''Guided Muscle'' is a 1955

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' cartoon directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...

. The short was released on December 10, 1955, and stars

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short ''Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, t ...

Plot

''Introduction'': Wile E. Coyote is cooking some food in a tin bucket over a fire. He adds pepper and a drop of a brown liquid, stirs the bucket and fishes out what is revealed to be a tin can. The Coyote then sits down on a rock and prepares to cut the can in half (as if it was a steak) before he realizes what he is eating, and then pushes the entire table setting off the rock table. "COYOTE - ''Eatibus almost anythingus''". With a '' Beep-beep'', the Roadrunner speeds by and throws the coyote rolling across the ground. The camera cuts to the Road Runner, who is currently a blur of motion, and freezes the clip temporarily to add his fictitious genus/species name in faux-Latin: ''Velocitus Delectiblus''. Wile licks his lips, then dashes after his nemesis. The Road Runner taunts Wile E. with a ''Beep-beep'' before blasting into Mach 225, disappearing beyond the 10-mile horizon in only 5 frames of film, dusting up all the roads in the distance. Wile stops in mid-stride and points at the bird as if to say "Did you see that?", then thinks of his new plan on the next scheme. 1. The Coyote attaches an arrowhead to the end of his nose and shoots himself from a bow at the passing Road Runner, but instead spears through the trunk of a

saguaro cactus The saguaro (, ) (''Carnegiea gigantea'') is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus ''Carnegiea'' that can grow to be over tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountains ...

, which breaks out of the ground and falls over a cliff. 2. Wile then loads himself into a slingshot and cuts the string as the Road Runner dashes ahead of him, but nothing happens. He ducks out of the slingshot and puts his head into it to peer at the "faulty" string, but then it activates and pitches the Coyote onto the stone ground 10 feet away. 3. The Coyote lies in wait for the Road Runner to come around a turn and lights a cannon fuse, but instead of firing the cannonball, the entire cannon, with Wile on board, is fired backwards into a mountain wall. When Wile steps out of the cannon, it fires another ball into his face. 4. He then attempts to use a stone "wrecking ball" attached to a tree to hit the Road Runner, but instead hits the trunk of the tree, which hammers him into the rock he is standing on. 5. Next, Wile simply rolls the ball down a hill out into the road, but it pitches up a stone

serac A serac (from Swiss French ''sérac'') is a block or column of glacial ice, often formed by intersecting crevasses on a glacier. Commonly house-sized or larger, they are dangerous to mountaineers, since they may topple with little warning. Even ...

and right back on top of its owner. 6. Wile covers a narrow canyon floor with ''Acme GREASE'', but once again, a truck just happens to be approaching. He tries to run across the grease, but fails and is run over. The Road Runner easily glides over it, so he attempts to follow. However, each attempt moves him forward a negligible amount of distance until he finally collapses in the grease. 7. The Road Runner is then seen zipping to one end of a cliff and beeping at the Coyote on the other end, who attempts to swing over the canyon but only smacks into a plateau just underneath him. 8. Wile leaves out birdseed while he climbs to the top of the cliff and prepares his trap. The Road Runner zips up and munches down, while the Coyote lowers a dynamite stick on the end of a fishing line. Instead of blowing up the Road Runner, the flame travels up the line and back to the TNT box, which explodes on the Coyote. 9. He then creates a tar-and-feather machine based on his readings of ''How To Tar And Feather A Road Runner: 10th printing'', and successfully tests it on a small cactus. Wile hides in a thin crevice with the machine pointed towards the road that the Road Runner traverses. Unfortunately, just as Wile E. activates the machine, the emitters are spun around by the Road Runner's speed resulting in them attacking their owner, and the Road Runner, as if it were the simplest thing in the world (which it is), holds up a sign at the Coyote saying: ''ROAD-RUNNERS ALREADY HAVE FEATHERS!'' 10. Wile prepares one final trap: a dynamite pit in the road. Just after he lights the fuse, the Road Runner stops short of him and beeps in his face, provoking a short chase that ends when he runs directly over his own exploding pit. Dejected, the charred Coyote walks off-camera and returns with a stand-up sign that says: ''Wanted: One gullible Coyote. Apply to manager of this theater.'' Then he goes back and returns with the

"That's all, Folks!" end title card.

Reception

Animation historian

Jerry Beck Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955, in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including ''The 50 Greatest C ...

writes, "If I had to pick a 'pure' Road Runner-Coyote film, this would be it. It's one of Chuck Jones' best chase films, produced at the peak of his artistic powers. By this time — this only being the sixth of twenty-three Road Runners that Jones would direct during the golden age — the characters are clearly defined, their motivations firmly established. The gag setups and payoffs are classic. Jones and his team make an art out of split-second timing and extreme facial reactions."

Crew

*Story:

Michael Maltese Michael Maltese (February 6, 1908 – February 22, 1981) was an American story man for classic animated cartoon shorts. He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons with director Chuck Jones, notably "Wha ...

*Animation:

Ken Harris Karyl Ross "Ken" Harris (July 31, 1898 – March 24, 1982) was an American animator best known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons under the supervision of director Chuck Jones. Life and career Ken Harris was born in Tulare County, Calif ...

, Richard Thompson,

Ben Washam Benjamin Alfred Washam (March 17, 1915 – March 28, 1984) was an American animator who is best known for working under director Chuck Jones for nearly 30 years. According to his World War II draft registration, he was born in Newport, Jackson Cou ...

Abe Levitow Abraham Levitow (July 2, 1922 – May 8, 1975) was an American animator who worked at Warner Bros. Cartoons, UPA and MGM Animation/Visual Arts. He is best known for his work under Chuck Jones' direction. Career Levitow was born in Los Angeles ...

*Layouts: Philip DeGuard *Backgrounds: Richard H. Thomas *Effects animation: Harry Love *Film editor:

Treg Brown Tregoweth Edmond "Treg" Brown (November 4, 1899 – April 28, 1984) was an American motion picture sound editor who was responsible for the sound effects in Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons from 1936 to 1963. ...

*Vocal characterizations: Paul Julian (uncredited) *Musical direction:

Carl Stalling Carl William Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts produced by War ...

*Orchestrations:

Milt Franklyn Milton J. Franklyn (born Milton Julius Frumkin; September 16, 1897 – April 24, 1962) was an American musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoons. Career Franklyn was born in New York City Sept ...

*Directed by:

Production notes

Along with ''

The Grey Hounded Hare ''The Grey Hounded Hare'' is a 1949 ''Looney Tunes'' short film made by Warner Bros. Pictures and starring the voice talent of Mel Blanc. The film stars Bugs Bunny. It was directed by Robert McKimson, and animated by John Carey, Phil DeLara, Manny ...

'' and ''

Tugboat Granny ''Tugboat Granny'' is a 1956 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon animated short directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on June 23, 1956, and stars Tweety and Sylvester the Cat. The voices were performed by Mel Blanc and June Fo ...

'', ''Guided Muscle'' was one of the three cartoons on the final episode of ABC's ''

The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' is a long-running American animated anthology television series hosted by Bugs Bunny that was mainly composed of theatrical ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons released by Warner Bros. between 1948 and 1969. ...

'', on September 2, 2000.

References

External links