Beep, Beep

Wile E. Coyote acts as though he has a chance of catching his prey, and actually carries napkins and silverware. After a boxing glove sprung from a boulder fails, Wile E. blueprints his plans, beginning with an anvil that he intends to drop from a high wire suspended between two peaks. He then rigs up a “last glass of water” (the sign reads “Last Chance For Water”) with an explosive booby trap, which the bird simply ignores, explaining with a sign: “Road Runners can’t read and don’t drink.” Wile E. Coyote chases the Road Runner into a long series of tunnels and abandoned mine shafts, the two being shown mainly on a maplike cross-section (which looks like one of those modern “you are here” deals). The two are visible mainly from the lights on their miner’s helmets. The sequence ends with the coyote lighting a match to see where he is. It turns out to be in a storeroom full of explosives. Outside, a small catapult hurls him into the ground and a rocket zooms straight up (with Wile E. becoming fireworks which advertise “Eat at Joe’s”) before running out of fuel mid-air. The exasperated coyote then crawls over to a glass of water, not realizing it’s the explosive drink that he rigged up a few scenes earlier. Finally, a phony railroad crossing not only fails to halt the Road Runner, but leads to Wile E.’s getting nailed by a real locomotive, with the Road Runner waving from the caboose.