Direction: Chuck Jones. Introduction: The title card is shown as a billboard behind which Wile E. Coyote is hiding, ready to chase the Road Runner. He starts the chase, until he runs into a large truck. Wile E. runs the other way, and the truck shows the credit. The chase ends in a win for the truck, and the Coyote emerges battered. A box with director Chuck Jones' credit then squashes him. The Coyote throws the box away, and the shot freezes: COYOTE: Eatius Birdius. He resumes the chase, which freezes to show the Road Runner: Delicius-Delicius. The chase continues down the road until the Road Runner makes a U-turn. The Coyote turns around, then stops. The Road Runner completes the circuit around, meanwhile, and beeps as the Coyote turns around, causing him to leap back. The Road Runner starts off down the road and loosens it from its hinge briefly. Wile E. points worriedly and displays an "EGAD" sign, then an "!!" sign. He drops them and thinks of his new plan.
Wile E. hides in a manhole, and as the Road Runner passes over him, he pops out and fires a rifle. The bullet and the Road Runner are shown in slow time, with the bullet slowly gaining until the Road Runner gears into super speed. The bullet then brakes in puzzlement and falls to the ground. Wile E. picks it up, and then it detonates. Behind another rock face (in completely different desert scenery!), Wile E. paces until he comes up with a new plan.
Wile E. leaps out into the road with "1 sheet ACME Triple Strength BATTLESHIP STEEL ARMOR PLATE" in front of him; even this cannot stop the Road Runner from barreling through it. The Coyote stares in puzzlement at the resulting hole, which shows only the scenery behind him where parts of his body should logically be, then walks off the road in obvious distress at the massive trauma he evidently suffered.
While the Road Runner is feasting on bird seed and grubs, the Coyote puts a lighted stick of dynamite on the end of a fishing line and casts it out. It lands next to the Road Runner, but then bounces and rolls underneath a large boulder, which causes the boulder to fly and ultimately drop on the Coyote.
Wile E. then puts on a ACME Batman outfit and dives off a cliff. He finally gains traction just before falling onto some spikey rocks, and then flies in circles through the air. He continues to fly in a straight line, oblivious, until he smashes into a huge mountainside. The wings stick to the rock and the Coyote is left grappling in the air until he slams into the spikey rocks below.
The Coyote perches himself upon a high branch with an anvil attached to the end of an ACME rubber band. However, he cannot hold on long enough; his feet chafe on the branch, and he is slung directly into the ground with the anvil. Then, the band reactivates and lobs him directly up into the branch a second time.
Now, Wile E. attaches a dynamite stick to the end of a telescoping device in order to annihilate the Road Runner from afar. However, instead of launching the stick towards the Road Runner, the device knocks him backwards into a rock face. The dynamite is then pulled into the hole and detonates on the Coyote again.
Wile E. crafts a large "STOP! BRIDGE OUT!" sign and then paints a landscape of a bridge being broken on a canvas. The Road Runner blasts through the corner of the canvas and continues through the road, while the Coyote emerges from his hiding place behind the sign, and suffers the effects of the painted landscape when he tries to run through it. This is a reversal of a usual gag, where the Road Runner can usually "jump into the painting", while Wile E. cannot.
The Coyote then mines a bridge with TNT, and expectantly waits behind the detonator. Unfortunately, the detonator fails to activate promptly. Wile E. steps on, pulls, and slams the switch onto the ground before he runs onto the bridge to continue the chase. However, now the controller activates and blows up the bridge with the Coyote still on it.
The Coyote crafts a makeshift bicycle from handle bars and a jet motor, which launches without its owner. Wile E. grabs at the end of it and manages to grope his way onto the bike. He keeps pace with the Road Runner around a mountain slope until the Road Runner U-turns before falling off a cliff, whereas the Coyote flies off it. Still in midair, Wile E. turns the power off and looks back as the bike stops directly before reaching safety. The Road Runner is on this perch, and beeps to get his opponent's attention. Wile E. is obviously angry, but when the Road Runner points downwards, everything is silenced when Wile E. realizes he is about to suffer gravity once again. He loses his grip on the bike and plummets toward the earth. The embarrassed Coyote holds up a sign that says "How about ending this cartoon before I hit?" His wish is granted; as the iris begins to close, Wile E. holds up a second sign that says "THANK YOU", and the cartoon fully ends.
The scene where Wile E. Coyote fires a rifle at the Roadrunner, but the bullet stops and falls when The Roadrunner outruns it and Wile E. picks the bullet up (which blows up in his face) was cut entirely.
The scene with Wile trying to blow up the Roadrunner with a stick of dynamite on a spring was edited to remove the last part of the scene where after Wile E. backs himself into a hole in the canyon wall, the dynamite stick recoils with him, causing an explosion.
Notes[]
The title card's sign is noted as being owned by "Selzer Sign Service", a reference to then-studio producer Eddie Selzer.
Availability[]
VHS - Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote: The Classic Chase
The Looney Tunes Video Show - Volume 17
Classic Collection (WHSmith Exclusive Video)
VHS - Stars of Space Jam: Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote
VHS - Stark Raving Looneys
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 5)
DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2, Disc Two
Road Runner Vs. Wile E. Coyote: If At First You Don't Succeed...
