Speedy Gonzales vs. the Road Runner! (place your bets!)
The Wild Chase is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt. The short was released on February 27, 1965, and stars Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester, with Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner along for the race. This cartoon was the only Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoon to be directed by either Freleng or Pratt, who specialized in Speedy and Sylvester cartoons. It is also noted as a crossover between the Sylvester/Speedy and Coyote/Road Runner cartoons.
This is the only Speedy Gonzales short to feature Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, and the final time Speedy appears with Sylvester the Cat.
Crew:
Co-Director: Hawley Pratt
Story: Friz Freleng, John Dunn
Animation: Norm McCabe, Don Williams, Manny Perez, Warren Batchelder, Laverne Hardling
Layout: Dick Ung
Backgrounds: Tom O'Loughlin
Film Editor: Lee Gunther
Voice Characterizations: Mel Blanc
Music: Bill Lava
Produced by: David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng
Directed by: Friz Freleng
Notes:
This short reuses animation from "Zoom and Bored" (1957), "Wild About Hurry" (1959) and "Hopalong Casualty" (1960).
This cartoon implies that the Road Runner cartoons originated from Texas (evident that the Road Runner is known as the "Texas Road Burner"). This is also supported in the two-dollar betting window scene where the Mexicans bet for Speedy Gonzales, while the Texan cowboys bet for the Road Runner.
Sylvester doesn't speak in this cartoon.
This is one of the only two cartoons where Speedy doesn't talk, except for "Arriba! Andale!" etc. as he zooms along. The other is "A Taste of Catnip".
Sylvester and Wile E. Coyote would once again team up to catch Speedy and Road Runner in the Looney Tunes DC Comics.
Road Runner and Speedy Gonzales usually use the same running sound effects in their respective cartoons, so a different sound effect was given to Speedy here to indicate which one is whom.
This is the only Coyote and Road Runner cartoon directed by Friz Freleng.
This is also the last cartoon to pair Speedy Gonzales with Sylvester, not counting Sylvester's cameo in "A Taste of Catnip".
This is the last DePatie-Freleng cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, and to use his musical methods and techniques. For the rest of the cartoons in the era, he would be the producer until "Daffy's Diner".
This is also the last theatrical Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng; he would later direct three televised shorts from 1979 to 1980, and two compilation films in 1981 and 1982.
This was the final cartoon shown on the final airing of The Bugs Bunny Road-Runner Hour.
