The Great Movie Re-Watch

The Rescuers (1977)

Directors:

John Lounsbery

Wolfgang

Reitherman

Art Stevens

Writers:

Larry Clemens

Ken Anderson

Frank Thomas

Vance Gerry

David Michener

Ted Berman

Fred Lucky

Burny Mattinson

Dick Sebast

Starring:

Bob Newhart

Eva Gabor

Geraldine Page

Joe Flynn

Blurb:

Two mice of the Rescue Aid Society search for a little girl kidnapped by unscrupulous treasure hunters.

Thoughts:

The Rescuers was the first movie on my list that’s not technically mine. When I made my list of owned movies, I included movies that my husband owns as well. We’re one household, so it made sense. There are a couple of movies that he owns that I won’t be watching for various reasons, but I’m including most of them in my re-watch.

The Rescuers was a dark movie. There were hardly any light moments in the entire film. A little orphan girl is kidnapped and forced into a dangerous situation repeatedly so the villain can get a giant diamond, for crying out loud. Current kid’s movies do not have a monopoly on darkness.

While reading the Wikipedia entry for a children’s movie, something you love to see is “nudity scandal.” It sounds like a disgruntled or stupid employee decided to sneak in a shot of a topless woman. It was only in two frames and pretty much impossible for someone to notice on ordinary viewing, but of course, someone spotted it. After seeing the image, I feel like it was more amusing than anything else.

Reviews at the time seem to be mostly positive, saying it was a return to old form for Disney. Since I got rid of most of the movies that came out at that time, I only have my memories to compare it too. The only time I had issues with the animation were when the villain was appeared, and there was a ton of black outlining. I thought she looked pretty bad.

The songs were mostly forgettable, they were nice at the time, but thirty minutes later, I forgot they were even there. I did love the voice cast, though. Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor sounded perfect together.

The film is also a bit dated. Bianca was smart and capable, but since she was a woman, she was often babied. However, she seemed to take it in stride and use it to her advantage, so that was nice.

The Rescuers isn’t necessarily a movie I feel like I need to own, but there are worse movies to have on my shelves.