''War and Pieces'' is a 1964
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 June 6, 1964, 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, ...
.
It was the last ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones until 1979's ''
Freeze Frame''.
The title is a pun on the
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
novel ''
War and Peace
''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...
''.
Plot
1.
Wile E. Coyote
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 episod ...
(Caninus nervous rex) attempts to hurl a
hand grenade at
Road Runner (Burn-em upus asphaltus), but it rebounds off a
saguaro
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 Mountai ...
, and explodes on the Coyote. He walks away, planning his next scheme.
2. Wile E. is at another cliff, attempting to use a
bow with a pulley to shoot himself at the Road Runner, with his tail being tied by a rope attached to the pulley. The pulley rope then rips the lower part of his hide off, exposing him in his underwear, and with him hanging onto the bow until it breaks. He then lands feet first on a large rock just a bit down the bottom of the cliff. Wile E. walks off in relief, until the rock breaks and falls down to the ground, taking Wile E. with it.
3. Wile E. attempts to use a hydraulic press activated by an electric eye, when the Road Runner attempts to run through the light at the eye, the hydraulic presses can crush him after he passes. The Road Runner stops in front of the eye. The Coyote gets impatient and runs at the Road Runner, but the Road Runner walks through the eye, activating the hydraulic presses, flattening Wile E.
4. Wile E. paints himself with ACME Invisible Paint. He hears the Road Runner beeping, jumps onto the road, but the beeps were from a truck, which runs over the Coyote. Wile E. staggers off a cliff into a pond. The splash causes Wile E. to be visible again, and he lies down on the sea floor, injured. A fish swims by and looks at him, but the Coyote shoos it away by showing a "GET LOST!" sign at the fish.
5. Wile E. uses a double-barreled shotgun as a look-through attraction called "Secrets of a Harem". The Road Runner looks through the holes of the shotgun while turning a handle, while Wile E. prepares to fire the shotgun. The Road Runner, however, seems to be enjoying an actual peep show. Wile E. pushes him away to see for himself, only for the shotgun to fire into his face.
6. Wile E. throws a grappling hook with a rope straight up at the cliff. The hook gets caught on something, and the Coyote climbs the rope. The hook is not caught on a cliff, but a cloud above, the hook lets go of the cloud and tears it open, causing lightning to strike the Coyote, who slides down to the ground.
7. The Coyote rides a
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
up the cliff, but the shape of the cliff causes the rocket to go the wrong way and sends the Coyote into the ground. After barreling underground, he ends up in
China, where he meets a
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
Road Runner wearing a
conical hat and
Chinese wooden slippers. The Coyote attempts to catch him, but the Chinese Road Runner subdues him with a gong. The Coyote falls back down the hole toward the desert. He flies up the hole and falls face first to the ground. The Chinese Road Runner pops his head out of the hole and ends the cartoon with a "Beep-beep!" noise with Chinese characters, which translate "The End, old Chinese proverb".
Crew
*Co-Director:
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 ...
*Story:
John Dunn
*Animation:
Ken Harris,
Richard Thompson,
Bob Bransford &
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 ...
*Layouts:
Dave Rose
*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:
Bill Lava
*Produced by
David H. DePatie
*Directed by
Chuck Jones
References
External links
*
*
{{Chuck Jones
1964 short films
1964 animated films
Looney Tunes shorts
Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films
Short films directed by Chuck Jones
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner films
Films scored by William Lava
Films directed by Maurice Noble
Animated films about mammals
Animated films about birds
1960s Warner Bros. animated short films
Films about Canis
American animated short films
American comedy short films