''Banjo the Woodpile Cat'' is a 1979

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Don Bluth Donald Virgil Bluth (; born September 13, 1937) is an American film director, animator, production designer, and animation instructor, best known for his animated films, including '' The Secret of NIMH'' (1982), '' An American Tail'' (1986), ''Th ...

. It follows the story of Banjo, an overly curious and rebellious kitten who, after getting into trouble for falling from a house to see if he could land on his feet, runs away from his woodpile home in his owners' farm in

Payson, Utah Payson is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo– Orem Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 21,101 at the 2020 census. History Pioneers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led by J ...

by catching a truck to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

. Produced on a shoestring budget, and created in Bluth's garage, the film took four years to make and it was the first production of Don Bluth Productions, later

Sullivan Bluth Studios Don Bluth Entertainment (formerly Sullivan Bluth Studios) was an Irish-American animation studio established in 1979 by animator Don Bluth. Bluth and several colleagues, all of whom were former Disney animators, left Disney on September 13, 1979, ...

. It premiered theatrically on November 16, 1979, and at the USA Film Festival one year later. It was released on DVD by

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...

on May 20, 2014.

Plot

In a woodpile on a farm in

, a rambunctious orange kitten named Banjo constantly makes mischief, to his family's dismay. After Banjo disobeys his father's warnings of learning to mind Banjo's little sisters and, after one of Banjo's stunts nearly gets his little sisters killed, Banjo's father prepares to

spank Spanking is a form of corporal punishment involving the act of striking, with either the palm of the hand or an implement, the buttocks of a person to cause physical pain. The term spanking broadly encompasses the use of either the hand or im ...

the kitten and orders Banjo to retrieve the switch that will be used against him; Banjo instead runs away. He hitches a ride on a feed truck to

. In the big city, Banjo finds excitement at first, but soon he causes a massive traffic accident. He eventually retreats to the alleys, homesick and hungry during a thunderstorm. Another cat named Crazy Legs discovers Banjo and offers to help him find his way back home. During their search one snowy night, Crazy Legs and Banjo come to a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gen ...

and enlist the help of more cats, including a singing cat trio (Cleo, Melina and Zazu). Later that night, while searching for the truck that could take him back to the farm, Banjo and Crazy Legs are chased by a pack of dogs. The pair barely escape and end up at the singing cats' home for the night. The next morning, Banjo wakes up and hears the driver of the truck out in the street. The cats rejoice and say many goodbyes before Banjo gets on the truck and eventually reunites with his family, who are happy to see him home.

Cast

Sparky Marcus Sparky Marcus (born Marcus Issoglio; December 6, 1967) is an American former actor. Early life Marcus was born in Hollywood, California. Career Marcus was well known for playing the role of the precocious child but also worked extensively as a ...

as Banjo *

Scatman Crothers Benjamin Sherman Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986), known professionally as Scatman Crothers, was an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show '' Chico and the Man'', and Dick Hal ...

as Crazy Legs *

Beah Richards Beulah Elizabeth Richardson (July 12, 1920 – September 14, 2000), known professionally as Beah Richards and Bea Richards, was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She was also a poet, playwright, author and activist. Rich ...

as Zazu

Additional voices

* Jerry Harper as Freeman (Feed Truck Driver) * Ken Sansom as Farmer / Warehouse Man / Papa Cat * Ann E. Beasley as Jean * Robin Muir as Emily * Georgette Rampone as Mama Cat / Cleo / Melina

Singers

Jackie Ward Jackie Ward (born Jacqueline McDonnell, 1941), better known as Robin Ward, is an American singer, regarded as a "one-hit wonder" of 1963 million-selling song "Wonderful Summer". However, using her real name she was highly accomplished and s ...

- Melina *

Sally Stevens Sally Stevens (born November 24, 1939) is an American actress, singer and a vocal contractor. She has sung on hundreds of ''The Simpsons'' episodes, and sings the main title, which has been in use since the inception of the show. She also sing ...

- Cleo * Sue Allen - Zazu

Production

This film was started as a

side project In popular music, a side project is a project undertaken by one or more people already known for their involvement in another band. It can also be an artist or a band temporarily switching to a different style. Usually these projects emphasize ...

, while

was still working at

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

. Bluth had previously considered producing a short film based on the fairy tale ''

The Pied Piper of Hamelin The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The legend dates back to ...

'', but felt that it was too large a production. He invited several other young

animators An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games ...

to his house on nights and weekends to discover secrets of classical animation that he felt had been lost at Disney. The team worked in Bluth's garage. Bluth, and animators such as

Gary Goldman Gary Wayne Goldman (born November 17, 1944) is an American film producer, director, animator, writer and voice actor. He is known for working on films with Don Bluth such as ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' for his directorial debut, ''Anastasia'', ' ...

, felt that Disney were only attempting to reduce the cost of films without paying attention to any artistic values. Eventually he resigned from Disney, along with 17 other animators, to finish this film and begin ''

The Secret of NIMH ''The Secret of NIMH'' is a 1982 American animated fantasy adventure film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut and based on Robert C. O'Brien's 1971 children's novel, '' Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH''. The film features the voices ...

''. That bold walk-out caused a delay in the release of Disney's ''

The Fox and the Hound ''The Fox and the Hound'' is a 1981 American animated buddy drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and loosely based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Daniel P. Mannix. The 24th Disney animated feature film, the film tells the st ...

'' which was still in mid-production. The story is partially based on one of Don Bluth's real-life experiences: While living on a

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is use ...

, his family's

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

, who lived in a woodpile nearby, disappeared, only to return to the farm several weeks later. During the filming stage, it was considered to become a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

. It included a fleshed-out villain: a scarred,

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

-smoking cat named Rocko, who bears similarities to Warren T. Rat (from ''

An American Tail ''An American Tail'' is a 1986 American animated musical adventure film directed by Don Bluth from a screenplay by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss and a story by David Kirschner, Freudberg and Geiss. The film features the voices of Phillip Glass ...

'') and Carface Caruthers (from ''

All Dogs Go to Heaven ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' is a 1989 animated musical fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots a ...

''). A

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes ( eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blat ...

that saves Banjo from a group of young children in

later became Digit in ''An American Tail''. The tone of the film was darker and more akin to ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'', and the climactic battle between Crazy Legs and Rocko was inspired by Disney's ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...

''. However, it was found that padding the film and adding darker elements did not strengthen the storyline, so the filmmakers kept the film as a short. It was considered to be made into a

Christmas special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in in literature and Christmas music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptatio ...

, and would have featured live-action scenes of

talking to

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

, and the

animation Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

would have more of a Christmas theme. Don Bluth recalled: "We forced Christmas into it, and it didn't work". Despite this claim, Crazy Legs briefly wearing the Santa Claus suit, the wintry landscapes, and decorations, are still evident in the final film. Don Bluth pitched this film, during pre-production, to then-studio head Ron W. Miller, as a future property for Disney. Seeing no value in it, Miller turned it down. The

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

and

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughou ...

effects seen in this movie are re-used live-action passes, thrown away by the Disney studio, in favor of cheaper and faster techniques.

Spin-off

A ''

Dragon's Lair ''Dragon's Lair'' is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer and Don Bluth. The series is famous for its Western animation-style graphics and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms and being remade into television a ...

''-esque version of the film under the name ''Banjo the Woodpile Cat Adventure Game'' was developed and released on the iPhone and

iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a musi ...

by Iconic Apps in March 2009.

Potential sequel

Although there has been interest in a revival of the film and characters, including a sequel ''Banjo Meets the King of the Goblins'', Bluth has stated that he so far wishes to leave the film behind.

References

External links

* * * Cawley, Joh
the Woodpile Cat''
(book excerpts)

at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on February 22, 2018.
The 1979 short on Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banjo The Woodpile Cat American Broadcasting Company television specials ABC Weekend Special 1979 films 1979 animated films 1979 short films 1970s American animated films 1970s animated short films Films set in Utah American animated short films Films directed by Don Bluth Films with screenplays by Don Bluth Films set in 1944 Fictional cats Sullivan Bluth Studios films American animated television films Animated films about cats 1970s children's animated films Films produced by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman Films produced by John Pomeroy 1970s English-language films