Rushing Roulette

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Rushing Roulette

Directed By: Robert McKimson Produced By: David H. DePatie Friz Freleng Released: July 31, 1965 Series: Merrie Melodies Story: David Detiege Animation: Bob Matz Manny Perez Warren Batchelder Norm McCabe Don Williams Layouts: Dick Ung Backgrounds: Tom O'Loughlin Film Editor: Lee Gunther Voiced By: Paul Julian Music: Bill Lava Starring: Wile E. Coyote Road Runner Preceded By: Corn on the Cop Succeeded By: Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner Wile E. Coyote And Road Runner - (Ep. 29) - Rushing Roulette

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 grabs Road Runner with a lasso but is merely dragged into a large cactus.
• Wile sets up a fake photo booth which has a cannon behind it. When Road Runner actually gets a real picture taken at the booth, Wile, puzzled, looks into the barrel of his own cannon and is shot (in the smoke, a picture of the charred coyote floats past).
• Wile puts on spring boots but is startled by Road Runner's trademark "Beep beep!" 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.
• Wile puts Ajax glue on the pavement to stick Road Runner. His plan backfires when he accidentally steps on the sticky pavement and gets scared by Road Runner beeps 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. Road Runner then darts off.
• Wile tries to catch Road Runner with a handcar. This backfires when Road Runner gets his own handcar, rides it up to the top of a ledge, and chases Wile off a cliff with another "beep beep!"
• Wile 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.
• A repeat of the classic Exploding Piano Gag.
• Wile pushes 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 uses a personal helicopter but accidentally runs into the top of a tunnel. He's also flattened by an anvil he was prepared to drop on Road Runner, and is also hit by a bus driven by Road Runner.

Availability

• Streaming - Boomerang App

Goofs

• When the Road Runner sticks his tongue out at Wile the usual put-put-put sound is missing, nothing but silence.
• When Wile is on the broken sunbeam his reflection doesn't move, meaning while his eyes are closed the reflection's eyes are opened, and while his eyes get bloodshot his reflection's stay normal.

Notes

• This is one of the few Road Runner shorts without the opening chase sequence.
• This is the first Road Runner short with no animation directed by Chuck Jones at all.
• It was also the first to drop the Latin names gag, which wouldn't be used again until "Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales".
• This is the first time that Robert McKimson directed a Road Runner short, he'd later direct "Sugar and Spies" and the bumpers for "The Road Runner Show"
• When this short aired on TV a unknown channel removed the opening credits, and added two bumpers from The Road Runner Show to keep the six-minute runtime.

Gallery

TV Title Cards

The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (Final Season)

External Links

• "Rushing Roulette" at the Internet Movie Database