Edgar Allan Pooh . . . 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.

TheLittleSongbird Don't take my title the wrong way, I don't hate Speedy Gonzales(the fastest mouse in all Mexico, as we now know him today), far from it, but his cartoons have been hit and miss. Some have been surprisingly good and funny, but others suffer from lacklustre, rushed animation and from being predictable. Speedy Gonzales is actually one of the better Speedy cartoons, actually worth watching. The animation is not too bad here, not absolutely brilliant but it is one of the better-looking Speedy cartoons. The music is nice too, as are the visual gags and dialogue. The story is simple but decently-structured, Speedy is funny and tolerable and Sylvester is a worthy foil(better at it than Daffy I'd say). These characters are all brought to life by the unique vocal talents of Mel Blanc, who does brilliantly as always. Overall, definitely worth seeing. 9/10 Bethany Cox

ccthemovieman-1 What a timely cartoon....50 years later....although illegal immigration isn't the issue here - it's stealing and eating some cheese! Here we see a bunch of little mice (in sombreros) behind barbed wire at the border in Mexico. Just 50 yards away on the American side is the Ajax Cheese Company....and those mice want that cheese. Guarding the border is the hapless Sylvester the Cat.They draw straws to see who is going to race over give it a shot. Timid "Manuel" draws the short straw, but he lasts only seconds. The mice throw away is sombrero in a pile, signifying he's the latest casualty in the unsuccessful venture.Finally, one of the mice suggests they go get "Speedy Gonzales." Most of the others haven't heard of him but those who have all describe him as "the fastest mouse in Mexico." One guy says, "I can contact Speedy because he's a friend of my sister." A wise-guy mouse remarks, "He's a friend of EVERYBODY's sister!! (You can read into that, what you want!)Speedy then struts his stuff, and Sylvester tries to stop him. The racing rodent goes back and forth a number of times and the cat tries a different method to stop him each time. You can guess the result.A steady diet of Speedy yelling "arriba! arriba!" all the time might grow tedious, but seeing him once in awhile is a treat.

movieman_kev 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