Looney Tunes Wiki
Looney Tunes Wiki

Stop! Look! And Hasten! is a 1954 Merrie Melodies short directed by Chuck Jones.


The title is a pun on "Stop, Look, and Listen."


A famished Wile E. Coyote (Eatibus anythingus) trudges across the desert floor, catching and eating anything that he finds to satisfy himself, ranging from a fly to, after finding nothing inside it, an entire tin can, before being flattened by Road Runner (Hot-roddicus supersonicus). Wile E., after recovering, blinks his eyes and visualizes a wonderful Road Runner feast. Seeing no need for a comparatively tawdry can, he chases Road Runner. Wile E.'s low stance reduces his drag and allows him to pull up near Road Runner until the bird rockets away. The Coyote's eyes pop out of his sockets and he is left dejected, planning his next scheme.

1. First, the Coyote uses a pulley, rope and rock trap to smash the passing Road Runner, evidently hoping the extra complexity will stop himself from being squashed instead. No dice; Wile E. is squished by his own trap as Road Runner stops and makes fun of him.

2. Now, clearly angry, the Coyote holds a lasso out in the road and listens for Road Runner, but instead of the bird, he gets a truck which pulls the lasso and the Coyote with it across the hard ground. Wile E. is left with a bare rear end from the friction as he paces off the road.


4. Wile E. has now constructed a massive pop-up grate in the middle of the road, and tests its crank control. But when it is meant to block Road Runner, it fails to work. The Coyote tries every method possible to get the grate to function, but this fails. He resumes the chase in outrage, but not for long, as he gets stopped by a railroad crossing. Road Runner taunts the Coyote as he slowly prances the tracks and his opponent is lifted into the air by the striped divider. Wile E. drops off and chases Road Runner down the tracks, which run through mountains. The two pass by opposite lanes and Road Runner signals the Coyote, who stops cold after a few seconds and turns back...but too far again. He starts back the other way and soon finds Road Runner is on a lower track than he is. They finally chase on the same track until a train stops the chase. The Coyote dashes in and out of a rockface and sees the train pass by on a track underneath him. He sighs with relief - until a second train approaches where he is standing from inside the rock. Wile E. holds up a circular STOP IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY sign, but since Wile E. isn't human, nothing happens except for the massive impact.



7. Now, Wile E. has painted a white circle in the middle of a large suspension bridge and baits it with bird seed, then hides underneath the bridge to cut out the circle as Road Runner feasts. Instead, he cuts out the rest of the bridge with him underneath it, leaving Road Runner and the circle floating in midair.







  • In the film The Shining, Danny and his mother are watching this cartoon.
  • Most of the introduction scenes, excluding the Latin names, were used in the Thanksgiving special Bugs Bunny's Thanksgiving Diet.
  • The engine on the train is a 4-4-0 (four leading wheels, four driving wheels, and no trailing wheels), commonly known as an American type steam locomotive, due to the great number of them produced in the United States.


TV Title Cards


External Links