Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner

"Run, Run Sweet Roadrunner" is an animated cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series released by Warner Bros.. It features Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner and was directed and written by Rudy Larriva for release in 1965.

It was the first of the Road Runner Cartoons subcontracted to Format Films, and the only one which composer William Lava was able to properly score. (The others had to use a set of stock musical cues, due to extremely low budgets).

Plot

The short starts off with the Coyote waiting behind a rock for the Road Runner to zoom by. Coyote looks at the camera and raises his eyebrows, just as Road Runner flys by. Coyote starts to chase him to the edge of a cliff and then Road Runner holds up a sign that says HOLD IT. There are hopscotch marks right at the end of the cliff, which is covered by a cloud. After Roadrunner does hopscotch, it's Coyote's turn, but the cloud drifts away and the edge of the cliff breaks and he plummets to the bottom of the canyon. Battered and bruised, Coyote looks up at the top of the cliff and we see a shot of the it from his point of view as the camera pans up towards the top. Roadrunner is heard going "beep beep" and then zooming off.

We then see a shot of Coyote sharpening the spikes on a metal grate. He covers it up with a sheet and raises it up using a pulley. He then climbs down from the top of a rock, and it cuts to Coyote hammering signs into the ground. One says FREE BIRD SEED--200 YARDS, another says BIRD SEED LIKE MOTHER USED TO SERVE--100 YARDS and a third says EAT IN THE SHADE, 20 DEGREES COOLER--followed by Coyote pouring bird-seed into a little bowl with a sign that says FREE BIRD SEED that is under the large sharp spiked grate and disguises it as a shade canopy. He watches from the top of his rock with a pair of binoculars as Roadrunner runs to the bowl of bird seed and gobbles it up in two seconds and runs off. Coyote gets a stunned look on his face and climbs down to fill the bowl with more bird seed. Unfortunately, the hot sun creates a glare on the lenses of the binoculars he left on top of the rock and it burns the rope holding up the shade canopy. Coyote hears creaking and slowly looks up in distress just as the canopy falls right on top of him. The sheet from the spiked metal grate makes him look like a banana, in which he starts to "peel." He then gets an idea to create a female road runner.

The next scene, we see an ACME LIGHTNING ROD box. Coyote sticks the rod in the ground and puts the female road runner's "body" on the middle of the stick. He then sticks on blue hair and a beak and paints eyes on it. Coyote sticks the female "road runner" on the road and uses a Roadrunner "call," hides behind a rock and holds an axe while he waits for Roadrunner to run by to chop him with the axe. He hears the call and runs right by the female "Roadrunner" as he plants a kiss on it. Coyote misses and chops the ground, and this results in the head from the female roadrunner flying off and hitting Coyote on the head.

Coyote later walks behind a cliff and emerges wearing Indian tribal clothes. He looks up at the sky and starts doing a rain dance. It soon starts to rain and Coyote looks up with delight. He does another dance and this time, a bolt of lightning zaps the female road runner, just as Coyote runs out of the way. He then uses the Roadrunner call and the real Roadrunner is seen running towards Coyote's spot. He hides behind the cliff and then Roadrunner stops when he sees the female Roadrunner. He tiptoes towards her and leans in close to her. Coyote takes out an umbrella, and there's another lightning bolt, but unfortunately it misses the Road runner and his "girlfriend" and hits Coyote. Burnt to a crisp, he stands there, still holding his (burnt out) umbrella.

Notes

The title is a parody of "Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte", which was released in late 1964.

Crew

*Director: Rudy Larriva
*Story: Rudy Larriva
*Animation: Hank Smith, Tom McDonald
*Layouts: Erni Nordli
*Backgrounds: Tony Rizzo
*Film Editor: Lee Gunther
*Music: Bill Lava
*Produced by: David H. DePatie & Friz Freleng

External links

*imdb title|0059664