| Mexicali Shmoes | |
|---|---|
| Looney Tunes (Speedy Gonzales) series | |
Title card |
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| Directed by | Friz Freleng |
| Produced by | Edward Selzer (uncredited) |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc Tom Holland (uncredited) |
| Music by | Milt Franklyn |
| Animation by | Virgil Ross Gerry Chiniquy Arthur Davis |
| Layouts by | Hawley Pratt |
| Backgrounds by | Tom O'Loughlin |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | July 4, 1959 |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 6 minutes |
| Language | English |
Mexicali Shmoes is a 1959 Looney Tunes cartoon short directed by Friz Freleng. Voice actors are Mel Blanc as the voices of cats Jose and Manuel and Speedy Gonzales plus an uncredited Tom Holland as the voice of Slowpoke Rodriguez.
The Academy Award-nominated cartoon has two singing cats, Jose and Manuel, chasing Speedy Gonzales in Mexico. This cartoon introduces Slowpoke Rodriguez, Speedy's cousin. Slowpoke would appear in only one other classic Looney Tunes short, 1962's Mexican Boarders.
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Two sombrero-wearing cats, Jose and Manuel, are singing while relaxing on the "Avenida de Gatos" when they are taunted by Speedy Gonzales. After Manuel fails to catch Speedy, Jose informs Manuel that Speedy is "the fastest mouse in all Mexico" and that they will have to use their brains, not their feet, to catch him. The pair set off for Speedy's home in Guadalajara where they try (and fail) to capture him. During their struggles, Manuel gets bonked on the head by Jose with a guitar, Jose hooks Speedy with a fishing line and gets towed to Los Angeles, Manuel gets blown up by dynamite, and both cats get blown up in a minefield they constructed. Jose and Manuel are sitting on top of a wall after failing to outsmart Speedy and catch him. Manuel laments they should have gone after Speedy's cousin, Slowpoke Rodriguez, the "slowest mouse in all Mexico". Jose is convinced to go after him and runs off. Manuel desperately tries to catch up to him and warn about Slowpoke. No sooner than Jose arrives at the mouse house and catches him, Slowpoke shoots him. Manuel tells Jose exactly what he was trying to warn him about Slowpoke: "He packs a gun."
On Cartoon Network, the end gag where Jose captures Slowpoke Rodriguez was edited to remove the part where Slowpoke shoots Jose in the face with a gun just as Manuel tries to warn him that Slowpoke Rodriguez keeps a gun on him. Several Speedy Gonzales shorts were edited by the network to avoid offending modern sensibilities.[1] The unedited cartoon was released on DVD in November 2006 on the third disc of Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume Four.[2]
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