Gonzales' Tamales

Gonzales' Tamales
Directed byFriz Freleng[1]
Written byWarren Foster
Produced byEdward Selzer
StarringMel Blanc
Music byMilt Franklyn
Carl Stalling
Animation byGerry Chiniquy
Arthur Davis
Virgil Ross[2]
Layouts byHawley Pratt
Backgrounds byBoris Gorelick
Color processTechnicolor
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • November 30, 1957 (1957-11-30)
Running time
6:20
LanguageEnglish

Gonzales' Tamales is a 1957 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated film directed by Friz Freleng.[3] The short was released on November 30, 1957, and stars Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester.[4]

Plot

The majority of the male mice in a Mexican village lament the fact that Speedy Gonzales has been getting in between them and the "pretty girls." One of the mice suggests that they get the "gringo pussycat" Sylvester to chase Speedy out of town. The mice forge a note from Speedy, stating that he will pull Sylvester's tail out by the roots, which Speedy happily does when confronted by the cat.

In trying to get Speedy, Sylvester first uses a shotgun and then a hand grenade (as Speedy sings La Cucaracha in Spanish, complete with the lyric about the cockroach not having any marijuana to smoke), with the usual disastrous results. Speedy, however, falls for the cat's final attempt: A wind-up female mouse doll. With Sylvester hot on his feet, Speedy grabs the wind-up toy and takes refuge in a box of red hot peppers—forcing the hungry pussycat to eat them one by one in order to find the resourceful rodent.

In between each ingestion of pepper, Sylvester runs to a nearby water cooler for relief. On his last trip to the cooler, he fails to notice that Speedy has substituted the water for tabasco sauce—which sends the cat 500 mi (800 km) high into the horizon.

References

  1. ^ Nericcio, William Anthony (2007). Tex[t]-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America. University of Texas Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-292-71457-1.
  2. ^ Beck, Jerry (1991). I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety. New York: Henry Holt and Co. p. 140. ISBN 0-8050-1644-9.
  3. ^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 303. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  4. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 137. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.