about to use his cutlery on it, he suddenly becomes revolted and pushes everything off before giving an exasperated expression. The Roadrunner then zooms by, causing Wile E. to roll a few times. Upon realizing what just ran him over, Wile E. licks his lips in hunger and gives chase. Once he catches up, the Roadrunner turns around, waves one of his legs in a goodbye manner and does the extra burst of speed into the distance. Irritated, Wile E. begins thinking up a scheme while scratching his head before giving the camera an evil smile once he does (animated by Abe Levitow).

Attaching the end of an arrow to his nose, Wile E. prepares to launch himself as the arrow from a bow to fly towards the Roadrunner. He ends up crashing into a cactus, which then shortly topples off a cliff (animated by Levitow).

Using a pink-colored cactus to hold it, Wile E. attempts to fire himself from a slingshot. Once he cuts the rope for it to launch him, nothing happens until he looks under the elastic band, which catches him and splats him to the ground below (animated by Ken Harris).

Wile E. next attempts to fire a cannon at the Roadrunner, only for the blast to send him and the cannon flying backwards while the cannonball simply falls to the ground. Coming out of the cannon barrel, with the cannon having gotten stuck in the cliff side, a dazed Wile E. comes out and is shot by the cannon letting out another blast (animated by Harris).

Next, Wile E. attempts to swing a wrecking ball tied to a tree at the Roadrunner, only for said wrecking ball to miss and hit the tree, causing it to fall down atop Wile E. and repeatedly hammer him into the rock he’s standing on (animated by Harris).

Wile E. uses just the wrecking ball itself to roll towards the Roadrunner, only for it to roll around a curved cliff side and land right back on top of him (animated by Harris).

Having slathered the road with ACME Grease, Wile E. hears a honk and finds a truck approaching. He attempts to run off, but only ends up running in place, thanks to the grease, and then gets hit by the truck. Getting up, Wile E. sees the Roadrunner sliding across the grease with ease, and attempts to go after him, only to constantly slip and fall, before a final attempt causes him to get engulfed under the grease, leaving only his eyeballs popping out from under it (animated by Harris).

The Roadrunner stops at the edge of a cliff and witnesses Wile E. attempting to swing across from the opposite cliff over to him. Wile E. jumping off of this cliff only ends with him landing smack on another cliff below (animated by Richard Thompson).

Wile E. pours bird seed on the road and goes up to the cliff above, silently laughing to himself at what he’s about to do. Once the Roadrunner comes up and starts pecking away at the bird seed, Wile E. lowers a fishing pole down to him with a dynamite stick as bait, but the fuse goes through the explosive, up the reel of the pole, down Wile E.’s arm, as well as his back and tail, and then goes into the whole box of TNT sticks, which blow up on Wile E. (animated by Thompson).

Having consulted the tenth printing of “How to Tar and Feather a Roadrunner”, Wile E. has constructed a tarring and feathering machine where once he presses a buzzer attached, one of the two nozzles sprays out tar at what’s in front of the machine and the other then sprays the feathers that stick to the tar. Wile E. successfully tests it on a small cactus. He then attempts to use it on the Roadrunner, while he stands a good distance back, but the Roadrunner goes so fast that it causes the nozzles to spin around and tar and feather Wile E. instead. The Roadrunner comes up to the tar and feather-covered Wile E. with a sign that reads, “Roadrunners Already Have Feathers!” before running off again (animated by Thompson).

Lastly, Wile E. buries dynamite in the road but is startled by the Roadrunner once he lights the long fuse by it. Angered, Wile E. chases him alongside the fuse. The Roadrunner manages to pass by the buried dynamite before the fuse reaches it, but Wile E. passes over it right when it blows up. Charred from the explosion, Wile E. gives up and puts a wanted sign in front of the hole he planted the dynamite in, “Wanted: One Gullible Coyote. Apply to Manager of This Theater”. He then ends the cartoon by pulling out the “That’s all Folks!” end card across the screen (animated by Ben Washam).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕