Guided Muscle

I agree the story is pretty standard, and there are some repeated gags, not that that is a bad thing. But there are some new ideas too, and they are clever and well used. The animation is good with some nice backgrounds especially, the music while not taking a significantly-major role has enough energy to bring some dynamic expression into the cartoon and the sight gags are very amusing. The cartoon also moves along briskly and both Roadrunner and Coyote are entertaining, especially Coyote who I have always considered a better character due to his devious and cunning personality.

Overall, enjoyable enough Roadrunner vs. Coyote cartoon, even with some repeated gags and a standard story, Coyote himself and some clever sight gags more than make up for any misgivings. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Starting off with the Road Runner interrupting the crafty coyote's meal, the seventh pairing of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner has a few gags repeated from the earlier shorts which while old still made me chuckle, but it has a few new ones as well that made me laugh. And as always ANY short with Wile E. in it is so VERY much worth watching, as he's one of my absolute favorite cartoon personalities of all time. This animated short can be seen on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. This cartoon also has an optional music only track.

My Grade: B

Guided Muscle (1955)

*** (out of 4)

Entertaining episode in the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner series. This time out the coyote is cooking a tin can when he sees a better dinner, the road runner of course, passing. The coyote tries grease, large rocks, rubber bands and turning himself into an arrow but we know what's going to happen. Once again there original ideas are pretty much gone, although several of the old tricks are given a face lift here. The grease joke is something we've seen before but it still works here. Another very good scene is the one where Wile tries to turn himself into the arrow.

These are lean times, once again, for poor Wile E. Coyote (Eatibus almost anythingus) who cooks a tin case in desperation, but can't eat it. The Road Runner (Velocitus Delectibus) sprints by and knocks the poor coyote over. Once upright, Wile licks his chops and the chase is on, but it is a short one. Wilie stops, thinks things over and comes up with some plans.

Some of this is the standard fare: boulders, pouring something on the road, etc., but there were some different ploys in here that were very good. My favorites were the coyote making himself into a human arrow, shooting himself from a big bow, the fuse going up from the TNT back through the fishing reel and, of course the tar-and-feather bit. In that, Wile reads from the book "How To Tar and Feather A Road Runner." In small print, it says "tenth edition." You just know this isn't going to go by the book!

By the time Chuck Jones directed 'Guided Muscle', the seventh Road Runner cartoon, he had already perfected the formula. The previous two cartoons, 'Stop, Look and Hasten' and 'Ready, Set, Zoom' were both amongst the best cartoons in the entire Road Runner series, with the latter staking a convincing claim to being the best of the entire bunch. One might ask if Jones could justify continuing a series that threatened to get repetitive. Perhaps surprisingly, however, Jones's stringent rule that the characters must always remain in their natural desert habitat ensured that the series stayed fresh. While Friz Freleng's Sylvester and Tweety series quickly went stale thanks to the same routines being replayed in different settings, the constant location of the Road Runner cartoons pushed writer Michael Maltese to come up with more and more inventive jokes and Chuck Jones to direct them with more and more inventive flair. So 'Guided Muscle' keeps the series right at the top of its game with ample hilarious gags enhanced by glorious reaction shots from the Coyote, whose relationship with the audience was now established beyond doubt. As well as being stuffed with great gags, 'Guided Muscle' continues the run of more inventive opening and closing segments. There's a brilliant opening set-up in which the Coyote prepares a tin can for consumption as if it were the finest delicacy known to man but fails to fight off the reality of the situation when he finally sits down to eat it. There's also a delightful ending in which he finally reaches breaking point and effectively tenders his resignation!