24: The Fox And The Hound
Disney Dark Age
The important bits of The Fox And The Hound happened behind the scenes. Originally planned for a Christmas 1980 release, the release date had to be pushed back eight months. Production was marred by rifts between Wolfgang Reitherman and the old guard and Art Stevens and Larry Clemmons and the young Turks at the studio.
Reitherman pushed his own ideas on the designs and story, but the newer team had other ideas they wanted to pursue. In the midst of this, animator Don Bluth declared Disney's work "stale" and walked out of the production. John Pomeroy, Gary Goldman and sixteen other animators also fled the studio, and Bluth went on to form his own studio.
Needless to say, the loss of 20% of their animation staff slowed production on the film, and pushed back the release date. The film was finished four years later, and with the exception of some early scenes and character development done by veteran animators Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Cliff Norberg, the film represented the combined talents and imagination of a new team. This new generation of animators would go on to forge a second Golden Age of feature animation in the next decade with such films as The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1990) and Aladdin (1992).
The first Disney animated feature since 1977, the 1981 release of The Fox and the Hound was greeted warmly, if cautiously. Audiences deprived of a new Disney feature for four years made The Fox and the Hound a popular and financial success-again reasserting that, even in artistic transition, Disney was still the preeminent maker of animation.
The significance of the group of artists responsible for The Fox and the Hound is not what they brought to the art of the film, but what their collaboration would bring to the future of Disney animation.
The standout sequence in The Fox and the Hound is the battle with the giant grizzly bear at the film's climax, supervised by Glen Keane. Keane's handling of the terrifying weight and massing of the character give it a realistic menace and ferocity. Keane would later skillfully supervise a diverse cadre of characters, including Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989), Beast in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and the title characters in Aladdin (1992) and Pocahontas (1995).
John Musker and Ron Clements would move from animation to animation direction, co-directing The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Little Mermaid and Aladdin.
The film ended up making 63 million dollars. Based on a budget of only 12 million, that made the film a financial success.
The Fox And The Hound
Traditional Animation
Walt Disney Studios
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Cartoon Characters: Tod, Copper, Big Mama, Amos Slade, Vixey, Widow Tweed, Chief, Dinky, Boomer, Squeaks, Bear, Badger, Abigail.
Voice Actors: Mickey Rooney, Keith Mitchell, Kurt Russell, Corey Feldman, Pearl Bailey, Jack Albertson, Jeanette Nolan, Sandy Duncan, Paul Winchell; Full Voice Cast
...Directed By Art Stevens, Ted Berman, Richard Rich, Don Hahn, Mark A. Hester, Terry L. Noss; more Directors
...Produced By Wolfgang Reitherman, Art Stevens, Ron Miller.
Animated By Ed Gombert, John Musker, Dale Oliver, Jerry Rees, Ron Husband, Dick N. Lucas, David Block, Jeffrey James Varab, Chris Buck, Chuck Harvey, Hendel S. Butoy, Phil Nibbelink; more Animators
...Written By Larry Clemmons, Ted Berman, David Michener, Peter Young, Burny Mattinson, Steve Hulett, Earl Kress, Vance Gerry, Daniel P. Mannix; more Writers
...Music: Richard O. Johnston, Stan Fidel, Jim Strafford, Richard Rich, Jeffrey Patch; more Musicians
...Editor: James Melton, Jim Koford.
Originally Released on July 10, 1981.
Originally Released Theatrically.
Running Time: 83 minutes.
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