Guided Muscle

In my opinion, the Road Runner series was in it's prime from 1954 to 1956. The desert duo appeared in 5 cartoons during this time: "Stop! Look! and Hasten!", "Ready, Set, Zoom!", "Guided Muscle", "Gee Whiz-z-z-z", and "There They Go-Go-Go". "Guided Muscle" is right in the middle of these 5, and it truely is one of the best Road Runner shorts I've seen. It begins by showing the Coyote in poverty and starvation, cooking a tin can. This adds another layer to his personality-he's not just pursuing the Road Runner for a snack; he really does need this bird for sustinence. The backgrounds here are very good too. It's not a typical desert sand-and-rocks wasteland that we see in later cartoons. There's actually some non-cactus vegitation here that gives the cartoon a more organic feel. The music is as good as ever, mostly original Stalling with snippets of “Dance of the Comedians” sprinkled throughout. The gags are priceless, original, and unique to the Road Runner series. We see a spark move independently, traveling up a fishing line, across the Coyote’s body, and into a box of TNT right behind him. That alone is probably the best moment in this cartoon for the sheer audacity of it. Then there is the memorable Coyote-launching-himself-with-a-bow gag. This particular incarnation of the classic gag is probably the most successful for the Coyote, seeing as how the Coyote actually launches himself from the bow…but hits a cactus and falls off a cliff. There are two back-to-back gags which feature the same device: a wrecking ball. This is rarely done in Road Runner cartoons, and it’s always a nice touch to see the Coyote trying the same device in different ways. And then there is the unique and memorable “How to Tar and Feather a Road Runner” gag in which the Coyote tars and feathers himself. Overall, this is one of my favorite Road Runner cartoons. It’s everything that you’d expect from the desert duo and more. Hopefully more people will come to appreciate this cartoon as a result of this review.