Scrambled Aches

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Scrambled Aches

Directed By: Chuck Jones Produced By: Eddie Selzer (uncredited) Released: January 26, 1957 Series: Looney Tunes Story: Michael Maltese Animation: Abe Levitow Richard Thompson Ken Harris Ben Washam Layouts: Maurice Noble Backgrounds: Philip DeGuard Film Editor: Treg Brown Voiced By: Paul Julian (uncredited) Music: Carl Stalling Milt Franklyn Starring: Wile E. Coyote Road Runner Preceded By: Tweet Zoo Succeeded By: Ali Baba Bunny

Scrambled Aches is a 1957 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones. The short features Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

Title

The title is a pun on the food "scrambled eggs."

Plot

Wile E. Coyote (Eternalii Famishiis) and the Road Runner (Tastyus Supersonicus) are continuing their chase through the twisty roads of the desert. As Wile E. closes in on the Road Runner, a 4-way intersection is reached and the Road Runner takes a left turn. Wile E. looks back as he brakes himself into the dirt, not noticing a "DANGER BRIDGE OUT" sign, and thus falls off the edge of the plateau and busts a hole in the roads below. Tossing out his utensils and untying the napkin from his neck, the Coyote walks out of the hole and plans his next scheme.

1. Thinking simple, the Coyote attempts to simply trip the Road Runner with a fake coyote foot (to avoid unpleasant repercussions on himself), but only ends up getting the fake foot winded. As he walks out, he kneels on the leg and scratches his head, only for the leg to unreel itself, twisting his body in turn.

2. Wile E. broods in the dirt, and soon comes up with a new plan: Throw out a dynamite stick with a string. However, when Wile E. circles the string over his head, it lassos itself around the coyote's face before exploding.

3. Going for speed again, the Coyote then builds a contraption made from a fan, a sail, and roller skates to propel himself down the road. This works excellent in a straight line, but cannot follow the Road Runner around a tight curve. The poor Coyote is thrown into a pool, digs through a dirt beach, and slams directly into a wall.

4. Next, Wile E. holds onto a large firework and lights it as the Road Runner passes, hoping to give semi-aerial chase. However, the firework takes off without its owner, flaying the coyote's chest in the process, and then it hits a curve and reverses itself, also flaying Wile's pate and deeply annoying the devious coyote.

5. Devious doesn't apply to the next simple trap: Wile E. tries to pull a large boulder onto one end of a see-saw to launch himself towards the Road Runner on a high cliff, but the boulder squashes him instead.

6. Wile E. pushes an anvil tied to a balloon off an outcropping, and then pulls the string when he hears the Road Runner, trying to flatten his nemesis. The anvil and the Road Runner converge towards the same spot in the bridge the Road Runner is now on, but the Road Runner brakes just in time to avoid it. The anvil smashes through the bridge, is thrown back up through the hole by a power line, and drops towards the Coyote who is perched on the very edge of the outcropping. Shivering with fear, Wile E. covers his head, preparing for the impact. The anvil misses him, but instead breaks through another part of the outcropping. The Coyote sighs with relief, but soon spots he is defying gravity and is then subject to it.

7. Again attempting to give semi-aerial chase, the Coyote retracts a massive spring coil attached to a wall and sits in it, tentatively letting go of his grip on the ground as the Road Runner passes on the left. But instead of launching at the bird, he simply gets caught inside the spring as it extends itself outwards.

8. Another ACME product (Dehydrated Boulders) takes the scene. Wile E. picks up one of them, hydrates it, and attempts to throw it off the cliff towards the Road Runner below, but the boulder expands first and crushes him.

9. In a final attempt to outrun and flatten the Road Runner, the Coyote constructs an outboard steam roller. When he turns it on, it rolls away from him and down the road. The steam roller soon encounters the Road Runner, who reverses direction and runs away. Wile E. continues to chase after his creation, while in what appears to be a convenient Deus ex machina, a fork comes up ahead with a sign stating: In case of steam roller use Detour. The Road Runner takes the detour and zooms into a miniature "escape tunnel", which was actually a cannon trap, with the coyote in hot pursuit. Wile E. leaps behind the cannon, lights the fuse and sits down, tired but satisfied. The fuse smokes, but the cannon doesn't fire. Confused, Wile E. looks inside the cannon and sees a white light coming out, accompanied by railroad signs. Seeing no danger, he laughs and looks inside again, but the cannon fires, with the Road Runner riding on top of the cannonball. The Road Runner waves at the now injured Coyote as he walks away and is then flattened by his own steamroller, as Wile E. holds up a "This is the end." sign.

Notes

• The spring coil gag was used in The Bugs Bunny Road-Runner Movie.

Availability

• LaserDisc - Road Runner Vs. Wile E. Coyote: If At First You Don't Succeed...
• VHS - Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote's Crash Course
• DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2, Disc Two
• Streaming - Boomerang App

Censorship

• On ABC, gag number two (the dynamite on a rope sequence) was cut.

External Links

Scrambled Aches on the SFX Resource