Fast and Furry-ous

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Fast and Furry-ous
series = Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner


caption = Title card of "Fast and Furry-ous".
director = Chuck Jones
story_artist = Michael Maltese
animator = Ken Harris
Phil Monroe
Lloyd Vaughan
Ben Washam
A.C. Gamer (effects animation)
layout_artist = Robert Gribbroek
background_artist = Peter Alvarado
voice_actor = Paul Julian (uncredited)
musician = Carl W. Stalling
producer = Eddie Selzer
distributor = Warner Bros.
release_date = September 16, 1949
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 6:55 min
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0041349

"Fast and Furry-ous" is a 1948 Warner Bros. "Looney Tunes" cartoon, released on September 16, 1949, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. It was later reissued as a Blue Ribbon Merrie Melodies cartoon in the beginning opening, with the original Looney Tunes ending sequence. As a result, the Looney Tunes theme ("The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down") plays over the Merrie Melodies title card.

This was the first cartoon to feature Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. It set the template for the series, in which Wile E. Coyote (here given the ersatz Latin name "Carnivorous Vulgaris") tries to catch Roadrunner ("Accelleratti Incredibus") through many traps, plans and products, although in this first cartoon not all of the products are yet made by the Acme Corporation.

The title is a play on the old expression "fast and furious".

Running gags

A major running gag throughout the cartoon series is the fact that Wile E. Coyote (an ironic pun on "Wily") is continually defeated by his own gadgets, often obtained through a fictitious mail-order company called "ACME". A commentator in the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection" pointed out that what keeps Wile E. going is his perception that the gadgets typically "almost" work.

Plot

The title sign is shown first, and the card is blown away when the Road Runner whips by. The pair whip past the camera to change the credits.

The Road Runner is zoomed in on and the scene freezes to show the Latin name he keeps for the first three cartoons: "Accelleratii Incredibus". He continues in strides, then moves into superspeed and briefly pulls up the road. Wile, on a cliff, watches with binoculars as the Road Runner tears across the roads. He licks his lips as his name is shown: "Carnivorous Vulgaris".

The coyote puts on a napkin, grabs a knife and fork, and rushes down the mountain and onto the road behind the Road Runner. However, his attempts to stab the Road Runner cause the Road Runner to dash off. Wile stops and drops his utensils (and his mouth), then paces as he thinks of a new scheme.

As the Road Runner approaches, Wile is hiding between large rocks with a steel lid. He holds it out and the Road Runner stops just short, causing the coyote to wonder why he didn't hit it. Wile moves the lid and glances at the Road Runner, who promptly sticks his tongue out and speeds away. Wile drops the lid and gets ready to bound, but the Road Runner returns as quickly as he left and holds out the lid, which the coyote runs into.

Wile takes delivery of a boomerang and throws it over his hiding place, but is quickly hit by "another" boomerang from the same supplier, thrown by the Road Runner directly behind him. Wile brims with rage and moves to attack his opponent, but before he can move, he is hit by his own boomerang.

The coyote now paints white lines on the gravel and brings out a "SLOW: School Crossing" sign. Wile imitates a schoolgirl and prances in front of the sign, but the Road Runner blasts by and causes his opponent to wind himself onto the sign. The Road Runner returns with the wig and a sign that says "ROAD RUNNERS CAN'T READ" before leaving the scene.

The Road Runner is now spiraling up another mountain, while Wile is preparing a rocket-launcher contraption. Instead of launching towards the Road Runner, however, the rocket launches straight up into an outcropping, lodging the coyote inside.

The miffed coyote now intends to squash the passing Road Runner with a massively huge boulder. When Wile pulls the string out from under the boulder, the massive unsprung weight causes the boulder to reverse its center of gravity in mid-fall and squash its owner.

Having had enough of directly trying to defeat the Road Runner, Wile draws a curve in the right lane of the road, and continues it across the steppe into a rock face. He then paints a lifesize painting of a tunnel on the face, hoping for the Road Runner to smash into it; instead the bird runs directly through it. Annoyed, Wile tries to follow, but flattens himself against the rock. Wile gears up for a second attempt, but the Road Runner runs back out and knocks the coyote down again.

Wile leaves a raggedy-looking bag in the middle of the road and connects a TNT detonator to the other end, but when he pushes down on the switch, the detonator explodes directly on the coyote, as shown in the image to the left.

The coyote puts on an "ACME Super Outfit", hoping this will give him the ability to fly. He does manage to defy gravity..briefly.

Wile now puts together a meat grinder, a refrigerator, and an electric motor in order to move by electricity, and skis downhill towards the road, narrowly missing the Road Runner. The coyote continues across the desert floor and off the edge of another cliff. Wile's expression changes slowly as the power begins to run out of the refrigerator, and then he falls to the ground again. More "fake ice" is ground onto Wile's head, who holds up a "MERRY XMAS" sign.

Having tried most everything, Wile now puts on some of ACME's jet-propelled tennis shoes, and discovers he can now move at the speed of the Road Runner. Happy with himself, Wile returns to his attack base, but then the Road Runner turns up directly in front and beeps. A chase ensues, but when the dust clears, it is revealed that the Road Runner didn't even move! Wile turns around and returns to the Road Runner, infuriated. Both of them start on the "drag-strip" a second time and it is Wile who accidentally initiates the false start. Wile's eyes pop out and he initiates the chase again.

Both rivals come to a circular elevated roadway, where they circle around and around, constantly changing directions, until they meet in the center stretch. The chase continues down the road until the tennis shoes give up the ghost. Having failed, Wile has barely recovered when he sees a sign displaying "SHORT CUT" and follows it, looking to intercept the Road Runner.

Wile hides behind a billboard, and hearing the beeps, steps out into the middle of the road with an axe. Before he can swing, what was really a large bus flattens the coyote. The Road Runner fans himself from the back seat. "The End."

Censorship

*When this cartoon aired on ABC, the part where Wile E. Coyote uses dynamite and a detonator to get the Road Runner and gets blown up by the detonator (as pictured on this page) was cut.

Music

This short uses music from the Bedřich Smetana opera "The Bartered Bride".

ee also

*Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1940-1949)

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041349/ IMDB entry for "Fast and Furry-ous"]
* [http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2007/12/short-film-week-day-6.html#i5 Review by Ed Howard at Only The Cinema]