Stop! Look! And Hasten!

Chuck Jones's 'Stop, Look and Hasten' is one of the greatest installments in the whole Road Runner series. The fifth cartoon in the series, 'Stop, Look and Hasten' brings together all the lessons learned in the first four Road Runner shorts and uses them to create a perfect marriage between the ingredients that make these characters and their antics so popular. It combines the breathless pace of 'Going! Going! Gosh!', the wonderful reaction shots of 'Zipping Along' and the experimental extended chase scenes of 'Beep Beep' to hilarious effect. Even the oft-used gags are executed with such perfection that they breathe new life into the joke. Look to the falling bridge gag for proof. But 'Stop, Look and Hasten' isn't just a classic combination of elements from earlier cartoons. It brings to the Road Runner series a very valuable element; the extended set-up. Previous cartoons had just opened with the Coyote in pursuit of or awaiting the Road Runner. 'Stop, Look and Hasten' adds a slower paced opening in which we see the Coyote wandering slowly through the desert, attempting to eat anything from insects to tin cans. It's a great sequence which gives us a glimpse at the sad existence of the character outside of his pursuit of the Road Runner. These steady opening set-ups would go on to become an important part of later cartoons in the series. 'Stop, Look and Hasten' is simply a cut above most Road Runner cartoons. It has everything down perfectly. There's not a wasted second, a rarity in spot-gag cartoons such as this.

The fifth pairing of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner is still good and features many gags that work, including a tiger trap, a pop-up steel wall, a motorcycle, a unfateful encounter with a train (Stop in the name of humanity), and a box of Acme-brand leg-building vitamins. I love the little gag of the coyote eating a fly in the beginning as well. All these cartoons make me so very happy for some unknown reason. This animated short can be seen on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Greg Ford.

My Grade: A

Chuck Jones as director, and that means it will be at least entertaining. The Coyote, or Eatibus Anythingus, chases a fly because he is very hungry. When he wants to eat an empty can the Road Runner, or Hot-Roddicus Supersonicus, runs by. Of course the Coyote prefers a Road Runner over an empty can, so the chase can start once again. This time he uses a steel wall that has to pop up, a motorcycle, birdseed on a bridge, vitamins for the muscles in the legs and a Burmese tiger trap.

Most of the gags work very good. The one on the bridge with the birdseed is terrific, the timing and use of the pop-up steel wall is perfect and the gag that involves the Burmese tiger trap, and the freeze frame directly after that (you will recognize the moment) are hilarious. A very good cartoon.

For some reason, Wile E. Coyote - aka Eatibus anythingus) never figures out that he just can't catch Road Runner - aka Hot rodicus supersonicus). In "Stop! Look! and Hasten!", he uses a Burmese tiger trap (guess what he catches!), a spring-up metal wall, and muscle-building pills, but absolutely nothing does what he wants. Is this cartoon mostly stuff that we've seen before? Maybe so, but how can you not like seeing him get hung by his own petard? All in all, the combination of director Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese, plus Mel Blanc as Road Runner, makes for another classic.

How many cartoons would think to mention anything relating to Burma (or is it called Myanmar)?

Wile E. Coyote (Eatibus Anythingus) has a bad reaction after eating some flying insect but he's so hungry he'll eat anything, even an empty tin can on the road. The road runner (Hot- roddicus Supersonicus) races by and runs over the poor, starving coyote. Wile gives chase, showing amazing speed, but who can catch the ultra-fast road runner? So, it's back to Wile to try to use his brains, once again, and figure a way to get this delicious-looking bird-meal.

Outside of some of the normal unsuccessful ploys such as falling boulders and TNT, there are several funny original thoughts, such as "The Burmese Tiger Trap," the automated steel- plated shield and the leg-muscles vitamins!

This was fun, and part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Two DVD.