Speedy Gonzales (film)

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Speedy Gonzales
series = Merrie Melodies


caption = The title card of "Speedy Gonzales"
director = I. Freleng
story_artist = Warren Foster
animator = Gerry Chiniquy
Ted Bonnicksen Arthur Davis
voice_actor = Mel Blanc as Sylvester and Speedy Gonzales
musician = Carl Stalling
producer = Edward Selzer
distributor = Warner Bros.
release_date = September 17, 1955
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 6 minutes 12 seconds
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0048649

Speedy Gonzales is a 1955 "Merrie Melodies" animated short directed by Friz Freleng from a story by Warren Foster. It is the second cartoon to feature the title character. It won the Oscar as Best Animated Short of 1955. This is the first time Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester meet.

Plot

The beginning has a Mexican style song "The Grand Duke of York" before the story starts in the opening credits. The short opens on a small, white-shirted, worried group of mice wearing sombreos thinking of trying to get cheese from the AJAX cheese factory that is guarded by Sylvester the Cat. They have tried many times but those who tried were eaten by Sylvester. The mouse group's leader decides to send one of the mice to try and get cheese yet again but Sylvester devours him right away. After this, the leader comes up with a brilliant idea: retain the services of the aptly named "Speedy" Gonzales.

The group of mice agrees, so the leader goes to the carnival where Speedy is residing. There at the carnival, Speedy Gonzales is at the carnival attraction, "Shoot Speedy", where people try to shoot Speedy with bullets from a gun in order to "win a beeg prize". The leader tells Speedy Gonzales about the dire situation the mice are in, not having access to the cheese guarded by Sylvester.

Speedy Gonzales gives it a try and decides to run through the wire field between the mice and Sylvester. Speedy shakes his legs, yells "Andale! Andale! Arriba! Arriba!", and runs past Sylvester's, gets into the cheese factory and brings back a round of cheese. Sylvester then uses a baseball glove when he sees a baseball. He throws the baseball at the AJAX cheese factory but it turns out Speedy is inside the baseball, able to get more cheese from Sylvester and to the mice again.

Sylvester then tries landmines and mousetraps, to no avail. Finally, Sylvester gets fed up with Speedy's agility and evasive maneuvers and gets all the cheese from the factory and stacks them up. Sylvester uses a bomb to blow up all the cheese but the cheese boxes only explode, and much of the cheese lands where the mice are, causing Sylvester to bang his head on an electric pole in frustration. Speedy then says "I like this pussycat fellow; he's silly!" and the short ends.