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Speedy Gonzales (film)
Encyclopedia
Speedy Gonzales is a 1955 Merrie Melodies
animated short
directed by Friz Freleng
from a story by Warren Foster
. It is the second cartoon
to feature the title character
, but the first one to feature Speedy in his current design. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
This is the first time Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester meet.
wearing sombrero
s thinking of how to get cheese
from the AJAX cheese factory across the Mexican-American border that is guarded by Sylvester the Cat
. Sylvester has eaten other mice who have tried. The leader comes up with a brilliant idea: retain the services of the aptly named "Speedy Gonzales". The group agrees, so the leader goes to the carnival
where Speedy resides.
Speedy Gonzales is at the carnival attraction "Shoot Speedy" in which people try to shoot Speedy with bullets from a gun in order to "win a beeg prize." The leader tells Speedy, in Spanish
, about the dire situation the mice are in, not having access to the cheese guarded by Sylvester. Speedy agrees.
Speedy runs through the wire field between the mice and Sylvester shaking his legs as he yells "¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!," and runs past Sylvester, gets into the cheese factory and brings back a round of cheese. Sylvester then throws a baseball at the AJAX cheese factory, but it turns out Speedy is inside the baseball, and therefore able to get even more cheese from Sylvester to the mice.
Sylvester then tries using landmines and mousetraps, to no avail. Finally, Sylvester gets fed up with Speedy's agility and evasive maneuvers and gets all the cheese from the factory and stacks them up (speaking his only line in the short). Sylvester uses a bomb to blow up all the cheese but the cheese boxes only explode, and much of the cheese lands where the mice are, causing Sylvester to cry and bang his head on an electric pole in annoyance. Speedy then says "I like this pussycat fellow; he's silly!" and the short ends.
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
animated short
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
directed by Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
from a story by Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster , was a writer, cartoonist and composer for the animation division of Warner Brothers and later with Hanna-Barbera....
. It is the second cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
to feature the title character
Speedy Gonzales
Speedy Gonzales is an animated caricature of a mouse in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast and speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent...
, but the first one to feature Speedy in his current design. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
This is the first time Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester meet.
Plot
The short opens on a small, white-shirted, worried group of miceMouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
wearing sombrero
Sombrero
Sombrero in English refers to a type of wide-brimmed hat originating in Mexico. In Spanish, however, it is the generic word for "hat", which originates from "sombra", meaning "shade"....
s thinking of how to get cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
from the AJAX cheese factory across the Mexican-American border that is guarded by Sylvester the Cat
Sylvester (Looney Tunes)
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
. Sylvester has eaten other mice who have tried. The leader comes up with a brilliant idea: retain the services of the aptly named "Speedy Gonzales". The group agrees, so the leader goes to the carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
where Speedy resides.
Speedy Gonzales is at the carnival attraction "Shoot Speedy" in which people try to shoot Speedy with bullets from a gun in order to "win a beeg prize." The leader tells Speedy, in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, about the dire situation the mice are in, not having access to the cheese guarded by Sylvester. Speedy agrees.
Speedy runs through the wire field between the mice and Sylvester shaking his legs as he yells "¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!," and runs past Sylvester, gets into the cheese factory and brings back a round of cheese. Sylvester then throws a baseball at the AJAX cheese factory, but it turns out Speedy is inside the baseball, and therefore able to get even more cheese from Sylvester to the mice.
Sylvester then tries using landmines and mousetraps, to no avail. Finally, Sylvester gets fed up with Speedy's agility and evasive maneuvers and gets all the cheese from the factory and stacks them up (speaking his only line in the short). Sylvester uses a bomb to blow up all the cheese but the cheese boxes only explode, and much of the cheese lands where the mice are, causing Sylvester to cry and bang his head on an electric pole in annoyance. Speedy then says "I like this pussycat fellow; he's silly!" and the short ends.