The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
| 13 September 1969 (USA)

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  • Reviews
    Acensbart Excellent but underrated film
    Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
    Logan Dodd There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.
    Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
    Julia Arsenault (ja_kitty_71) As a fan of Hanna/Barbera, I would watch a few of their TV series, and films like "Charlotte's Web" and "Heidi's Song." I remember watching Wacky Races when it was Teletoon a long time ago, and the lovely Penelope Pitstop and her Compact Pussycat was my favorite racer. Though I didn't know why her car was called The Compact Pussycat, it didn't look like a cat. The series became successful, that they made spin-off series like Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Although Wacky Races was set in the then-contemporary 1960s, the characters and settings of The Perils of Penelope Pitstop were strongly reminiscent of the 1920s; well the 1930s that is.I'd bought the complete series on DVD, and after watching all 17 episodes, I thought it's a very funny show; it has scenes you will remember and laugh your head off. In this series, Penelope is an heiress to a vast fortune and is constantly chased by her sinister guardian (voiced by Paul Lynde) Sylvester Sneekly aka The Hooded Claw; she doesn't even know it. But always to her rescue is her seven friends/protectors The Ant Hill Mob (also from Wacky Races) and their anthropomorphic car Chug-A-Boom (like Herbie from Disney's The Love Bug). But they sometimes screw up the rescue and it's always Penelope who ends up saving them.They never explain why Penelope is a wealthy woman? or why the Ant Hill Mob are her friends? and so forth, they just jump right through it; but I do have imagination like: Penelope was the beloved daughter of a wealthy family; but when her mama and papa died, it was always her "dear daddy's" secretary Sylvester Sneekly who was with her all her life, because to a girl's daddy (or male guardian) he's her oracle, her guidance and her hero. Maybe that's why she refuses to believe that Sylvester is the Hooded Claw. And as to why the Ant Hill Mob are her friends? well she might have reformed the crooks because of her kind heart; or maybe the seven had reformed years ago. So overall I love this series, and would watch it again and again.
    Jrdmln I like it. I think it is funny. My favorite character is The Hooded Claw. Paul Lynde played The Hooded Claw. Paul Lynde was never seen in the credits. I wish Paul Lyde got more credit. He really is a funny actor. Some times I wish The Hooded Claw's plans worked. I have a question I bet all The Perils of Penelope Pitstop fans would ask. How come when The Hooded Claw and The Ain't Hill Mob get in The Hooded Claw's traps for Penelope Pitstop it does not hurt? Then why does The Hooded Claw think it will hurt Penelope Pitstop. If any of you The perils of Penelope Pitstop fans want to watch it it comes on Boomerang at 7:30 AM central time. I never could stand it when Penelope Pitstop yelled "Help!". Could Penelope Pitstop fight? The Hooded claw always grabbed her. Why didn't she kick him or punch him. She always was a damsel in distress. There's one good thing. She aways could get out of The Hooded Claw's traps.
    diggemthefrog I have two major problems with "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop". First, it isn't completely consistent with the original cartoon, "The Wacky Racers", of which it's a spin off. On that show, Penelope was a professional race car driver. Now she's supposedly an "heiress to a vast fortune", as the narrator said at the beginning of each episode, and she has a legal guardian. So presumably she's still under the age of 21. Don't you have to be at least 21 to race professionally? Or was the spin off supposed to be a prequel, and didn't they say so in order to keep us in suspense about whether Penelope would survive the series? (I don't mean to spoil it for you, but she did.) The second problem is one of basic, psychological plausibility, and it's a question that I'm sure everyone who's ever watched at least one season of this show has asked: How could this girl possibly have gone two seasons without ever realizing that the mysterious masked stranger who called himself the Hooded Claw, who tried to kill her in every single episode, was none other than her own guardian, Sylvester Sneekly? Okay, maybe she just couldn't handle the truth; after all, how would you feel if you woke up one day and realized that your late parents entrusted your very life to someone who wants you dead? So I could go along with it for a little while, maybe, but two whole years? She must have been the dumbest professional racer ever.
    dootuss I've been catching reruns of this old cartoon on Cartoon Network over the last couple of weeks, and frankly I'm probably in the minority. I actually like this show. It stars Penelope Pitstop (a female racer from "Wacky Races") who is being constantly on the run by her laywer Sylvester Sneekly (aka The Hooded Claw who is just Sneekly in disguise) whom wants to elude of her since she inherited a fortune, and would give it to him if something were to happenn to her (you know like death or something like that for an example). But Penelope has protection thanks to my fave characters from "Wacky Races" the Ant Hill Mob (those guys rule!!!!!) who will keep our damsel in distress from being captured by the Hooded Claw.I really like this cartoon a lot. I know that Hanna Barbera has made some lame spinoffs in the past, but this is great. 10/10