The Rescuers
Short description
The Rescuers is a 1977 animated adventure from Walt Disney Productions. A young orphan named Penny has been taken captive by the greedy Madame Medusa, who wants the girl's help in recovering a priceless diamond from a swamp. Penny sends a message in a bottle asking for help, and it is picked up in New York by the International Rescue Aid Society, a network of mice with delegates from around the world. The refined Miss Bianca and the cautious, resourceful Bernard are assigned to the case, and their search carries them toward Medusa's hideout and the dangers that surround it. The film runs 78 minutes.
Wolfgang Reitherman directed, working alongside Art Stevens and John Lounsbery, and also produced. The film followed Reitherman's earlier work on One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats and Robin Hood, and came the same year as The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh; for Stevens it was a first directing credit, ahead of The Fox and the Hound, while Lounsbery had directed on Winnie the Pooh. The voice cast includes Bob Newhart as Bernard, Eva Gabor as Miss Bianca, Geraldine Page as Madame Medusa, Joe Flynn, Jeanette Nolan and Pat Buttram.
Made for about 8 million dollars, the film took roughly 169 million dollars worldwide, a strong return. On IMDb it holds 6.9/10 from around 75,000 votes and on TMDB 6.8/10 from about 2,700 votes, while critics rated it 6.4/10 across 33 reviews, so audiences have tended to be slightly warmer toward it than reviewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the original script, Louis Prima (1910-1978) was supposed to voice the bear Louis. Prima had already recorded four songs for his character and a significant portion of the dialogue, but in 1975 he underwent brain surgery and never regained consciousness. All material with him and his character was removed from the film.
- The film was made with the efforts of 250 people over four years. It became the last work of the so-called “new old men.” Walt Disney used this nickname to refer to the team of his directors and artists, which he personally prepared.
- Don Bluth once noticed a lack of color in the eyes of some characters. He inquired about the reason and was told that coloring the eyes would be too expensive. Bluth, with animator Gary Goldman, checked if this was actually the case and realized that it wasn't expensive at all. When they reported this to management, they were advised not to interfere and to do as they were told. According to Bluth, this was the straw that broke the camel's back, and eventually Bluth and Goldman were fired from Disney.
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