Hook, Line and Stinker (1958)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fantastic!

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

. . . HOOK, LINE AND STINKER into 21st Century Prophecies, the Road Runner's scientific name Morphs from "Burnius Roadibus" to Hotrodhammer Clintospeedius, while Wile E. Coyote's Latin Name ("Famishius-Famishius") becomes Dumpius Trumpius. STINKER is surely keeping the U.S. Secret Service up at night as this review is being written, since it foresees Trumpius being blown up, bludgeoned, railroaded, lightning-struck, piano-crushed, blown up again, and finally Rube Goldberged to smithereens. As Hotrodhammer wolfs down Coyote Trumpius' lunch, Dumpius has to content himself with eating her dust. (The Transgendered Clintospeedius would have to debate what public rest rooms to use for her "disgusting" business in North Carolina, which will have to rely on Trumpius Rallies as their ONLY form of live entertainment for the long-term future, now that all the institutions of the Civilized World have canceled every scheduled event within the borders of America's Tarry Heels state.) Given all the carnage wreaked against him in STINKER, perhaps the best post-election option for Trumpius would be to seek political asylum with his buddy Vlad "The Impaler" Putin in Russia. Maybe he could make another "sacrifice" by erecting a Trumpius Tower next to the Kremlin.

After creating the two best episodes in the entire "Road Runner" series ("Zoom & Bored" and "Whoa Be-Gone"), I guess it was inevitable that creator Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese were due for a less-than-stellar go-round in Episode #13 of the series. It wasn't helped by the fact there was a musicians strike on at the time, so the music used was basically commercial-production music -- including a melody that was later used (slightly altered) as the theme song for the "Dennis The Menace" TV show. The gags in this episode seem a bit forced, and only a few really stand out as being genuinely funny, such as the bundle of dynamite that chases Wile E back to his hiding place and the grand piano that he somehow decides would be the perfect weapon to squash Road Runner with! This is probably my least-favorite episode of the series -- at least until after Chuck Jones left WB and it became shadow of itself 1960s.

"Hook, Line and Stinker", directed by Chuck Jones, is unfortunately not one of the better cartoons in the Road Runner/Coyote series. The reason for that is because once a gag occurs in this cartoon, we often do not see the aftermath (i.e., what happens to the Coyote after his devices backfire). The only gag of real merit in this cartoon involves a grand piano, and in this case, we DO see how the Coyote ends up, and it is quite funny! One other footnote for "Hook, Line and Stinker": Although the music score by John Seely is not that great, there is one theme that he uses several times in this cartoon that actually became the theme song for the "Dennis the Menace" live-action television series in the early sixties.

No matter how many times Wile Ethelbert "Famishius Famishius" Coyote tries to get Road "Burnius Roadibus" Runner, we always know what's going to happen, though our sympathy always remains with WEC. The highlight in "Hook, Line and Stinker" is a Rube Goldberg-style scheme that WEC hopes will finally finish off RR; but of course you know what happens.So, Wile E. continues hilarious engaging in fanaticism (defined by George Santayana as redoubling your effort after you've forgotten your aim) while Road Runner pretty much never becomes aware of the potential danger - or lack thereof - in which he could find himself. A real classic.And yes, the coyote's middle name is Ethelbert. I learned that from "Jeopardy!".