Don Bluth Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Banjo the Woodpile Cat DVD Poster

"DVD Poster" to the short film's 30th Anniversary 2-Disc DVD Set sold to Don Bluth Fans (including Michael Igafo-Te'o) by Amazon Dot Com (The 30th Anniversary 2-Disc DVD Set is released by Don Bluth Films during 2009 (30 Years after "Banjo" was released in Los Angeles theaters in front of "The Muppet Movie" (Currently Owned by Disney) during November 1979)

Banjo the Woodpile Cat is a 1979 traditionally animated film directed by Don Bluth and the film itself follows the story of Banjo, an overly curious but rebellious kitten who, after getting into trouble for falling from a chicken coop to see if he could land on his feet, runs away from his woodpile home in his owners' farm in Payson, Utah by hitching a ride on the Chipman feed truck to Salt Lake City, Utah. The short film took four years (from 1975 to 1979) to produce inside a backyard garage at Bluth's former home in Ventura, California (before Don started "Don Bluth Films" and lived at his current home in Scottsdale, Arizona) and it was Sullivan Bluth Studios' debut film. It had a short theatrical run in November 1979, appearing as a special in front of "The Muppet Movie" (currently owned by Walt Disney Pictures) in theaters and then showing the film for a holiday re-release in front of Beauty and the Beast. It was tested in 1980 as a TV premier on HBO and then reached network television on several "ABC-TV" stations across the United States of America in 1982. (Same year when Don Bluth's first animated independent feature Film after leaving Walt Disney Productions in September 1978, titled "The Secret of NIMH", with distribution guaranteed by MGM/UA Communications Inc.) Also, as of March 20, 2019, the short, along with a handful of Bluth’s works, including Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park, Anastasia, Bartok the Magnificent, and Titan A.E., as a result of the Disney-Fox merger, the distribution rights will belong to Disney.

Plot Summary[]

In a woodpile in 1940s Payson, Utah, a kitten named Banjo decides to chase chickens around. His sisters, Emily and Jean, who see this, tell their parents and Banjo's father soon stops him and makes him promise not to do it again. But Banjo continues to be mischievous in many ways. Eventually, after failing to goad His sisters to jump off the chicken coop, just to prove that cats always land on their feet, Banjo pulls His sisters’ tails downward to the ground, of course, they were unharmed, since the snow was soft enough to break their fall. Soon, Banjo’s father orders Him to get a switch within a minute. Banjo, thinking no one cares if He got hurt, and not wanting to face serious punishment, decides to run away from home and hitches a ride on a feed truck to Salt Lake City. His family try to find him, but are convinced by a sneaky Labrador that banjo was taken away to be sold to a market, heartbreaking them.

Arriving at the city, Banjo finds plenty of excitement, followed by a series of danger. When it begins to rain, he finds shelter in a small can in an alley while thinking about his family and how he misses them. Later, a cat named Crazy Legs discovers the lost kitten in the can. They strike up a friendship when Crazy tells Banjo that he can go back the same way he got here. During their search, Crazy and Banjo come to a night club that Crazy is familiar with. Inside, the leader of a singing cat trio, Zazu comes over to Crazy and meets Banjo. When asked if he misses his family, the kitten becomes depressed again. To cheer him up, Crazy and the girls break into a musical number and Banjo joins in. Afterwards, Crazy asks all the cats in the city to look for the truck. Later that night, while searching for the truck at a train station, Banjo and Crazy run into a group of dogs who end up chasing them. After a lengthy chase, the pair escape and drive the dogs away by climbing up a series of boxes. Banjo learns how frightening the world is and decides to stay at the nightclub, hoping that his family will come to pick him up.

Banjo sings an off-key record in the show in the nightclub and gets a metal for his best voice. Emily and Jean are sent out to find banjo but end up getting chased by the dogs that chased banjo and Crazy Legs earlier. They fall into the tower of boxes, but are saved by the lady cats that take them to the nightclub mistaking them to be lost. Crazy Legs gets into an argument with banjo about whether to stay in the nightclub or go home to his family; the sisters reunite with banjo and offer him some supper seeing how hungry he is. Crazy Legs ends up getting taken to the market when he mistakenly knocks over a box of apples and peaches, of course, banjo sneaks on the train when he sees Crazy Legs calling for help. Soon, banjo is able to see Crazy Legs but is shooed off before he can have the chance to say goodbye. The dogs cheer up banjo with the musical number of when he sang at the show having a change of heart.

Meanwhile, Crazy Legs is moping about being in the market when the dogs rescue him and banjo quickly leads to a carriage. Emily and Jean fall off but banjo grabs them but ends up being picked by some chickens. The horses go really fast and banjo ends up holding on to their tails; he screams in fright when he almost gets his tail snapped in a bear trap. After a lengthy chase, they managed to escape and take shelter at the cat's home near the nightclub. While banjo is resting in the cat's home, Crazy Legs looks up at the night sky, wondering if banjo would ever get home.

The next morning, Banjo wakes up and hears the driver of the truck out in the street. After some rejoice and many goodbyes, Banjo is sad to leave his new found friends. However, Crazy manages to get Banjo on board, before it leaves without him and he waves goodbye to His new friends. When the truck arrives home, Banjo leaps off it and happily reunites with his family, also hugging Emily and Jean for his help.

Production[]

This film was started as a side project, while Don Bluth was still working at Disney. He invited several other young animators to his house on nights and weekends to discover secrets of animation that he felt had been lost at Disney. Eventually, on Bluth's 42nd Birthday, he resigned from Disney, along with 17 other animators, to finish this film and begin The Secret of NIMH. That bold walk-out caused a delay in the release of Disney's The Fox and the Hound that was in mid-production at the time.

Voice Talents[]

  • SPARKY MARCUS as Banjo the Woodpile Cat
  • SCATMAN CROTHERS as Crazy Legs
  • BEAH RICHARDS as Zazu (The Leader of The Cat Sisters (Her 2 Sisters are Cleo and Marina))

Additional Voices[]

  • JERRY HARPER as Freeman (Feed Truck Driver)
  • KEN SANSOM as Papa Cat (Banjo’s Father)/Farmer/Warehouse Man
  • ANN E. BEASLEY as Jean
  • ROBIN MUIR as Emily
  • GEORGETTE RAMPONE as Mama Cat (Banjo’s Mother)/Cleo/Marina

Uncredited[]

  • FRANK WELKER as the Dogs

Credits[]

  • Director: DON BLUTH
  • Producers: DON BLUTH with JOHN POMEROY and GARY GOLDMAN
  • Character Animation: DON BLUTH, JOHN POMEROY, GARY GOLDMAN and
  • Assistant Animator: SKIP JONES
  • Additional Animators and Assistant Animators: LORNA COOK-POMEROY, HEIDI GUEDEL, LINDA MILLER, EMILY JUILIANO, DAVE SPAFFORD and SALLY VOORHEIS, DIANN LANDAU and VERA LAW
  • Music Conductor and Arrangement: ROBERT F. BRUNNER
  • Orchestra Manager: MICHAEL DVORAK
  • Additional Orchestrator: BOBBY HAMMACK)
  • Film Editing: SAM HORTA
  • Sound: RYDER SOUND SERVICES
  • Special Thanks To: DAN MOLINA and NANCY BARNES, JOAN BARNES and DAVE MOLINA, JANET BRUCE and WILL FINN, JOE JUILIANO, DAN KUENSTER and CINDY CHILKO, SUE EVANS and JEFFRY PATCH, DAVE SMITH and JULIE SPAFFORD, SHIRLEY SPAFFORD and DAVE PETTIJOHN, CHARLES G. WILSON and ANNE NEALE, OLGA CRAIG, and JAMES MacDONALD, CHUCK WARREN and EDNA HARTLING, SARAH KING and MEL GRIFFIN, MARY BURNEY and CARMEN OLIVER, MIRIAM C. McKINNEY and CAROLINE PFOUTS, CARALYN WARREN and ELLEN DAVIS, CATHY DREYFUS and JERI VAN OSTEN
  • Produced by DON BLUTH PRODUCTIONS INC.
  • Distributed by COLUMBIA PICTURES
  • Color by TECHNICOLOR

Uncredited[]

  • Writers: DON and TOBY BLUTH
  • Assitant Director: JEFFREY C. PATCH
  • Character Animation: PHIL NIBBELINK
  • Xerographic Process Operator: JOHN EDDINGS
  • Xerox Checker and Cel Inker: DARYL CARTENSEN
  • Assistant Xerox Checker and Assistant Cel Inker: JOHN POMEROY
  • Cel Painter: TINA PRICE - NOTE: The Other Cel Painters are Listed in the "Special Thanks To..." Section of the Credits)
  • Animation Camera Operator: ROB MAINE
  • Packaging Agent: STEPHEN L. PINKS
  • Animation Camera Stand Engineering: FAX-RICHARDSON ANIMATION COMPANY INC.
  • Classical Animation Equipment Suppliers: FAX-RICHARDSON ANIMATION COMPANY INC., CARTOON COLOUR COMPANY INC. and ART COLOR PRODUCTS
  • Film Editing Equipment Suppliers: MOVIOLA INC.
  • Prints by DE LUXE
  • Produced on EASTMAN KODAK MOTION PICTURE FILM

Trivia[]

  • This is one of a few Don Bluth productions that used cartoony Hanna-Barbera sound effects; others include Bartok the Magnificent.
  • The part where Banjo bites the tails of His sisters is cut from the final version, a cel from said scene is available.
  • In the Car Crash scene, one person inside one of the crashed cars, bears a resemblance to Amos Slade, a character, from Disney's Fox and the Hound.
  • Right before Banjo and His sisters land in the snow, Emily and Jean’s neck ribbons were missing.

Gallery[]

Advertisement