This is probably one of the best Speedy Gonzales cartoons. While I strongly agree with another reviewer who said they "hated Speedy Gonzales" and he was "overrated", I must admit this was a pretty good cartoon. It was a lot of fun watching Sylvester get tortured throughout the film by Speedy as he ran back and forth grabbing goodies for his starving mouse friends. I think, though, that apart from a few early Speedy cartoons, they were definitely a few notches below the other Loony Toons cartoons. In fact, in the 1960s, they inexplicably paired Speedy with Daffy Duck to produce what were probably the worst Warner cartoons since the mid-1930s. Watch and enjoy this film--just be forewarned about other Speedy pictures.
17 Reviews
Speedy's Oscar-and how it won I'll never know!
llltdesq11 July 2001
This cartoon won the Oscar in the same year that "Legend of Rockabye Point" and "Good Will To Men" were eligible, which atonises me no end! While it's a good cartoon, either of those two run rings around this enjoyable, but unexceptional piece of work. I have no idea why it happened, but it is one of the more surprising flubs in the Animated Short category's history. *sigh* Oh, well. A pleasing and enjoyable cartoon anyway and well worth watching.
For those who've been wondering who moved our cheese . . .
oscaralbert15 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
. . . there was no need to wait until the 2016 U.S. Presidential Primaries to find out. Long before any American had even heard of Trump or Cruz, Warner Bros. was predicting trouble along the Southern U.S. Border as early as the animated short SPEEDY GONZALEZ from the Mid-1950s. Warner uses rodents to represent Mexican citizens eager to steal the fruits of American Labor and Industry. These lazy creatures are portrayed as not lifting a finger to produce their own food, harboring the sole interest of illegally crossing our border to steal our stuff. Their entire survival is dependent upon filching food from the American Working Class. Warner uses Sylvester Cat to symbolize the heroic American Border Guards risking Injury & Death to stand as a Last Line of Defense against the Economic Terrorists to the South. About 1:38 into this story, Sylvester adds "Manuel's" sombrero to those of at least 7 other Mexicans (and more likely 50 or 100) that this extraordinary border nemesis has dispatched so far. Then a new racing robber literally tears Sylvester a new one. Warner then suggests that the only way to protect our cheese (or the Wealth of America) from these rapacious Mini-Rats to the South is to create a No Man's Land with a full stock of land mines and other defenses. But Milhouse Nixon turned a blind eye toward SPEEDY GONZALEZ, and now an expensive wall must be built.
the continuing immigration debate
lee_eisenberg15 January 2007
An apparent criticism of the Speedy Gonzales cartoons is that they stereotype Mexicans as sombrero-wearing wackos. I guess that this one - actually called "Speedy Gonzales" - basically does that, but it's still a really funny cartoon, as the Fastest Mouse in Mexico gets hired to snatch cheese out of a factory (presumably across the US-Mexico border) guarded by Sylvester.
If in fact it's the US-Mexico border, then the cartoon raises the immigration debate. We see the people - or mice - in our southern neighbor needing to get into our country for better opportunities (as far as I'm concerned, there's no such thing as an illegal immigrant). Then again, maybe I'm reading way too far into the cartoon; it was probably intended as nothing more than silly entertainment. If so, then it succeeds. Worth seeing.
He's the friend of everybody's sister. Speedy certainly seems like he could be a playboy.
If in fact it's the US-Mexico border, then the cartoon raises the immigration debate. We see the people - or mice - in our southern neighbor needing to get into our country for better opportunities (as far as I'm concerned, there's no such thing as an illegal immigrant). Then again, maybe I'm reading way too far into the cartoon; it was probably intended as nothing more than silly entertainment. If so, then it succeeds. Worth seeing.
He's the friend of everybody's sister. Speedy certainly seems like he could be a playboy.
Speedy is a friend of evreebodiees seeester
movieman_kev2 November 2005
The native mice of Mexico want some American cheese, but Sylvester the cat is guarding the border. After a few disastrous attempts to get at it. They send for Speedy Gonzales to get pass this gringo pussycat. The second appearance of Speedy is a classic and cemented yet another great character in the already impressive array of Looney stars. Don't listen to the mind-stealing PC police, Speedy is funny. This Oscar-winning animated short can be found on disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 and features an optional music only track as well as a commentary by Jerry Beck.
My Grade: A
My Grade: A
Speedy to the rescue
Horst_In_Translation12 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This is a 7-minute animated short film that won the Academy Award 60 years ago. It was the first (or second) that featured Speedy Gonzalez, the fastest mouse in all Mexico. His pals really need him as a bloodlusty cat is guarding the local cheese factory and it has taken many mice from them already. Only their hats still exist. I thought this was a good watch with a couple funny moments, for example when all the mice sit in an egg carton which looks like a stand at a stadium and they applaud him. This cartoon also has a touch of Roadrunner vs. Coyote to it, mainly because of Speedy's velocity, but also because of all the technical equipment Sylvester uses to catch him and it backfires all the time, sometimes even in the truest sense of the word. Oh yeah and all that cheese looked really delicious too at the end. Good short film. Recommended and if you enjoy it take a look at the many more Speedy cartoons out there from the years after this one.
Speedy Is A Fast Worker!
ccthemovieman-17 February 2007
What a timely cartoon....50 years later....although illegal immigration isn't the issue here - it's stealing and eating some cheese! Here we see a bunch of little mice (in sombreros) behind barbed wire at the border in Mexico. Just 50 yards away on the American side is the Ajax Cheese Company....and those mice want that cheese. Guarding the border is the hapless Sylvester the Cat.
They draw straws to see who is going to race over give it a shot. Timid "Manuel" draws the short straw, but he lasts only seconds. The mice throw away is sombrero in a pile, signifying he's the latest casualty in the unsuccessful venture.
Finally, one of the mice suggests they go get "Speedy Gonzales." Most of the others haven't heard of him but those who have all describe him as "the fastest mouse in Mexico." One guy says, "I can contact Speedy because he's a friend of my sister." A wise-guy mouse remarks, "He's a friend of EVERYBODY's sister!! (You can read into that, what you want!)
Speedy then struts his stuff, and Sylvester tries to stop him. The racing rodent goes back and forth a number of times and the cat tries a different method to stop him each time. You can guess the result.
A steady diet of Speedy yelling "arriba! arriba!" all the time might grow tedious, but seeing him once in awhile is a treat.
They draw straws to see who is going to race over give it a shot. Timid "Manuel" draws the short straw, but he lasts only seconds. The mice throw away is sombrero in a pile, signifying he's the latest casualty in the unsuccessful venture.
Finally, one of the mice suggests they go get "Speedy Gonzales." Most of the others haven't heard of him but those who have all describe him as "the fastest mouse in Mexico." One guy says, "I can contact Speedy because he's a friend of my sister." A wise-guy mouse remarks, "He's a friend of EVERYBODY's sister!! (You can read into that, what you want!)
Speedy then struts his stuff, and Sylvester tries to stop him. The racing rodent goes back and forth a number of times and the cat tries a different method to stop him each time. You can guess the result.
A steady diet of Speedy yelling "arriba! arriba!" all the time might grow tedious, but seeing him once in awhile is a treat.
In the grand sweepstakes for "The Most Annoying . . . "
pixrox124 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
" . . . Cartoon Character in Cinema History," Scrooge Mac Duck, Minnie Mouse, Daffy Duck, Olive Oil, Sweet Pea, Goofy, Pea-Pea the Skunk, Roadrunner, Lois Lane, Tweet-tee Bird, Mickey Mouse, Foghorn Leg-horn, Henry Hawk, all the chipmunks and SPEEDY GONZALES always have seemed to be leading the pack. No one wants rodents running around in their kitchens, let alone having the run of America's food factories. Apparently U. S. movie theaters were enjoying TOO MUCH business in the 1950's, and needed to adopt desperate measures to reduce their clientele. What better way to suppress repeat visits to the Palaces of the Big Screens than to make viewers toss their cookies (or milk duds and pop corn) with stomach-curdling tripe such as SPEEDY GONZALES?
Great Cartoon
StreepFan1261 November 2002
I love this cartoon!!! In it, Sylvester tries to stop Speedy from reaching the Acme cheese factory. He attempts to use bombs and dynamite, not to mention the usual mouse traps. I'm not going to say if it works or not. I'm sure that you can guess!
One of those Speedy cartoons actually worth watching!
TheLittleSongbird27 May 2010
Don't take my title the wrong way, I don't hate Speedy Gonzales(the fastest mouse in all Mexico, as we now know him today), far from it, but his cartoons have been hit and miss. Some have been surprisingly good and funny, but others suffer from lacklustre, rushed animation and from being predictable. Speedy Gonzales is actually one of the better Speedy cartoons, actually worth watching. The animation is not too bad here, not absolutely brilliant but it is one of the better-looking Speedy cartoons. The music is nice too, as are the visual gags and dialogue. The story is simple but decently-structured, Speedy is funny and tolerable and Sylvester is a worthy foil(better at it than Daffy I'd say). These characters are all brought to life by the unique vocal talents of Mel Blanc, who does brilliantly as always. Overall, definitely worth seeing. 9/10 Bethany Cox
I HATE Speedy Gonzales
CuriosityKilledShawn3 December 2004
Man, I hope I'm in the majority here. But I gotta be honest, this mouse is so highly, extremely irritating. Does he ever shut up? Not only that but the whole character is kind of xenophobic and un-PC. Now I am certainly NOT one for being PC but I still find Speedy kinda offensive.
In this cartoon he asked by his Mexican mouse pals to cross the border into America in bring them back cheese as they are all starving. Is there subtext here or am I reading too much into it?
Sylvester is there to stop him. Or at least try. The usual Cat and Mouse hijinks follow. It's not really funny and I'm amazed it actually got an Academy Award.
In this cartoon he asked by his Mexican mouse pals to cross the border into America in bring them back cheese as they are all starving. Is there subtext here or am I reading too much into it?
Sylvester is there to stop him. Or at least try. The usual Cat and Mouse hijinks follow. It's not really funny and I'm amazed it actually got an Academy Award.
Speedy's 2nd appearance
ja_kitty_7127 October 2007
Speedy Gonzales is another one of my favorite Looney Tunes characters along with Bugs Bunny, Pepe le Pew, Tweety and the lesser-known Hubie & Bertie. This award-winning short is one of my favorites out of Speedy's filmography. This short marks as Speedy's second screen appearance, being that his first appearance was in a 1953 Bob McKimson cartoon called "Cat-Tails for Two". But of course, he didn't look the way we know him now.
I love seeing Sylvester on all fours when guarding the cheese factory, it kind of cracks me up. I also love the pseudo-Spanish conversation between Speedy and the mouse villager.
I love seeing Sylvester on all fours when guarding the cheese factory, it kind of cracks me up. I also love the pseudo-Spanish conversation between Speedy and the mouse villager.
Arriba! Arriba!
Tweekums19 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This is a great little cartoon featuring one of my childhood favourites; Speedy Gonzales, the fastest mouse in all of Mexico.
The cartoon opens outside the Ajax cheese company warehouse, a group of Mexican mice are at the fence drawing lots to see which of them will run in and try to get some cheese without being caught by Sylvester the cat. Manuel draws the short straw and hand his sombrero to another mouse before rushing in. Judging by the reaction of the mice he doesn't survive and his sombrero is thrown onto a pile of hats. One on the mice says his sister is a friend of Speedy Gonzales to which another mouse retorts that everybody's sister knows speedy. The mouse goes off and returns with Speedy. Speedy has much better luck, nothing Sylvester does to stop him succeeds, not nets, not traps nor land mines... eventually he plans to lure Speedy in with a huge pile of cheese which he has packed with TNT, he detonates it too soon and the cheese rains down on the grateful mice.
I enjoyed everything about this cartoon; Speedy and his friends' dodgy Mexican accents, the slightly racy joke about him being friends with everybody's sisters and Sylvester's increasingly desperate attempts to stop him... a must for all fans of Warner Brother's cartoons.
The cartoon opens outside the Ajax cheese company warehouse, a group of Mexican mice are at the fence drawing lots to see which of them will run in and try to get some cheese without being caught by Sylvester the cat. Manuel draws the short straw and hand his sombrero to another mouse before rushing in. Judging by the reaction of the mice he doesn't survive and his sombrero is thrown onto a pile of hats. One on the mice says his sister is a friend of Speedy Gonzales to which another mouse retorts that everybody's sister knows speedy. The mouse goes off and returns with Speedy. Speedy has much better luck, nothing Sylvester does to stop him succeeds, not nets, not traps nor land mines... eventually he plans to lure Speedy in with a huge pile of cheese which he has packed with TNT, he detonates it too soon and the cheese rains down on the grateful mice.
I enjoyed everything about this cartoon; Speedy and his friends' dodgy Mexican accents, the slightly racy joke about him being friends with everybody's sisters and Sylvester's increasingly desperate attempts to stop him... a must for all fans of Warner Brother's cartoons.
Speedy Gonzales gave us the "fastest mouse in all Mexico" as we know him today
tavm8 January 2008
Despite the title, this is Speedy Gonzales' SECOND appearance, after Robert McKimson's Cat-Tails for Two. This is, however, his first time in the costume and design we know him from. In this short, after another mouse gets done for in trying to get cheese past the guard-Sylvester, Speedy accepts the challenge. The red-nosed cat is ready for the "fastest mouse in all Mexico" but gets defeated at every turn. This Oscar-winning cartoon from Friz Freleng gives us another classic Warner Bros. character that lasts for decades despite some PC controversy that almost got Speedy gone for good. Turns out many Hispanics consider Mr. Gonzales a hero for his exploits and don't find anything offensive about him. I certainly don't and I never understood why anyone would either. Anyway, while I don't consider this a great cartoon, it's certainly another highly enjoyable outing from Mr. Freleng.
A thoroughly undeserving star is born
phantom_tollbooth18 August 2008
Friz Freleng's 'Speedy Gonzalez' was the second cartoon to feature the title character after Robert McKimson's 'Cat-tails for Two'. In that cartoon, Speedy has been an ugly little creature with a big gold tooth but by his second appearance the famous design had already been adopted. Despite looking significantly more handsome, Speedy never developed into much of a character. A big hat, tremendous speed and a bad Mexican accent do not a classic character make and that's pretty much all Speedy ever had going for him. Nevertheless, the cocky little mouse proved enormously popular and went on to star in many shorts including some truly abysmal films from the studio's latter days. While these early Speedy shorts are better than those later atrocities in which he was frequently (rather oddly) paired up with Daffy Duck, they still leave much to be desired, relying on predictable gags usually based around a similar chase formula. In this self-titled episode, Speedy is recruited by some other mice to steal cheese for them from the local factory which happens to be guarded by Sylvester the cat. Although he brings the extra weight of a star turn to the cartoon, Sylvester's role here could just as easily been filled by any other generic cartoon cat. His personality is sapped by his being forced into the predictable. undemanding role of pursuer. This was always a problem in the Tweety cartoons too but Speedy makes an even duller adversary thanks to his detestable cockiness and the blatant impossibility of his capture. Poor old Sylvester would be forced to appear alongside Speedy for many years to come. Despite it following a pretty basic formula and featuring minimal laughs, 'Speedy Gonzalez' won an Oscar and a thoroughly undeserving star was born.
"Now just TRY and get all the cheese!"
slymusic10 June 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Directed by the supreme Friz Freleng, "Speedy Gonzales" is a cartoon starring - guess who - the celebrated fastest mouse in all Mexico! Co-starring is Sylvester, one of the funniest felines in cartoon history, who encounters plenty of difficulty in trying to prevent Speedy from stealing all the cheese from the Ajax Cheese Company to feed all of his "compadres".
Just a few highlights: In trying to net Speedy, Sylvester gets dragged over a saguaro cactus and through a narrow pipe! He also gets caught in his own mousetraps and steps on one of his own land mines.
"Speedy Gonzales" is a clever cartoon with plenty of bravado for Speedy and plenty of trouble for Sylvester. I suspect that the Spanish that is spoken at the beginning of this cartoon is mostly fabricated, which only adds to the humor. I also like Carl Stalling's wonderful music score, particularly the charming melody at the very beginning when several starving mice gaze at the cheese factory from behind a wire fence, and the snare drum cadence shortly afterward as Sylvester marches in front of the fence.
Just a few highlights: In trying to net Speedy, Sylvester gets dragged over a saguaro cactus and through a narrow pipe! He also gets caught in his own mousetraps and steps on one of his own land mines.
"Speedy Gonzales" is a clever cartoon with plenty of bravado for Speedy and plenty of trouble for Sylvester. I suspect that the Spanish that is spoken at the beginning of this cartoon is mostly fabricated, which only adds to the humor. I also like Carl Stalling's wonderful music score, particularly the charming melody at the very beginning when several starving mice gaze at the cheese factory from behind a wire fence, and the snare drum cadence shortly afterward as Sylvester marches in front of the fence.
Fair Short
Michael_Elliott19 April 2009
Speedy Gonzales (1955)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
A group of Mexican mice are having trouble breaking into a cheese factory because none of them are faster than the guard, Sylvester the cat. With nothing left to do they hire Speedy Gonzales to steal some of the cheese. I might take a beating for this but I've never been a fan of Speedy and I might go even further as to call him my least favorite of all the popular animated stars no matter what studio they're from. I've always found him to be all one-joke but there are a couple good moments here. Having Sylvester in the mix brings a few laughs as he will stop at nothing to try and catch Speedy but of course we know he's going to fail. The stereotypes of Mexicans has been discussed to death so I'll just jump over that.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
A group of Mexican mice are having trouble breaking into a cheese factory because none of them are faster than the guard, Sylvester the cat. With nothing left to do they hire Speedy Gonzales to steal some of the cheese. I might take a beating for this but I've never been a fan of Speedy and I might go even further as to call him my least favorite of all the popular animated stars no matter what studio they're from. I've always found him to be all one-joke but there are a couple good moments here. Having Sylvester in the mix brings a few laughs as he will stop at nothing to try and catch Speedy but of course we know he's going to fail. The stereotypes of Mexicans has been discussed to death so I'll just jump over that.
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