Deprecated
We have moved to portable infoboxes using the new Template:Shorts
Please do not use this template anymore. It is left here for reference purposes.
Gonzales' Tamales | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Gonzales' Tamales is a 1957 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng.
Plot
The majority of male mice in a Mexican village lament the fact that Speedy Gonzales has been getting in between them and the "pretty girls." One of the mice suggests that they get the "gringo pussycat" Sylvester to chase Speedy out of town. The mice forge a note from Speedy, stating that he will pull Sylvester's tail out by the roots, which Speedy happily does when confronted by the cat. In trying to get Speedy, Sylvester first uses a shotgun and then a hand grenade; with the usual disastrous results. Speedy, however, falls for the cat's final attempt: A wind-up doll. With Sylvester hot on his feet, Speedy grabs the wind-up toy, and takes refuge in a box of red hot peppers; forcing the hungry pussycat to swallow them one by one in order to find the resourceful rodent. In between each ingestion of pepper, Sylvester runs to a nearby water cooler for relief. On his last trip to the cooler, he fails to notice that he's drinking out of a similar cooler filled with tabasco sauce; which sends the cat high into the horizon.
Availability
- (1983) VHS - The Looney Tunes Video Show Vol. 14 (uncensored)
- (1985) VHS - Speedy Gonzales' Fast Funnies (uncensored)
- (2005) DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc Four (uncensored)
Censorship
- On most TV channels worldwide (including Nickelodeon, the Italian TV station Mediaset Italia 1, the Polish TV station Canal+ Poland.[1], Canal+ Family, and various Cartoon Network/Boomerang feeds[2], though Cartoon Network America's only time airing this short actually had the line intact), a rather innocuous part where Sylvester says, "I'll get you if I have to eat every one of these things" as he is trying to find Speedy Gonzales in a box of chili peppers was cut.[3]
- When this short aired on CBS in the 1970s and 1980s, the two times Sylvester gets blown up (by a disembodied bullet and a hand grenade, respectively) were cut to remove Sylvester's appearance after the smoke clears.[3]
- International dubs of this short shown in Latin America (on Cartoon Network's Latin America channel), Italy (on Mediaset Italia 1), and Poland (on Canal+ Poland) have the same edits done to this cartoon that CBS and Nickelodeon's American channel have done, only Cartoon Network Latin America deletes the entire hand grenade part, not just for the violence, but also because of the drug references in the song, La Cucaracha[4] (see below in "Notes").
- This short prompted Cartoon Network America to keep Speedy Gonzales cartoons out of rotation in the United States due to their stereotypical depictions of Mexicans, though most Hispanic fans protested that Speedy Gonzales was not a stereotype and demanded the shorts to be shown. In Cartoon Network's final days of regularly airing classic cartoons (between 2003 and 2005), some Speedy Gonzales cartoons did crop up on the network (mostly the late-1950s ones and a few from the post-1964 era). However, this one only aired once, possibly because the censors caught the "...marijuana par fumar" line of La Cucaracha and decided to shelve the entire short rather than cut the line (contrast with the short "Mexican Boarders", where Cartoon Network's and Boomerang's Latin American feeds did air the short, but cut the "...marijuana que fumar" part of La Cucharacha rather than shelve the entire short).
Goofs
- Sylvester lays a sizable wedge of cheese on the ground to lure Speedy out of his hole. When Speedy takes the cheese, it has changed to a small, thin slice of cheese.
- Most televised prints of this short (including in European countries) have a glitch at the end of the ending title card; After the ending title card, the screen then cuts to black, while the ending music still plays intact. However, copies of this transfer do exist without this glitch, which is only on The Looney Tunes Video Show VHS release. You can tell that there is a glitch in the transfer by the extremely washed-out colors.
Notes
- This version of La Cucaracha Speedy sings is the first verse from the Mexican Revolutionary version of the song from 1910 to 1920.
- This short provides an anomaly in the Speedy Gonzales shorts: In this one, Speedy is the antagonist/aggressor whom is a menace whom the Mexican mice hate as opposed to the hero that is adored by the Mexican mice, and the Mexican mice try to get Sylvester to chase Speedy out of town, with unsuccessful results.
- The title card background is reused from the title card of "Speedy Gonzales".
- This is one of the only three post-1948 Looney Tunes shorts which were shown censored with a minor edit on the unrestored TV prints (even on the PAL masters) worldwide regardless of the TV channel. The other two are "Prince Violent" and "Devil's Feud Cake". Unlike those two shorts, this short has been released uncut and fully restored on DVD.
- The European TV prints have the 1959-64 Merrie Melodies ending card (with the "A Vitaphone Release" byline) replacing the original.
- Some airings of this short on Boomerang France have the original ending card replaced with a better colored version of the original ending card, presumably edited in from the ending card from "Show Biz Bugs".
Gallery
References
- ↑ http://chomikuj.pl/marciocha2504/CANAL*2b/Wrogowie+Gonzalesa,3678856645.avi(video)
- ↑ https://ok.ru/video/1295983118970
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-g.aspx
- ↑ http://minhateca.com.br/keller/Desenhos+e+S*c3*a9ries/Desenhos+Looney+Tunes/Ligeirinho/510+-+LIGEIRINHO+-+GONZALES+TAMALES+-+EP.+510,53437362.avi(video))
External Links
Gonzales' Tamales at the Internet Movie Database
Gonzales' Tamales on the SFX Resource
Speedy Gonzales Cartoons | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
1953 | Cat-Tails for Two | |||
1955 | Speedy Gonzales | |||
1957 | Tabasco Road • Gonzales' Tamales | |||
1958 | Tortilla Flaps | |||
1959 | Mexicali Shmoes • Here Today, Gone Tamale | |||
1960 | West of the Pesos | |||
1961 | Cannery Woe • The Pied Piper of Guadalupe | |||
1962 | Mexican Boarders | |||
1963 | Mexican Cat Dance • Chili Weather | |||
1964 | A Message to Gracias • Nuts and Volts • Pancho's Hideaway • Road to Andalay | |||
1965 | It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House • Cats and Bruises • The Wild Chase • Moby Duck • Assault and Peppered • Well Worn Daffy • Chili Corn Corny • Go Go Amigo | |||
1966 | The Astroduck • Mucho Locos • Mexican Mousepiece • Daffy Rents • A-Haunting We Will Go • Snow Excuse • A Squeak in the Deep • Feather Finger • Swing Ding Amigo • A Taste of Catnip | |||
1967 | Daffy's Diner • Quacker Tracker • The Music Mice-Tro • The Spy Swatter • Speedy Ghost to Town • Rodent to Stardom • Go Away Stowaway • Fiesta Fiasco | |||
1968 | Skyscraper Caper • See Ya Later Gladiator | |||
1979 | Fright Before Christmas | |||
1980 | The Chocolate Chase |