Mexicali Shmoes (1959)

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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

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

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

For many reasons this is the best Speedy cartoon, some of them are not that great but this was hugely enjoyable. The animation was a considerable improvement over that in a short like Quacker Tracker, not the best there is but there are some nice backgrounds. The music is nice, the dialogue is fun and the sight gags are sharp with a hilarious ending that serves as the cartoon's highlight. Mel Blanc is superb with the characterisations, and while I am not a huge Speedy fan(though I don't mind him either) he is fine here, as are the supporting characters. Overall, even if you're not a Speedy fan, this one is actually worth watching! 9/10 Bethany Cox

Directed by Friz Freleng, "Mexicali Shmoes" is a very entertaining Speedy Gonzales cartoon. This time around, Speedy must dodge and outwit two shaggy Mexican gatos.My favorite scenes: During the opening credits, the fat cat Jose plays guitar and sings in a very weak, off-key voice, with the skinny cat Manuel emitting a few cries in between phrases (I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I imagine the "Spanish" that Jose sings is nonsense). The two cats aren't much better during their singing & dancing of "In Guadalajara we go to catch Gonzales..." Upon arriving in Guadalajara, Jose and Manuel trick Speedy into joining them with their little guitar/dancing fiesta before they attack him. And Jose tricks Manuel into sticking his head in Speedy's mouse hole and getting a stick of dynamite blasted in his face.Speedy Gonzales' cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez makes a brief appearance in "Mexicali Shmoes", and the two pussygatos make a surprise reference to the "gringo" Bugs Bunny as well. A fun cartoon!

Once again, some less-than-intelligent cats go after Speedy Gonzales, only to have him foil every one of their schemes. OK, so not only do pretty much all of Speedy's cartoons have basically the same plot, but they totally stereotype Mexico. Well, as I understand it, many Hispanics like that these cartoons portray our southern neighbor positively. So, Speedy does his usual stuff in "Mexicali Shmoes", always showing himself to be one cool dude; no wonder all the female mice love him. As for his cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez (the slowest mouse in Mexico)...well, clearly he has a reason for existence. Anyway, this one's worth seeing.

Apart from a few early Speedy Gonzales shorts, the rest were very pitiful and annoying. In fact, in the 1960s, they actually paired Speedy with Daffy Duck in some shorts that made absolutely no sense (why would a duck hunt a mouse?) and were perhaps the worst cartoons Warner Brothers made.Despite all this, this is still a very good cartoon--probably the best Speedy Gonzales cartoon of them all. Two stupid cats try again and again to catch Speedy and they end up getting the stuffing knocked out of them by the rodent. Then, in a very funny conclusion, they given up on chasing Speedy Gonzales and one of them quickly chases after "Slowpoke Rodriquez"--the slowest mouse in Mexico. But his friend begins yelling at him to stop, as he then explains that Slowpoke also carries a gun! Well, unfortunately for the other cat, this warning comes a bit too late and you see a wonderful scene of a very lazy mouse carrying a huge smoking revolver!