Release Date:

July 20, 1957

Main Character(s):

Speedy Gonzales

Summary:

The Mexican mice are having a celebration honoring Speedy Gonzales in a mouse hole in a cantina after closing hours. Two of the mice, Pablo and Fernando, drink too much tequila and end up drunk. Staggering on the way home, they pick a fight with an alley cat and it’s up to Speedy to rescue them.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1440 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. In September 2021, a 35mm print with the original opening rings was found.

This is McKimson’s second Speedy cartoon and his first time using Speedy’s familiar appearance.

The cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award. This is also McKimson’s other Oscar nominee besides Foghorn’s debut in “Walky Talky Hawky” from eleven years prior.

The title is a pun for the 1932 novel, “Tobacco Road”.

Carl Stalling scored this one.

This is the first Warner cartoon to feature animation by Warren Batchelder, who along with Ted Bonnicksen and George Grandpre, would become one of the most prominent animators in McKimson’s late 1950’s and early 1960’s unit. He was also the best of the three since he was formerly the assistant animator to Virgil Ross. Batchelder would not start being credited until 1958’s “Feather Bluster”.

This is the absolute final cartoon to feature animation by Russ Dyson.

Bonnicksen and Grandpre are the only animators credited on this and all of McKimson’s remaining cartoons from 1957 (“Ducking the Devil”, “Mouse-Taken Identity”, and “Rabbit Romeo”).

You can find out who animated what scene here.

This is the first cartoon to feature backgrounds by William Butler, who would be McKimson’s background artist from this point up until the end of 1961. He was credited as “Bill Butler” up until 1958’s “Now Hare This”.

Favorite Scene:

Speedy rescues Pablo from the cat so quickly that he decides to show everything again in slow motion.

What Happens in This One:

On a beautiful night in Mexico at the “El Tio Pepe Cantina”, while the bartender is inside cleaning dishes, a “Hoy! Celebracion Para Speedy Gonzales The Fastest Mouse In All Mexico” is going on inside the cantina’s mouse hole (animated by Warren Batchelder). During the celebration, Speedy is seen doing a run-dance around a sombrero in tune to the “Mexican Hat Dance” (animated by Ted Bonnicksen). One mouse proposes a toast, “To Speedy Gonzales!”, to which another adds, “El Fastest Mouse in All Mexico!” Pablo and Fernando are about to drink when Speedy runs up to them and says their respective names to them in a scolding manner. Pablo gives Speedy a hug, “It’s Speedy! Me amigo!”, as does Fernando, “Buddy, buddy, companero!” Speedy pushes them off and warns, “No mas tequila! Already muy loaded!” before running off. Pablo and Fernando ignore the warning and take off their respective sombreros to reveal they each hid a drink under them (animated by George Grandpre), as Speedy continues his run-dance (animated by Bonnicksen).

Time passes from 10 pm to 3 am as the lights go out in the cantina and the mice start going home. Pablo and Fernando stagger out together and sing an inebriated version of “La Cucaracha” with substitute lyrics, “La Cucaracha, La Cucaracha, doesn’t want to travel far! (rest of lyrics in Spanish)” As they both laugh, Fernando is heard commenting, “Hey, we sing pretty good together (animated by Bonnicksen), I think! Hey, we make a good trio, no?” Scrounging for leftovers in a trash can, the cat hears them and hides in the can to ambush them (animated by Batchelder). Speedy rushes out of the cantina and after looking around for a bit, asks the mouse leaning against the wall, “Hey, Manuel, you see Pablo and Fernando?” Manuel answers, “Este already vamosa! Muy plenty stinko borracho!” Realizing they could be heading for trouble, Speedy remarks, “Ay-yi-yi! Something tell me they are walking right into trouble-mente!” He dashes off (animated by Bonnicksen) and begins looking for them in numerous places (animated by Batchelder).

Meanwhile, Pablo and Fernando walk past the can and continue their inebriated “La Cucaracha”, “Senoritas in Las Vegas, are most awful, tall, and skinny!”, before they sing solo parts, Pablo: “I’d rather have an enchilada!” Fernando: “Or better yet a hots dog weenie!”, as the cat leaps out and jumps behind them into a ready to attack position (animated by Batchelder). They begin to sense his presence as Fernando taps Pablo on the shoulder, “Hey, Pablo”. Pablo: “Si, amigo?” Fernando: “I think I saw un-a pussy-gato!” Pablo turns around and answers, “You did! You DID saw un-a pussy-gato! (laughs)” Fernando also turns around and picks a fight, “Hola, gato! You wanna fight? (speaks in Spanish) Put up your dukes!”, as he swings his fists (animated by Grandpre). Pablo encourages something in Spanish as the cat chuckles at this, “Muy loco in la cabasa!” before picking them up with each hand, as Fernando shouts, “Ole! Ole! Por-kay nor combato! You chicken, ah!?” (animated by Russ Dyson)

Speedy is still running around looking for them before finally witnessing the cat about to eat them, “Oh, jumping frijoles!” Pablo shouts to the cat, “Your grandmother is parte de puerto pig!” (animated by Batchelder) Speedy grabs an ax and runs towards the cat, doing his running shouts before swinging the non-sharp end of the ax down onto the cat’s tail. The cat screams in pain causing him to drop Pablo (animated by Dyson). Speedy catches Pablo and runs off with him to put him in a sardine can (animated by Batchelder).

When Speedy comes back, however, he only sees Fernando’s sombrero and assumes he’s been killed by the cat, “Oh. Poor Fernando unfortunato”. He then shrugs to the audience, “Este la villa”, before running off and opening the sardine can back up. To his surprise, both Pablo and a sombrero-less Fernando are in there, singing their inebriated “La Cucaracha”, “If I had some more tequila, or another maservasa, and sing more solo lines, Pablo: “I’d combato Pancho Villa!” Fernando: “And give him punch in la cabasa!” Speedy then questions, “Fernando? Que pasa?” Fernando looks at Speedy and sees a blurry vision of him, mistaking him for the cat. “Hey, Pablo. It’s pussy-gato, no?” Pablo also mistakes him for the cat and begins swinging his fists, “Si! Pussy-gato grosso! Combato! Combato!” Speedy corrects them, “No, no, no, amigos! I take you home!”, as he takes Fernando out of the can, “I come back for you, Pablo” (animated by Bonnicksen).

The chuckling cat watches as Speedy runs off with Fernando. Speedy brings Fernando all the way back to his hole and shoves him into the door. He runs back to get Pablo, oblivious to Fernando climbing out of his window with a new sombrero and beginning to stagger away. Speedy returns in time to see (animated by Batchelder) the cat opening the can and about to eat Pablo, who protests, “Ole, pussy-gato, cucchino! Escondido combato, bustamente!” The cat sticks his tongue back into his mouth, carrying Pablo on it (animated by Dyson). Speedy rescues Pablo from the cat’s mouth very quickly ending with the cat having an explosion inside his stomach (animated by Grandpre).

Realizing no one in the audience can comprehend what just happened, Speedy apologizes, “Oh, excusa! Esta maybe too mucho rapido for the eyes to follow? I show you in el slow motiono!” In slow motion, Speedy runs regularly and shouts slowly, “Andale! Pronto! Arriba! Arriba!”, and whacks the cat’s foot with a mallet. As the cat lets out a long scream of pain, Speedy jumps up and catches Pablo, who jumps out of the cat’s mouth. Speedy then puts Pablo on a mousetrap about to snap, and upon realizing this, goes back to retrieve him before it can snap on Pablo, before putting him in an empty jug instead. With the cat still with a screaming expression, Speedy puts a dynamite stick on his tongue and lights the fuse, revealing that as the reason the cat had an in-stomach explosion (animated by Grandpre).

After the slow-motion bit, Speedy opens the jug but realizes this jug was shattered from the bottom and Pablo has disappeared, so he runs off, looking for him (animated by Batchelder). Fernando is also looking for Pablo and calling out for him and staggers into a random saloon. It turns out to actually be the cat having disguised his mouth as one with fake saloon doors in his open mouth. Speedy returns and asks the cat, “Hey, pussy-gato! Que este lump in your face? You got el mumps?” The cat shakes his head and sticks out his tongue to reveal Fernando standing on it. Fernando warns, “Don’t stick out your tongue at ME, gato!”, before snapping his finger in a bold manner. Speedy does the same fast rescue from earlier, before slipping another dynamite stick into the screaming cat’s mouth. Realizing what’s about to happen, the cat lets out an “Oh, no” before he gets another in-stomach explosion. Defeated, the cat runs away on all four’s past the city limits and out of town (animated by Grandpre).

Speedy mock-laments, “Aw, too bad. Now, Pablo and Fernando have no more pussy-gato to fight with!”, before grinning at the audience and fluttering his eyebrows, clearly showing he’s actually pleased about this. He speaks too soon, however, as he hears one of them shout, “Yee-ha!” Speedy peeks around the corner to see what’s going on as Fernando declares, “Ole, ole, pussy-gatos! (animated by Bonnicksen) Put up your dukes!” Pablo and Fernando are revealed to have picked a fight with numerous other alley cats! Pablo declares something in Spanish before ending with, “We fight whole bunch you chickens!” (animated by Batchelder) Speedy informs us, “Grab your sombreros, amigos! Here we go again!” and dashes off to the rescue once more (animated by Bonnicksen).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕