Rushing Roulette is a 1965 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.
Title[]
The title is a play on "Russian roulette."
Plot[]
Wile E. Coyote tries various methods to nab Road Runner:
- Wile E. grabs Road Runner with a lasso but is merely dragged into a large cactus.
- Wile E. sets up a fake photo booth which has a cannon behind it. However, the cannon doesn't fire and ends up shooting a real photo of Road Runner. Puzzled, Wile E. looks into the barrel of his own cannon and is shot (in the smoke, a picture of the charred coyote floats past).
- Wile E. puts on ACME spring boots but is startled by Road Runner's beeping and bounces off a nearby cliff. However, he bounces back up due to his boots and hits a rock. Both Wile and the rock fall to the ground, where the rock flattens Wile (with the spring boots springing out of the boulder).
- Wile E. puts Ajax glue on the pavement to stick Road Runner. He sees Road Runner runs past the pavement without getting stuck, leaving the coyote confused. His plan backfires when he accidentally steps on the sticky pavement and gets scared by Road Runner beeping at him. He jumps into the air with such force that he actually lifts a chunk of the pavement off from the road, and gets crushed when he lands upside down.
- Wile E. tries to catch Road Runner with a handcar. However, Road Runner gets his own handcar and outpaces Wile E. up to the top of a ledge. Road Runner then beeps Wile E. off the cliff.
- Wile E. uses a sunbeam to roast Road Runner, but the bird uses a mirror to bounce the sunbeam back and burn the platform on which Wile is standing.
- Wile E. sets up an exploding piano, rigged at one of the notes of a song. However, Road Runner keeps missing the note itself, and eventually a frustrated Wile E. tries the piano himself, predictably blowing himself up.
- Wile E. pushes off a boulder off a narrow ledge to hit Road Runner on the pavement below, but the boulder misses and keeps eating away at his platform until he's at pavement level. He manages to duck into a manhole right before getting hit by an oncoming truck, but the boulder lands on top of the manhole, preventing his escape.
- Finally, Wile E. uses a personal helicopter. Road Runner sees Wile E. and runs faster to outpace Wile E. into ramming atop of a tunnel. The coyote is also smashed by the anvil he was prepared to drop on Road Runner, and is also hit by a bus driven by Road Runner.
Availability[]
Streaming[]
Boomerang App (2017 - 2024)
HBO Max (2020 - 2022) (restored)
Max (2024 - 2025) (restored)
Tubi (2025 -)
Goofs[]
- When Road Runner sticks his tongue out at Wile E., the usual "put-put-put" sound is missing, with only silence.
- When Wile E. is on the broken sunbeam, his reflection remains still; while his eyes are closed, the reflection's eyes are open, and while his eyes turn bloodshot, his reflection's eyes remain normal.
Notes[]
- This is one of the few Road Runner shorts without an opening chase sequence.
- It was also the first to drop the Latin names gag, which would not return until "Freeze Frame" (1979).
- The scenes of Road Runner zooming at the beginning reused footage from "Zip 'n Snort", and the two scenes of Wile falling down the canyon reused footage from "Beep Prepared".
- This is the first of two Road Runner shorts that were directed by Robert McKimson, followed by "Sugar and Spies" (1966). McKimson also handled the bumpers for The Road Runner Show.
- When this short aired on television, an unknown channel replaced the opening credits with the title card used for the short on The Road Runner Show, while adding the cannon bumper from the aforementioned show between gags 2 and 3 to keep within the six-minute runtime.[1]
Gallery[]
TV Title Cards[]
References[]