Don Bluth Wiki
Advertisement

An American Tail is a 1986 American animated musical comedy-drama fantasy adventure film and Don Bluth's second feature film after The Secret of NIMH.

AnAmericanTailPoster

Plot[]

In 1885 Shostka, Russia, the Mousekewitzes, a Russian-Jewish family of mice, decide to immigrate to America after an army of cruel cats that belong to the Cossacks destroy their village, believing there to be no cats in the America. During the trip overseas, the family's young 7-year-old son, Fievel, gets separated from the others and washes overboard in a storm. They arrive sadly on Ellis Island, New York, believing they've lost their son.

Fievel, however, floats to nearby Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty was being built in a bottle and after a pep talk from a French pigeon named Henri, embarks on a quest to find his family. He is waylaid by conman Warren T. Rat, who gains his trust and then sells him to a sweatshop. He escapes with Tony, a street-smart Italian mouse who nicknames him "Filly", and they join up with Bridget, a very beautiful Irish mouse trying to rouse her fellow mice to stand up to cats. When a gang of some called the Mott Street Maulers attacks a mouse marketplace, one of which almost devours Fievel alive until Fievel escapes the mouth if the cat he's in. The immigrant mice learn that the tales of a no-cat country are false.

Bridget takes Fievel and Tony to see Honest John, a drunk (but reliable) politician who knows all the voting mice in New York City. But as the Mousekewitzes have not yet registered to vote, he can't help Fievel find them. Meanwhile, his pretty big sister, Tanya, tells her gloomy parents she has a feeling that he is still alive, but they urged her that the feeling would soon go away.

Led by the rich and powerful Gussie Mausheimer, the mice hold a rally to decide what to do about the cats. Warren T. Rat is extorting them all for protection that he never provides. No one has any idea what to do about it until Fievel whispers a plan to Gussie.

The mice take over an abandoned Museum and they build the Giant Mouse of Minsk. Tony wakes up to an alarm and says "Holy Splonie!!!! We should've been at the pier an hour ago!!" Fievel and Tony both run and Fievel is trying to keep up with Tony, but then Fievel slows down and Tony runs ahead, he then hears a Violin playing in a Storm Drain, Fievel thinks it is is father but when he goes down there, Fievel finds the Maulers Hideout! He also finds out the Warren T. Rat is not a rat. But a Cat in disguise! Warren spots Fievel and tries to capture him but Fievel bites his arm and runs down, Warren shouts for the Mott Street Maulers to "get me that mouse!!" Alex, the first cat to climb up the piano to get Fievel, tries to smash him under his paw, but instead he hits Max, A chubby short cat, with a pink T-shirt that's oversized for him, then when Fievel is on the piano, a gray cat tries to smash him, but misses, another cat named Christopher, a skinny cat, with a pink-shirt like Max's, also fails to capture Fievel, Fievel eventually Fievel gets away from them but they follow him, and both Alex and Max hit face first into a wall, Fievel soon gets away from the 4 cats by getting on a roller skate, he thought he had gotten away but then he turns forward and sees 3 other cats, a dark gray tubby one, and 2 bigger cats, one in the middle and one on the right, the one on the right is Eddie and the one in the middle is Morris, Eddie a burly cat wears a tight T-shirt with a eyepatch on his left eye, and Morris is the same except he doesn't have a eyepatch and he's much taller than Eddie. Eddie leaps down to try and catch him but misses, and chases after Fievel but ends up bumping into another cat, there is another cat on the right corner, his name is Rocko, he is the other dad of the Mott Street Maulers since he is in a relationship with Warren T. Cat. Fievel goes into the water followed by Max, Alex, and the gray tubby cat, then Fievel climbs up a chain and the cats try to pull him down. He manages to escape and put his hat on, but when he starts to walk away, one of the cats catch him, leaving the scene with a Villianous laugh, We then stumble across a new scene where Gussie is disscusing what they do to get the cats to the Chelsea Pier, she tells the mice to get some sleep, and that they have a long day ahead. We then come back to the Mott Street Maulers, Jake was originally on guard duty having a dream because it was very ate and they all got some sleep, Tiger comes in and wakes him up, Jake goes into where the others are and Tiger and Fievel Sing A duo, then they both break a mirror leading to all the gang members waking up and start chasing Fievel.

Fievel races back to the pier with the cats in hot pursuit when Gussie orders the mice to release the secret weapon. A huge mechanical mouse, inspired by the bedtime tales Papa told to Fievel of the "Giant Mouse of Minsk", chases the cats down the pier and into the water. A tramp steamer bound for Hong Kong picks them up and carries them away.

During the battle, Fievel is once again separated from those he loves and falls into despair when a group of orphans tells him that he should have given up a long time ago. Papa overhears Bridget and Tony calling out to Fievel but is sure that there may be another "Fievel" somewhere until he sees Mama picking up his son's hat. They team up for a final effort to find him, and in the end, Papa's violin playing leads Fievel back into the arms of his family. The journey ends with Henri taking everyone to see his newly completed project—the Statue of Liberty, and the Mouskewitzes' new life in America begins.

Characters[]

  • Phillip Glasser as Fievel Mouskewitz. While "Fievel" is the generally accepted spelling of his name, the opening credits spell him as "Feivel" which is technically the correct Yiddish transliteration[1][2] of the name (see also Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz and Feivel Gruberger) since Yiddish evolved from a medieval form of German and its rules for transliteration are therefore based on German orthography (the ending credits spell his name as "Fievel"). However, many English-speaking writers have come to adopt the spelling Fievel (with reversed i and first e) especially for this character; it was this spelling which was used on the film's poster, in promotional materials and tie-in merchandise, and in the title of the sequel An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. He was named after Spielberg's maternal grandfather, Philip Posner, whose Yiddish name was Feivel. The scene in which he presses up against a window to look into a classroom filled with American "schoolmice" is based on a story Spielberg remembered about his grandfather, who told him that Jews were only able to listen to school lessons through open windows while sitting outside in the snow.[3] His last name is a play on the Jewish-Russian last name "Moskowitz", the name of the human occupants of the house his family is living under in the beginning of the film.
  • Amy Green as Tanya Mousekewitz (singing voice provided by Betsy Cathcart), Fievel's big sister whose 8 years old. Beautiful, cute, optimistic, cheerful and obedient, she continued to believe that her brother was alive after he was washed off the ill-fated SS Austria en route to America. She was given an American name 'Tillie' at the immigration point at Castle Garden on Ellis Island.
  • John P. Finnegan as Warren T. Rat. He is really a cat disguised as a rat and the leader of the Mott Street Maulers, a gang of cats who terrorize the mice of New York City. He is accompanied nearly all the time by his accountant Digit, a small British cockroach. He is based on the famous anti-immigrant Nativist and white supremacist , Bill Poole, a.k.a: "Bill the Butcher". His name seems to be a play on words of the word "warranty".
  • Nehemiah Persoff as Papa Mousekewitz, the head of the Mousekewitz family who plays the violin and tells stories to his children. Too overcome with grief and believing his son to be dead after being separated during the sinking of the SS Austria, he stubbornly refuses to search for him after they land in America.
  • Erica Yohn as Mama Mousekewitz, Fievel's mother. She appears to be the stricter of the two Mousekewitz parents and has a fear of flying.
  • Pat Musick as Tony Toponi, a streetwise young mouse of Italian descent and with a 'tough New Yorker' attitude. He meets Fievel during their slavery at the sweatshop. He takes a liking to him and gives him an American name: "Philly" (Philip). After they escape the sweatshop, he becomes Fievel's friend and guide to the town.
  • Dom DeLuise as Tiger, a very large, cowardly, long-haired orange cat who also happens to be vegetarian. He was a member of Warren T. Rat's 'Mott Street Maulers' cat gang until he met and befriended Fievel, whom he helped to escape.
  • Christopher Plummer as Henri, a pigeon of French descent, who is in New York City while building the Statue of Liberty. He is the first to meet Fievel upon entering America. He nurses him back to health, and tells him that he should never give up in his search for his family (via the song "Never Say Never"), a message which he takes to heart.
  • Cathianne Blore as Bridget, an Irish activist, and Tony's beautiful girlfriend.
  • Neil Ross as Honest John, a local Irish-born politician who knows every voting mouse in New York City who presides over a wake for an Irish Catholic mouse done in by cats at his headquarters. He's a constant drunkard who takes advantage of every voter's concern to increase his political prestige and a stereotype of the 19th century Tammany Hall politicians.
  • Madeline Kahn as Gussie Mausheimer, a German-born considered being the richest in New York City, who rallies the mice into fighting back against the cats.
  • Will Ryan as Digit, Warren T.'s British cockroach accountant who has a fondness for counting money, but is plagued by frequent electrical charges in his antennae whenever he gets nervous or excited.
  • Hal Smith as Moe, a fat rat who runs the sweatshop Fievel is sold to by Warren T.
  • Eddie Frierson as Roc, a first orphan who bullies.
  • Barbara Goodson as Pee Wee, a second orphan who bullies.
  • Diane Michelle or Lara Cody as Noodles, a third orphan who bullies.
  • And Dan Kuenster as Jake from the Mott Street Maulers

Songs[]

An American Tail: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack was Composed by James Horner, and released along with the film in 1986. The album was released by MCA Records on vinyl, cassette and CD. The scores were performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, and it contains all of the musical numbers from the film as well. Both versions of "Somewhere Out There" are featured (the film version and Linda Ronstadt's version). The soundtrack version of "There Are No Cats in America" differs somewhat from the film version. A few songs and cues from the film were left off the soundtrack however, such as Warren's theme and "Poor Wandering One".

"There is no way you could put a score like this in any other kind of film. It would only work in animation or if I wrote a ballet. I loved doing it". - James Horner

Tracklist[]

2019 Expanded edition track list[]

A limited-edition extended version of the soundtrack has been released in 2019, with tracks that were unused on the previous release.
Tracks in bold are previously unreleased.

1 Main Title 5:13
2 The Cossack Cats 2:21
3 Dissolve To Sea/Lullaby 1:03
4 There Are No Cats In America 3:03
5 The Storm 4:02
6 Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor 2:50
7 Never Say Never 2:28
8 Warren T. Rat/It Will Go Away 4:11
9 Train Trestle 2:00
10 The Market Place 3:06
11 The Rumble 1:56
12 Honest John And Gussie Mausheimer 3:03
13 Somewhere Out There 2:46
14 Building The Mouse Of Minsk 2:52
15 Down In The Sewer/Chase In The Mauler’s Den 1:36
16 Gussie’s Plan 2:10
17 A Duo 2:41
18 Fievel’s Escape 3:17
19 Releasing The Secret Weapon 3:42
20 The Great Fire 2:59
21 Reunited 4:49
22 Flying Away And End Credits 6:03
23 Somewhere Out There 4:04
24 Poor Wandering One 0:59
25 The Rally (Source) 1:12
26 Somewhere Out There (Instrumental) 4:01

Reception[]

An American Tail was a box office success, the first among Universal's animated releases to do so. The film has grossed up to $47 million in the United States and $84 million worldwide.

Currently, An American Tail has a "B" rating at Box Office Mojo. After years of its Rotten Tomatoes score going back and forth between "fresh" and "rotten", it has managed to settle above the line at 70%. Its score among the website "community" is more secure at 84%.

The staff of Halliwell's Film Guide gave it one star out of four. "[This] expensive cartoon feature," they wrote, "[has] not much in the way of narrative interest or indeed humor."

Common Sense Media gave it largely positive reviews, as the group stated "This is a heartwarming animated tale about the experience of immigrants coming to America. Told from the perspective of an adorable young mouse, An American Tail should engage kids in an important part of U.S. history.".

From its initial release in 1986 until 1997, An American Tail held the record for Don Bluth's highest grossing film until 1997, when it was dethroned by Anastasia, which was released eleven years later.

Today the film is fairly well-regarded, seen as one of Don Bluth's greatest films, if not quite as acclaimed as The Secret of NIMH or Anastasia. It is fondly remembered among children of the 1980's.

American Film Institute Lists
  • AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
    • Somewhere Out There - Nominated
  • AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Animated Film

Sequels and spinoffs[]

The film was followed by its theatrical sequel An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), the television series Fievel's American Tails, and two direct-to-video sequels: An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island and An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster, none of which Don Bluth had any involvement with.

Fievel later served as the mascot for Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio, appearing in its production logo. Also, as reported on the official An American Tail website, Fievel has become the mascot for UNICEF as well. There is also a Fievel-themed playground at Universal Studios Florida, featuring a large waterslide and many over-sized objects such as books, glasses, cowboy boots, and more. It is the only such playground at any of NBC Universal's theme parks.

Suspected plagiarism[]

Art Spiegelman suspected Spielberg of plagiarism due to the fact the Jews are depicted as mice in An American Tail just as in Spiegelman's earlier Maus, a metaphor Spiegelman had adopted from Nazi propaganda. Instead of pursuing copyright litigation, Spiegelman opted to beat the movie's release date by convincing his publishers to split Maus into two volumes and publish the first before he even finished the second.

Trivia[]

  • As of July 1, 2020, The Secret of NIMH, this film, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-a-Doodle, and The Pebble and the Penguin are the only feature-length Don Bluth films not owned by The Walt Disney Company, although Disney still owns international rights for The Pebble and the Penguin via 20th Century Fox.
  • Madeline Kahn and Dom DeLuise were both previously featured as guest stars on both The Muppet Show and The Muppet Movie.
  • This was Don Bluth's first and only collaboration with David Kirschner until Titan A.E. was released 14 years later in 2000.
  • This is Don Bluth's first film to not be based on a book.
  • This is Don Bluth's second highest grossing film, only behind Anastasia, which was released 11 years later.
    • This is also Don Bluth's highest grossing film to have the following:
      • The highest grossing Don Bluth film to have a male protagonist.
      • The highest grossing Don Bluth film to have a non-human protagonist.
      • The highest grossing Don Bluth film that is not currently owned by The Walt Disney Company.
      • The highest grossing film to be produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios, because while Anastasia was produced by people who had previously worked for Sullivan Bluth Studios, Anastasia was produced by 20th Century Fox Animation, and Sullivan Bluth Studios was shut down in 1995 due to its employees being relocated to 20th Century Fox Animation.

External links[]

Advertisement