Rushing Roulette

Rushing Roulette is a 1965 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert McKimson.[1] The short was released on July 31, 1965, and stars Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.[2] It was the second Road Runner cartoon directed by someone other than Chuck Jones, who had almost exclusively used the characters since their debut in 1949 (the first was 1965's The Wild Chase, directed by Friz Freleng). McKimson directed one other Road Runner cartoon the following year (Sugar and Spies).

Rushing Roulette
Directed byRobert McKimson
Produced byDavid H. DePatie
Friz Freleng
Story byDavid Detiege
StarringPaul Julian (uncredited)
Music byBill Lava
Animation byWarren Batchelder
Bob Matz
Norm McCabe
Manny Perez
Don Williams
Layouts byDick Ung
Backgrounds byTom O'Loughlin
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
July 31, 1965 (USA)
Running time
6 min.
LanguageEnglish

Unlike the ten Rudy Larriva-directed Road Runner shorts after Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner (which featured a series of pre-recorded music cues that didn't follow the action on-screen as closely), Rushing Roulette featured an entirely original score by Bill Lava.

The title of the cartoon is a play on Russian roulette.

Summary

As with all Road Runner cartoons, Wile E. Coyote tries various methods to nab the speedy bird:

  • Wile grabs Road Runner with a lasso but is merely dragged into a cactus.
  • Wile sets up a fake photo booth which has a cannon behind it. When the Road Runner actually gets a real picture taken at the booth, Wile, puzzled, looks into the barrel of his own cannon and is shot (in the smoke, a picture of the charred coyote floats past).
  • Wile puts on spring boots but is startled by the Road Runner's trademark "Beep beep!" and bounces off a nearby cliff. However, he bounces back up due to his boots and hits a rock. Both Wile and the rock fall to the ground, where the rock flattens Wile. The springs stick out upon said flattening.
  • Wile puts Ajax glue on the pavement to stick Road Runner. His plan backfires when he accidentally steps on the sticky pavement and Road Runner startles Wile so much with his "Beep beep!" that he actually lifts the pavement off the ground (with Wile still attached) and lands face down.
  • Wile tries to catch Road Runner with a handcar. This backfires when Road Runner gets his own handcar and chases Wile off a cliff with another "beep beep!".
  • Wile uses a sunbeam to roast Road Runner, but the bird uses a mirror to bounce the sunbeam back and burn the platform on which Wile is standing. On the ground, the mirror cracks, and so do Wile's eyes.
  • A repeat of the classic "exploding piano/xylophone" gag, also used in Ballot Box Bunny and Show Biz Bugs. This was later used in a cartoon of the Slappy Squirrel segment of Animaniacs: Slappy Goes Walnuts.
  • Wile pushes a boulder off a narrow ledge to hit Road Runner on the pavement below, but the boulder misses and keeps eating away at his platform until he's at pavement level. He manages to duck into a manhole right before getting hit by an oncoming truck, but the boulder lands on top of the manhole, preventing his escape.
  • Finally, Wile uses a personal helicopter but accidentally runs into the top of a tunnel. He's also flattened by an anvil he was prepared to drop on Road Runner, and is also hit by a Greyhound bus, driven by Road Runner.

Crew
  • Director: Robert McKimson
  • Story: David Detiege
  • Animation: Bob Matz, Manny Perez, Warren Batchelder, Norm McCabe, Don Williams
  • Layout: Dick Ung
  • Backgrounds: Tom O'Loughlin
  • Film Editor: Lee Gunther
  • Voice Effects: Mel Blanc, Paul Julian
  • Music: Bill Lava
  • Produced by: David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng

References
  1. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 353. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 128–129. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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