Chariots of Fur is a 1994 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones.
Title[]
The title is in reference to the 1981 film "Chariots of Fire"; which in turn references a line from the hymn "Jerusalem" by Sir Hubert Parry based on a poem by William Blake.
Plot[]
Road Runner, known as Boulevardius burnupius, gives Wile E. Coyote, Dogius ignoramii, a "come-on" to chase him. The chase continues until the coyote stops to read a sign in the road: "WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that chasing Road Runners may be hazardous to your health." He dismisses this sign as cheesy and laughs at it, before Road Runner pulls up behind him and beeps the coyote into another headache. Within the outcropping, Wile recovers and sees another sign posted at the very end of the outcropping: "It's not cool to laugh at the Surgeon General."
- Not deterred by this one bit, the coyote continues his dastardly plans: he leaves Road Runner a free snack on the edge of a cliff while he sneaks up behind his enemy and tries to eat him. However, sensing the danger, the Road Runner extends his neck all the way around the screen and beeps in the back of the coyote. To explain this, he displays a sign that says "Road Runners are extremely flexible" and leaves the scene, while Wile E. falls back onto the cliff and is left looking like an accordion.
- Wile now locks and loads an ACME Giant Mouse Trap and leaves it in the road for Road Runner to trip. When the trap snaps, the coyote jumps out to capture his opponent, but meets a giant mouse who is rather displeased with getting his tail caught and returns the favor to Wile's tail.
- Still trying to make this gadget work, despite his failures with it, the coyote loads himself into a spring attached to a rock and lets go as Road Runner passes. Voice of Spring plays on the music track as Wile E. ends up being carried across the plateau. Wile E. eventually moves into thin air, and soon catches on to the situation, gulps, and falls. As the spring unfurls through the air like a Slinky, Road Runner ducks as the rock just misses him and dives all the way through the spring, ultimately landing on Wile, displaying a "HAVE MERCY" sign, just as he recovers from his massive fall. The coyote leaves this with his neck also coiled up like a Slinky.
- With these newer cartoons come more ludicrous products, such as ACME Instant Road, which Wile E. rolls out across an arch and down the straight slope in an effort to get Road Runner to follow him, until he runs out of road and he is left staring at the ground. He can only display a sign that says "In heaven's name - what am I doing?" before he is overtaken by gravity and displays a "BYE!" sign.
- Returning to conventional chasing and gags, the coyote tries to launch himself with a bow to chase Road Runner, but the bow simply freezes without firing. He hangs in midair for a couple seconds before he realizes this, and attempts to fix it by playing dulcimer on the bowstring, until it activates and Wile spears a cactus. However, this gives the coyote a new idea, displayed by a light bulb changing from "IDEA" to "CACTUS" repeatedly.
- The ACME Trick-or-Treat Cactus Costume has arrived, and Wile puts it on, suffering rather discomfiting pain in the process. Finally, he gets it on and hops out into the road while Road Runner is passing him. However, he fails to grab Road Runner and wraps his arms around himself, causing massive pain due to the spines. After Wile escapes from the costume, he kicks its box into the desert.
- As Road Runner pulls up to another outcropping and signals to the coyote, Wile attempts to see-saw his way over to his rival with a rock and board. However, when the rock lands on the other side, it causes the board to smash into the coyote, and the rock then lands on the thin edge of the board, resulting in it wedging the edge of the outcropping away. This falls to the earth, with Wile, the board, the rock, and two smaller rocks located next to the see-saw following it. As the board looms over the coyote, Wile heaves it into the air before a rock hits the ground, then the outcropping edge, followed by the coyote on the right and the other rock on the left. This causes the coyote to be thrown upwards and bump his head directly on the falling board before he drops on the right side of the outcropping edge and jumps the second rock onto himself, as the board wedges just to the right.
- With another ACME product, ACME Lightning Bolts with rubber gloves, the coyote successfully sizzles a practice saguaro. He throws a second one at Road Runner, who stops and takes stock of the situation, and turns the other way as the electricity chases him. The bolt and bird chase all over the mountains until the lightning overtakes Road Runner, who beeps at the lightning to get it to reverse. The chase returns all the way back the way it came until Road Runner escapes to safety up a mountain slope, while the lightning continues on its normal course - back to its thrower! Wile E.'s eyes pop out and clash with each other in reaction before following the rest of him on the run from the lightning. The hapless coyote is repeatedly prodded with white-hot lightning across the landscape and towards the setting sun.
Availability[]
(1996) VHS
Chariots of Fur
Chariots of Fur
(2011) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars' Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote: Supergenius Hijinks (restored)
Looney Tunes Super Stars' Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote: Supergenius Hijinks (restored)
(2011) DVD
Road Runner
Road Runner
(2013) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars 3-Pack, Disc 3
Looney Tunes Super Stars 3-Pack, Disc 3
(2014) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars Family Multi-Feature, Disc 3
Looney Tunes Super Stars Family Multi-Feature, Disc 3
(2020) DVD
Looney Tunes: Parodies Collection
Looney Tunes: Parodies Collection
Streaming[]
Boomerang App ( - 2024) (fullscreen aspect ratio)
HBO Max (2020 - 2022) (cropped to 16:9 aspect ratio)
Max (2024 - ) (fullscreen aspect ratio)
Notes[]
- This film's soundtrack uses music from the Bedřich Smetana opera The Bartered Bride, much like the earlier Road Runner cartoons from 1949 to 1956.
- This is the last cartoon in which Paul Julian provided Road Runner sound effects before his death one year later. After his death, archival recordings of Julian's Road Runner sounds would later be re-used as stock sound effects to voice the Road Runner in newer Looney Tunes productions, even to this day.
- It was released in theaters with Richie Rich.
- It was the first new Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner theatrical short since 1966 as well as the final Coyote/Road Runner short to be directed by Chuck Jones.
- This was the first Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon to have original music scored by both Cameron Patrick and George Daugherty, though Daugherty previously scored the then-unreleased made-for-TV Looney Tunes cartoon "(Blooper) Bunny" three years earlier. The two would provide the music scores for the rest of the new Looney Tunes theatrical shorts which were produced and/or directed by Chuck Jones, either together or individually, alternating with Richard Stone for the new Looney Tunes theatrical shorts which Jones is not involved with in the 1990s decade.
- The Surgeon General reference is a joke on the warnings on cigarette boxes from the Surgeon General that warn of illnesses caused by smoking.
- Wile E. Coyote's "In heaven's name - what am I doing?" sign is similar to the one from "There They Go-Go-Go!"
- Wile E. Coyote's scream of pain when he accidentally wraps his arms around himself while wearing the cactus costume was a stock sound effect originally heard in "Snow Business" 41 years earlier, and was previously heard from Wile E. in the Road Runner cartoon "Zipping Along" that same year.
- This cartoon therefore marks the first time archive recordings of Mel Blanc's vocal effects are heard in modern Looney Tunes productions following his death in 1989.
- Wile E. Coyote's laugh was provided by Chuck Jones but went uncredited.
- On HBO Max, this cartoon was cropped to a 16:9 aspect ratio, and MeTV/MeTV Toons airings of the cartoon also air in 16:9. Presumably this print was sourced from the Supergenius Hijinks DVD, which had both 4:3 and 16:9 versions of each cartoon.
Gallery[]
