The Wild Chase

The Wild Chase
Lobby card.
Production company	DePatie–Freleng Enterprises
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	February 27, 1965
Run time	6:30
Starring	Mel Blanc Paul Julian
Producer(s)	David H. DePatie Friz Freleng
Music composed by	Bill Lava
Story by	John Dunn Chuck Jones
Animation	Norm McCabe Don Williams Manny Perez Warren Batchelder LaVerne Harding
Director(s)	Friz Freleng
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Title card
Second title card

The Wild Chase is the four hundred and ninety-ninth Merrie Melodies theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures on February 27, 1965. It was written by Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt, produced by Freleng and David H. DePatie, and directed by Freleng.

During a racing competition between the Road Runner and Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. teams up with Sylvester to catch their respective targets, with backfiring results.

Memorable quotes

Announcer: Buenos días, señores y señoras. It is time for the start of the big race between the fastest mouse of Sonora county, Speedy Gonzales, and for the pride of the great state of Texas, the Road Runner! At last, the big question of who is the fastest can be settled. And now, coming to the starting line, Speedy Gonzales and the Road Runner!

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Speedy Gonzales	Mel Blanc
Sylvester	N/A
Road Runner	Paul Julian
Wile E. Coyote	N/A

Locations

• Earth
  • Mexico
    • Sonora
  • United States
    • Texas

Organizations

• Acme

Objects

• Boulders and Wedge Poles
• Acme Bird Seed
• Acme Iron Pellets
• Cheese Slices
• Grenade-mounted, magnet-powered roller-skate
• Flat Boulder
• Detonator and Dynamite

Vehicles

• Acme Rocket Sled

Music

The music was scored by Bill Lava.

Crew credits

• Co-direction: Hawley Pratt
• Layout: Dick Ung
• Backgrounds: Tom O'Loughlin
• Film editor: Lee Gunther

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: February 27, 1965 in theatres

Behind the scenes

• This only Friz Freleng-directed cartoon to feature Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester together, and the only Coyote and Road Runner cartoon to be directed by Friz Freleng.
• This is one of a few cartoons where Speedy and/or Sylvester don't have much dialogue other than Speedy yelling as he runs. The other short that is similar is the 1966 Merrie Melodies cartoon, A Taste of Catnip
• This short reuses animations from the previous entries Zoom and Bored, Wild About Hurry and Hopalong Casualty.
• This is the last DePatie-Freleng cartoon to be directed by Friz Freleng, and to use his musical methods and techniques. For the rest of the cartoons in the era, he would be the producer until the 1967 Merrie Melodies cartoon, Daffy's Diner. He would later direct three televised shorts from 1979 to 1980, and three compilation films in 1981 and 1982.
• This is also the last cartoon to pair Speedy Gonzales with Sylvester, and even though A Taste of Catnip featured them, it did not count.

Everlasting Influence

• Sylvester and Wile E. Coyote would once again team up to catch Speedy and Road Runner in the Looney Tunes (DC Comics) series.

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • November 14, 2006: Warner Home Video releases Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4 on DVD.