Disney Movie Challenge
The Rescuers (1977)
I like to think 1977 brought us a lot of great things. Star Wars, Close Encounter of the Third Kind, and it was the year I was born, so again great things. But it also brought us two very different animated Disney films. The first was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a classic story about a cuddly silly old bear. The second was The Rescuers, an adventure film full of danger. The film also feels like a turning point for Disney as it feels more similar to the early 80’s films than the other films from the 70’s.
The Rescuers is about a pair of mismatched mice from the Rescue Aid Society (an organization of mice who help people) who set out to help a kidnapped girl named Penny. After a bottle is found with a message from a girl named Penny the Rescue Aid Society decides someone should go rescue her. Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor) wants to prove herself worthy to the rest of the society and volunteers for the mission. The RAS doesn’t trust a woman doing it alone and Bernard (Bob Newhart), was a clumsy janitor, who was picked to go with her. They find out that Penny was kidnapped by the evil Medusa and taken to a swamp. There she wants Penny to go in a small hole to find an elusive diamond. The pair of mice head to the swamp and with the help of an albatross, a dragonfly and various other local animals they help rescue Penny.
The movie is a bridge from the 70’s to the 80’s with Disney trying to figure out what to do. A younger generation of animators including Don Bluth was trying to push Disney to do something different but the old guard wanted to do something more traditional. Somehow you end up with a film that mostly works. The first thing that stands out about The Rescuers is that it’s a lot darker in tone than previous Disney films. The entire beginning is creepy and bleak. The title sequence follows a bottle with Penny’s note in it as it floats along till someone finds it. Then we learn that Penny is an orphan, is kidnapped, and no one is looking for her. Usually Disney just kills the parents but to start out with no parents then get kidnapped on top of that and have no one notice is really bleak.
The other thing that makes it stand out from other animated Disney films is it ventures ever so lightly into women’s rights. When Biance volunteers to go rescue Penny all the other mice laugh. They tell her that she can’t do it alone. Which is when she picks Bernard the clumsy janitor. For pretty much the rest of the movie Bianca is the brave one and Bernard is the scared mouse that just wants to go home. Even Penny isn’t the typical damsel in distress. Not only did she help herself by sending a message in a bottle but she also escapes (and we find out it’s not the first time she escaped either) and helps come up with a plan when Bianca and Bernard finally get to her. The only bit of dialogue that specifically addresses women's rights comes from the chairman of the Rescue Aid Society saying “times are changing”.
From an artistic standpoint the film marks another technological advance for animation. Disney had been using Xerography since 101 Dalmatians with pretty much no advancement in the technology. One of the biggest drawbacks of Xerography is that all the animation has black lines around them and makes the animation feel a bit cheaper. In The Rescuers a process was developed that could use colored lines and make the animation look crisper.
Overall: I appreciate the darker tone of the film. Definitely makes it stand out from the other animated Disney films. Eva Gabor gives another great voice performance as Bianca. It has action, adventure, and some good comic relief, everything you could want in a film. The film does feel like it’s more for older kids so might want to keep the young ones away from this one.
Random Facts:
A TV show was in the works but when a sequel for the movie was announced the TV show shifted and became Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers.
Don Bluth was so frustrated with the way the film went that he left Disney and started his own animation studio and produced some great 80’s animated films Secret of NIMH, An American Tale, and The Land Before Time. These films were more successful than Disney films of the 80’s.
A small section had to be removed from the film when it was released on VHS because it contained nudity. Disney claims it was put there in post production by a disgruntled employee. Here is the scene. https://youtu.be/MTf-l_nPRcI
Medusa’s design bridges Cruella De Vil and Ursula from the Little Mermaid. You see homage to Cruella in Medusa’s design and during The Little Mermaid’s team designed Ursula based on Medusa.
The Rescuers made more money in France and Germany than Star Wars did in 1977.
Oscar nominated for Best Song. It would be the last Oscar nomination for a Disney Animated movie till The Little Mermaid in 1989.
The first animated Disney Film to spawn a sequel. The Rescuers Down Under was theatrically released in 1990.
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