Whoa, Be-Gone!

Whoa, Be-Gone! (1958)

*** (out of 4)

Twelfth film for Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner turns out to be one of their best. This time out the hungry coyote uses all sorts of tricks including bombs, large rocks, a nailed barrel with dynamite and perhaps best of all, a grow your own tornado kit. This is an extremely fast-paced entry in the series and I might even call it the best as it does a very good job at matching the freshness of the first film. We've seen a few of the jokes before but even so they come off very fresh here. The best joke is a reworked one of something we saw earlier with the "dehidrated boulder" routine. This time out it's a tornado that you add water to and all heck will break loose, which naturally happens but this time it's just more pain for poor old Wile E..

This is another fine cartoon in the Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote series. In this one the Coyote tries to catch the bird with an elastic string between two rocks, a big rocket, seeds that can create tornadoes, a barrel with dynamite and something you normally use in a circus. Of course every attempt ends with hurting himself instead of catching or killing the Road Runner.

This is a terrific cartoon. It is directed by Chuck Jones and that is enough to make a cartoon work. His timing is perfect with every gag. The sequence with the barrel and dynamite is the best example, especially the Coyote's eyes in the final moments are a nice detail. The gag with the thing normally used in the circus is perfect as well. Another fine cartoon.

Despite some duds in the later years (mid to late 60s), when the Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote series was at its best it was brilliant, even with the more-of-the-same stories they're mostly well-made, are very funny (uproariously so in the case of the best gags) and Coyote is one of Chuck Jones' best ever creations.

While not one of the best of the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote series, Whoa Be-Gone! is still a great cartoon and very close to being a classic. The animation is very good, the colours are beautiful and rich, the gags and the reaction shots look great still and both characters look good, especially Coyote. The scenery and backgrounds are handsomely rendered too and there are very clever overhead shots that are both well-animated and priceless in humour. As always, Whoa, Be-Gone ! is wonderfully scored by Milt Franklyn as always, orchestration is sumptuously lush, rhythmically it's lively but never too busy, use of instruments is clever and appropriate and it's not just a good fit but adds a good deal to what's going on too.

Apart from ending ever so slightly abruptly, the sole fault of the cartoon, Whoa, Be-Gone! Is a very funny and at its best hilarious cartoon. The gags are not the most original, for this particular series they're pretty standard really, but with the imaginative they feel fresh. The tornado and especially barrel of dynamite gags are particularly strong. The story is formulaic, but very energetically paced and never feels dull or overly-predictable. The two characters fare wonderfully and work against each other just as well. Roadrunner is one-dimensional but very amusing (thankfully not annoying as one might fear), but Coyote has always been the funnier and more interesting of the two and he's on top form here, one of those characters where even just a facial expression is enough to split the sides laughing and he is easy to empathise for even for one as cunning as he is.

To conclude, a great cartoon that will be a treat for Roadrunner and Coyote fans. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Some people ask themselves where Wile E. Coyote gets the money to buy all those Acme products. Probably by not spending any money on food. He starts off "Whoa Be Gone" well prepared on top of a rocket with cutlery in hand. Too bad he did not take the nearby tunnel into account. Or the fact that the rocket was a heat seeking one. This installment features more inventive ideas than usual, and one of the funniest details in any Road Runner cartoon: every time Wile E. falls of a cliff, he lands in exactly the same spot, but in a different position, leaving a mark on the ground.

Credit is due to Wile E. for always being willing to learn new skills, such as upside down tightrope walking. Nor is he afraid to try out new products, like a box of one thousand Do-It-Yourself Tornado's (Acme water gun to make them grow sold separately). You would thing he should know better. Especially with an abandoned army mine field nearby....

8 out of 10

This wastes no time showing Wile E. Coyote (famishius vularis ingenious) chasing The Road Runner (birdius high-ballius). It begins in the opening credits, and only momentarily slows down after 100 seconds when the coyote comes up with this first plan.

Wile's idea - lets's catapult myself by throwing a boulder on the other end of this teeter- totter - winds up with our famished friend falling a thousand feet almost into the same imprint he left in the ground minutes earlier.

Before he falls a third time - he has a fatalistic approach by now -he puts a trampoline over that same spot.

I liked the names of the two Acme products he purchased for this one: the "Giant Rubberband For Tripping Road-Runners" kit and the "One Do-It-Yourself Tornado Kit" along with the gags of him getting out of a dynamite-rigged one nail at a time and the headgear for his ill-fated high-wire act.

It's the same old story but with some inventive ideas, new and funny schemes by the pathetic but never-say-die Wile.