The Worst Film Ever

the audience applauded

Absolutely the worst movie.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

. . . 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.

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.

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.

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