As with most other Looney Tunes shorts with the Road Runner, there is no dialogue in this one (especially that I could recite verbatim, like "Daffy Duck Hunt," "Napoleon Bunny-Part," or "Foxy By Proxy," for example).
However, this particular Looney Tune is unique to me in that I remember about 95% of its musical score, and that (as was the case with "Easy Peckin's") whenever I saw this short and heard the music again, I would be slapping my knees to the music's rhythm, much to the chagrin of the rest of my family, who got extremely p.o.'d.
I especially found myself slapping my knees to the rhythm of: (1) the fast music over the opening credits; (2) the sequence where the Coyote gets vertigo while hanging from a protruding branch from a cliff (accented by trombones); (3) the scene where the Coyote rhythmically pounds the "detour" sign into the ground; (4) the clarinet cascade heard after the Coyote corners the Road Runner and ties on a bib; (5) the lead-in to the final scenes where the Coyote is hammered into a raging current by a large branch hanging over the river; and (6) the final screeches heard when the Coyote hits the corners of the water pipe he's traveling through before opening the faucet to let himself out. (As I'm typing this, I can still hear the squeaks of the bucket the Coyote hides in, the twang of the large spring he gets caught in, and the rhythmic taps of that branch hammering the Coyote into the raging river!)
There are also three funny observations I have regarding "Fastest With the Mostest:" (1) as the knife and fork slice downward through the sky before the fork pierces the Coyote's tail and sends him skyward, the way the knife is falling made me think of the old Screen Gems "S from Hell" logo as the S is being formed from the top half of the screen; (2) this particular Looney Tune must have been a favorite of the program director at WOOD-TV (a.k.a. WOTV), Channel 8, in Grand Rapids, Michigan (which we received when I lived in Lansing, Michigan in the 70's); not only did Channel 8 air this one during their weekday airings of the Looney Tunes, but they also used it as a short subject frequently whenever a movie ended ahead of time (on one occasion, WOOD-TV ran the Bugs Bunny short "Hare Splitter" before one of those low-budget Sun Classic Pictures travelogues - "Alaskan Safari," to be exact - and followed said feature with "Fastest With the Mostest" to recreate the feel of a Sunday afternoon matinée at a theater); and (3) I especially remember on another occasion my dad and younger sister were watching this with me and I began slapping my knees; my dad started roaring at me and ordered me to stop. Even though I was 12 at that time, I should have told him, "All right, I'll make a deal with you. You stop subjecting me to that hillbilly music, and I'll stop slapping my knees!" (My father subjected us to him playing hillbilly songs on his electric guitar practically day in and day out; how I wanted to do like those punk rockers did and smash his guitar into pieces or like John Goodman did to Tiny Tim's ukelele at the end of an episode of "Roseanne," but that's another story. Rock and pop music rule!)
In any event, for its humor, rhythmic musical score, and funny pre-teen memories it holds, "Fastest With the Mostest" gets an 8. But, it ranks 6th in my Top 10 all-time favorite Looney Tunes; "Daffy Duck Hunt" is STILL #1 in my book.
Warner Home Video, will you ever put "Fastest With the Mostest" on a Looney Tunes DVD compilation soon? I sure hope so!
However, this particular Looney Tune is unique to me in that I remember about 95% of its musical score, and that (as was the case with "Easy Peckin's") whenever I saw this short and heard the music again, I would be slapping my knees to the music's rhythm, much to the chagrin of the rest of my family, who got extremely p.o.'d.
I especially found myself slapping my knees to the rhythm of: (1) the fast music over the opening credits; (2) the sequence where the Coyote gets vertigo while hanging from a protruding branch from a cliff (accented by trombones); (3) the scene where the Coyote rhythmically pounds the "detour" sign into the ground; (4) the clarinet cascade heard after the Coyote corners the Road Runner and ties on a bib; (5) the lead-in to the final scenes where the Coyote is hammered into a raging current by a large branch hanging over the river; and (6) the final screeches heard when the Coyote hits the corners of the water pipe he's traveling through before opening the faucet to let himself out. (As I'm typing this, I can still hear the squeaks of the bucket the Coyote hides in, the twang of the large spring he gets caught in, and the rhythmic taps of that branch hammering the Coyote into the raging river!)
There are also three funny observations I have regarding "Fastest With the Mostest:" (1) as the knife and fork slice downward through the sky before the fork pierces the Coyote's tail and sends him skyward, the way the knife is falling made me think of the old Screen Gems "S from Hell" logo as the S is being formed from the top half of the screen; (2) this particular Looney Tune must have been a favorite of the program director at WOOD-TV (a.k.a. WOTV), Channel 8, in Grand Rapids, Michigan (which we received when I lived in Lansing, Michigan in the 70's); not only did Channel 8 air this one during their weekday airings of the Looney Tunes, but they also used it as a short subject frequently whenever a movie ended ahead of time (on one occasion, WOOD-TV ran the Bugs Bunny short "Hare Splitter" before one of those low-budget Sun Classic Pictures travelogues - "Alaskan Safari," to be exact - and followed said feature with "Fastest With the Mostest" to recreate the feel of a Sunday afternoon matinée at a theater); and (3) I especially remember on another occasion my dad and younger sister were watching this with me and I began slapping my knees; my dad started roaring at me and ordered me to stop. Even though I was 12 at that time, I should have told him, "All right, I'll make a deal with you. You stop subjecting me to that hillbilly music, and I'll stop slapping my knees!" (My father subjected us to him playing hillbilly songs on his electric guitar practically day in and day out; how I wanted to do like those punk rockers did and smash his guitar into pieces or like John Goodman did to Tiny Tim's ukelele at the end of an episode of "Roseanne," but that's another story. Rock and pop music rule!)
In any event, for its humor, rhythmic musical score, and funny pre-teen memories it holds, "Fastest With the Mostest" gets an 8. But, it ranks 6th in my Top 10 all-time favorite Looney Tunes; "Daffy Duck Hunt" is STILL #1 in my book.
Warner Home Video, will you ever put "Fastest With the Mostest" on a Looney Tunes DVD compilation soon? I sure hope so!