''Hopalong Casualty'' is a 1960
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. D ...
''
Looney Tunes'' theatrical animated short, directed by
Chuck Jones.
The short was released on October 8, 1960, 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, ...
.
The title is a play on the
Hopalong Cassidy western series of books written by author
Clarence E. Mulford
Clarence Edward Mulford (3 February 1883 – 10 May 1956) was an American writer, best known as the creator of the character Hopalong Cassidy.
Biography
Mulford was born in Streator, Illinois. He created Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalon ...
.
Plot
As usual, Wile E. Coyote (Hard-headipus ravenus) has gone in pursuit of The Road Runner (Speedipus Rex). The title shows just before the Coyote gains on the Road Runner. He lunges, leaping and grabbing his quarry by the throat. A two-second wrestling match follows, with both combatants in a round ball rolling down the road from the force of their running, but Wile E. emerges "holding" only a smoke outline of the bird. The confused coyote looks in his hands just as the Road Runner speeds up behind Wile E. He beeps, sending the Coyote flying through the air and leaves him hanging on a
telephone pole
A utility pole is a column or post typically made out of wood used to support overhead power lines and various other public utilities, such as electrical cable, fiber optic cable, and related equipment such as transformers and street lights. It ...
. When he slides back down, the Road Runner beeps again, sending not only Wile E. in the air, but also the telephone pole, which escapes Wile E.'s grip. He then looks relieved, but because of the power lines, the pole zooms back to Wile E. and drives him into the ground. He then comes out of a nearby manhole, flattened and humiliated. Of course, there is nothing left to do but plan more schemes.
#First, the Coyote goes simple by waiting behind a rock face, and when he hears the "beep-beep" of the Road Runner, he jumps out into the middle of the road, only to be flattened by an approaching truck.
#Next, the Coyote sets up a rope and rock trap, but when he pulls the string, he ends up squashing himself (but not his feet).
#The Coyote now places
dynamite in a tunnel under the road, but as he goes deeper into the tunnel, the detonator handle pushes down further, and eventually the dynamite explodes on the Coyote.
#Now, the Coyote uses an Acme Christmas Packaging Machine. He puts it in a pit with a sign that says "DETOUR". The Coyote snickers gleefully, but then the Road Runner, as expected, pops up behind the coyote and beeps. The startled Coyote leaps in the air and into the Christmas Packaging Machine. The result is a neatly packaged Wile E. Coyote. Humiliated, the boxed Coyote tiptoes off the screen.
#This time, the Coyote uses dynamite on a fishing line. When he hears the Road Runner, he jerks back the rod and prepares to cast the line. He jerks a bit too hard, however; the dynamite gets stuck in a cactus, and eventually, the Coyote gets wound around the cactus with the line. He then sees that the dynamite is about to go off, and tries to blow out the fuse, but instead makes it burn down faster, and it then explodes.
#Finally, the Coyote scatters some Acme
Earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
Pills on the road, hoping that the Road Runner can mistake them for birdseed. The Road Runner obligingly eats them, but they have no effect as he zooms away. In disgust, the Coyote swallows an earthquake pill himself, and then even more disgustedly swallows all of the remaining pills. After jumping up and down several times in an attempt to trigger an earthquake, he contemptuously chucks the empty bottle over his shoulder, but immediately leaps after the bottle with bulging eyes to catch it before it shatters in the middle of the road. Wile E. is just in time to read the fine print at the bottom of the bottle's label: "Caution: Not effective on Road Runners". As soon as he sees this, he gulps nervously, now knowing what he faces. As he gingerly takes his first step to get out of the middle of the road, the product takes effect on him, causing him to shake, rattle and jerk helplessly across the landscape, getting flattened by a huge boulder and almost falling off a narrow rocky arch in the process. When the product finally wears off, the Coyote feels so relieved that he steps out without looking where he's going, and walks over a cliff's edge, falling to the ground. The Road Runner then beeps once more and takes off, with the trail of smoke left behind him, forming the words "The End".
Crew
*Story:
Chuck Jones
*Animation:
Tom Ray
Thomas Archer Ray (August 2, 1919 – April 6, 2010) was an American animator.
Career
Ray was born in Williams, Arizona. He began work at Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1937, working under Tex Avery for six months. He applied for a job at MGM and w ...
,
Ken Harris,
Richard Thompson &
Bob Bransford
*Layouts:
Maurice Noble
Maurice James Noble (May 1, 1911 – May 18, 2001) was an American animation production designer, background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry spanned more than 60 years. He was a long-time associate and right-hand m ...
*Backgrounds:
Philip DeGuard
*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. ...
*Music:
Milt Franklyn
*Produced by
David H. DePatie &
John W. Burton
*Directed by Chuck Jones
References
External links
*
*
{{Chuck Jones
Looney Tunes shorts
Short films directed by Chuck Jones
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner films
1960 animated films
1960s American animated films
1960s Warner Bros. animated short films
Films scored by Milt Franklyn
1960 short films
Films about Canis
Animated films about birds
Animated films without speech
American animated short films
Animated films about mammals