Disney’s “The Fox and the Hound” (1981) arrived with an infamous production history, as well as muted enthusiasm from longtime Mouse House fans.
Made when the Walt Disney Company, a decade after their founder’s death, was trying to figure out its identity in the late 20th century, the film was completed during emotionally charged company confrontations, followed by a delayed release, revealing that the film’s making as a difficult and uncertain one.
Just looking at the credits reveals this, as no less than three directors and eight credited writers worked on this.
An orphaned fox named Tod (initially voiced by Keith Mitchell, later Mickey Rooney) is raised by the Widow Tweed, a kindly farmer who takes him in as though he were kin. Tod befriends Cooper (initially voiced by Corey Feldman and later Kurt Russell), a hound who becomes his best friend.
The tight kinship between Cooper and Tod is challenged when Tod is suddenly taken from his home and forced to live in the wild. When Tod returns to his original home, fully grown, he discovers his relationship with Cooper and the rest of the animals has changed.
“The Fox and the Hound” begins with a long, stunning opening shot that shows a fox (Tod’s mother) fleeing hunters, dropping her baby fox at a nearby fence, then running over a hill and – BANG! She’s dead.
Memories of “Bambi” (1942) spring to mind, as do the countless other Disney films that depict the protagonist having to overcome the tragedy that marked the start of their lives (everything from their 1999 “Tarzan” to the 2016 “Pete’s Dragon”).
It’s a compelling and bold way to open any movie.
The cute moments are contrasted with heartbreaking ones, particularly a second-act turn of events that is almost identical to the most wrenching scene in Steven Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” (2001), both sequences involving a mother abandoning their child in the wilderness.
Despite sporting eight writers and three directors, “The Fox & The Hound” is better than most remember. Some scenes sport contrasting backgrounds and similar character designs to “The Rescuers” (1977), but this is a much better film (though nowhere near the masterpiece-level of the 1990 sequel).
While imperfect, the best aspects here aren’t just admirable but tough, bringing to mind not only “Bambi” but that other terrific Disney film that nobody likes, “The Good Dinosaur” (2016).
Russell, a veteran Disney actor at this point (and a movie away from going full tilt as a John Carpenter regular) embodies the complex shades of his role, but Pat Buttram (who also voiced the Sheriff of Nottingham in Disney’s 1973 “Robin Hood” and a talking bullet in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”) steals the film as Chief, an old hunting dog.
“The Fox & The Hound” was made during the era of the infamous Don Bluth walkout, where Bluth and a handful of fellow animators ditched the Mouse House and started their own animation production company. Their output includes the 1982 masterpiece “The Secret of the NIMH”, the 1986 “An American Tail,” the 1988 “The Land Before Time” and the 1997 “Anastasia.”
Bluth began his animation career with the dream of working at Disney, only to become a major competitor the decade after he left.
Director Tim Burton was also briefly employed at Disney during this time – this was when the company allowed him to make the short film “Frankenweenie” (1984), then shelved it indefinitely when it merited a PG rating. Burton, flush with post-“Batman” (1989) success, would return to Disney decades later and become a major hitmaker for them.
Another sign of how topsy-turvy the company was during the production of “The Fox and the Hound”: the same year as the film’s hit release, the company also unveiled the fantastic but too-gory-for-the-PG-rating “Dragonslayer,” as well as “Condorman,” their embarrassing first stab at comic book movies.
A second attempt at a big win from the studio the same year: “The Devil and Max Devlin,” a high-concept adult comedy in which Elliot Gould makes a deal with Satan, played by Bill Cosby (!). To say the least, it was an unsteady time for the Mouse House.
The moment was a few years away from the Michael Eisner/Jeffrey Katzenberg era, where the animation unit was given greater priority (“The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and “The Lion King” all opened within six years) and Touchstone Pictures gave the grown-up movies a proper place and handling.
Disney historians often place “The Fox and the Hound” alongside misfires such as the infamous “The Black Cauldron,” the 1985 bomb so disastrous, that it nearly bankrupted the studio. At the time, the only thing keeping Disney alive was park admission revenue!
The truth is “The Fox and the Hound” is a much better, harsher and more potent work than most remember. The big finale, involving a bear attack, is a stunner. Following the magnificent climax, there’s the ending, which is nowhere near as triumphant as it seems and, upon reflection, is much more bittersweet and sad than the music assures us.
The tragic element to “The Fox and the Hound” is there from the first scene and gives the film its lasting power.
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