Going! Going! Gosh!

Going! Going! Gosh! is a Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. It was released on August 23, 1952. The cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones, and animated by Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam and Ken Harris.

Plot

Introduction: The Road Runner burns some rubber on the road, while Wile E. Coyote jumps out in front of the speeding bird with a knife and fork. Just before the utensils are about to hit, the ludicrous Latin names are shown: Road Runner: Acceleratti Incredibilis and Coyote: Carnivorous Vulgaris. The cartoon restarts in slo-mo, and the coyote stabs through his legs, ends up missing the Road Runner by a hair, and twists himself into a snail. With an enraged expression, he unravels himself and bounds after the bird. As Coyote gains on him, the Road Runner gears into superspeed and leaves all the roads in a cloud of dust. Wile slows down, hangs his face downwards and plots his next scheme.

1. As the Road Runner speeds at 130 mph acrossing the mountain roads, the coyote fires a bow loaded with some dynamite attached to an arrow. However, it's just like that - he fires the bow, and the dynamite explodes on himself.

2. The fuming coyote loads himself onto a slingshot; however, the support breaks out of the ground and wedges him into a cactus.

3. Wile E. Coyote now tries covering the ground with quick-drying cement to stop the Road Runner dead. Unfortunately, the Road Runner cuts directly through it without being touched, and the Coyote is drenched and soon frozen before he can escape.

4. Hoping to avoid being hit with loose ends, Wile hides himself under a manhole with an armed hand grenade, but the Road Runner passes through the road fast enough to drop a boulder on top of the cover, which prevents the coyote from throwing the grenade out at the bird before it explodes. Dazed, Wile peeks out to inspect the cause, and the manhole cover, and then the boulder, land on his head.

5. Soon afterwards, Wile E. Coyote dresses as an attractive, blond hitch hiker holding a sign that says "Ole Virginy or Bust" in an attempt to lure the Road Runner, but the clever bird speeds right past him and uncovers the Coyote. The Road Runner returns with Wile E's wig, holding up a sign saying "I'VE ALREADY GOT A DATE".

6. Using deception, the Coyote paints a realistic picture of a bridge and places it at the dead-end of a high-level road as displayed by a sign that the Coyote turns around to make the facade convincing. Maybe a bit too convincing, though: the Road Runner runs through the trick picture as if it was a real road. As the Coyote looks on, puzzled, he fails to see a truck emerging through the road in the painting, which promptly runs him over. Frustrated, the Coyote starts after Road Runner but tears through the painting and falls into the chasm, leaving dust in the air in the word "OH NO!".

7. Looking to smash the Road Runner, Wile heaves a large boulder onto the winding mountain roads which the Road Runner is traveling. Eventually, the Road Runner and the boulder approach the same area, but the Road Runner slips just out of the way, while the boulder is pitched into the air, up a serac, and onto a new set of roads. The coyote is out peeking at the roads, hoping to see the Road Runner crushed, but instead he is about to suffer the same fate. The boulder is approaching from behind, and Wile E. sees it coming but cannot escape fast enough. This gag is set to Wagner's Rienzi Overture.

8. The Coyote, hoping for technology to triumph, uses various ACME devices put together (an anvil, a weather balloon, a street cleaner's bin, and a fan) to create a makeshift air balloon. Floating in the clouds, he sees the Road Runner and releases the anvil, causing the balloon to quickly ascend until it stops. At this point, the string keeping it blown up unfurls, sending it flying through the air until it runs out of air. Coyote falls through the ground (passing the deflated balloon and the anvil), followed by the anvil falling on his head and the Road Runner passing over him just to embarrass him even further.

9. Finally, at the end of the cartoon, the Coyote, listening out for the Road Runner's beeping, drops from a high log and lunges towards the bird with a javelin, only to realise that the beeping came from a nearby truck, which the Coyote dives straight into, and is thus whacked into the air and wound around the log. The camera cuts to the truck to show that the Road Runner is driving.

The End.

The title is a pun on "Going! Going! Gone!"

See also

• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1950–1959)