Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at The Fox & The Hound

Welcome everyone, to another article in my ongoing Disney retrospective lovingly entitled Deep Dive Disney. Today, we’re looking at one that I watched frequently as a child but have not had the opportunity to relive since I was very, very small. For this article, we are looking at the 1981 Disney classic, The Fox & The Hound. The Fox & The Hound tells the story of a baby fox taken in and raised by a lonely widow farmer who gives him the name Tod. Around the same time, Widow Tweed’s surly, gun-toting neighbor, Amos Slade, gets a new puppy named Copper whom he intends to raise as his new hunting dog. Despite the fact that their owners don’t especially care for one another, Tod and Copper form an unlikely friendship and come to enjoy playing together. However, despite the two small animals believing they’ll be friends forever, sooner or later, the reality of the situation must come to light. Tod is a Fox, and Copper is a hunting dog. These two are destined to be enemies. It’s a story about the power of friendship with some surprisingly mature and harsh lessons for children. Reliving this classic from my childhood was a pleasant surprise and I honestly really enjoyed this one. Let’s dive right into, The Fox & The Hound

Main Character:

Tod and Copper, in the first half of the movie, are just concentrated adorable. I’m not normally one of the cutesy stuff, but just seeing these two adorable animals playing together is actually really nice. It reminds you of that feeling when you’re a little kid without a care in the world, ignorant of the harsh realities of life that await you come adulthood. This friendship they share is important to establish since it increases the emotional sting by that much when they grow up and are forced to be enemies. When they finally do grow up, Tod is voiced by Mickey Rooney, who does a good job but, I don’t know. Maybe I’m just too used to his voice but I couldn’t unhear the Rankin & Bass Santa Claus and it was really distracting. Still, Rooney is a great actor and I’m glad he’s here. Learning the identity of Copper’s voice actor was actually quite a shock. You know who it is? Kurt Russel! Yeah, Copper the hound dog from Disney’s The Fox & The Hound is voiced by none other than Snake Fucking Plissken! Ain’t that something? One of my favorite actors of all time was in this movie from my childhood all along and I never knew it until now. I actually really like that Copper is quicker to accept reality while Tod desperately tries to hang onto their friendship once both reach maturity. Copper doesn’t want to see Tod get killed, but he understands that their friendship can no longer be. Copper is a hunting dog and Tod is a fox. This is just the way of things. Still, ultimately, the power of friendship overcomes the boundaries of nature and it’s actually done in a way that’s a lot less cheesy than that sounds.

Villain:

Amos Slade, Copper’s master, is often labeled the villain of this film and I don’t know if that’s entirely fair. No, this is not an Edgar Balthazar situation. While I think Edgar got a raw deal, he was unquestionably an antagonistic force. With Slade, I’m honestly not sure. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a trigger happy jerk and he goes to some extremes to get revenge on Tod for putting his other hunting dog, Chief, out of commission (albeit accidentally). He even goes so far as to illegally hunt Tod in a game preserve where Widow Tweed releases him for his protection. However, the film also makes a point to show that he does genuinely care deeply for both Copper and Chief and he only ever loses his temper with the fox when he directly causes havoc on his property or injures one of his beloved pets. From that perspective, you can kind of see why he’s so hellbent on hunting Tod down. Still, at the end he shows he’s not such a bad guy when he sees how much Copper still cares for Tod and willingly stands down. Honestly, I think this may be one of the few early Disney films that neither has, nor needs, a central antagonist. The story just kind of stands on its own. However, we do get a final boss in the form of a massive and terrifying black bear who comes out of nowhere at the end. Good stuff.

Side Characters:

There are a few side characters here and there worth mentioning. Widow Tweed is your typical sweet old lady and the bond she forms with Tod is incredibly sweet. There’s also this great scene where she just goes off on Slade and shoots up his car. Nice!

Big Mama the Owl is a nice character who helps Tod come to grips with reality and why his friendship with Copper simply cannot last. She's kind and maternal towards Tod as well as some of the other animals in the forest and I rather enjoyed her.

Chief, Amos Slade’s older hunting dog is actually a much more likable character than I remembered him from when I was a child. That’s our pal Pat Buttram again and he does a great job as always. While he’s a bit of a jerk in a similar fashion to his owner, he does develop a nice little soft spot for Copper that I found really sweet. However, as happy as I am that he survived, I feel the scene where Chief gets injured would have hit harder if he had died instead. Slade and Copper behave in a vengeful manner as if he had died and it’s not like Chief does anything of importance for the rest of the film. It’s not a big deal, but I can’t help but wonder what could have been.

There’s this subplot with two birds chasing a caterpillar that feels really disconnected from the rest of the story. The birds get one or two laughs, but they were mostly pointless.

Finally, there’s Vixie, the female fox who Tod falls in love with. I don’t object to giving Tod a love interest and I appreciate that she helps ensure that Tod won’t be miserable in his new home, but, at least to me, she felt mostly superfluous to the overall plot and if you cut her from the film, you wouldn't have missed much.

Songs:

There’s a couple of songs in this film, most of them done by Pearl Bailey who also voices Big Mama but few of them are really worth mentioning. The only one I really want to talk about is the one that plays when Widow Tweed is forced to free Tod into the game preserve. It doesn’t even start as a song. It just starts as a poem recited in Tweed’s head that illustrates how much Tod has come to mean to her. It’s honestly a heart wrenching scene and you really feel the emotion here. That last moment where Widow Tweed looks back at Tod with tears in her eyes really hits you in the feels.

Memorable Scenes:

I’m just going to come out and say it. This movie may have the most exciting and intense climax of any Disney Movie we’ve covered so far. I know, Sleeping Beauty with its epic battle with the Dragon amidst a forest of thorns, Peter Pan and the exciting sword fight with Captain Hook and Robin Hood with a harrowing prison break amidst the chaos of a burning castle, and yet it’s the film about a cute little fox and a cute little puppy playing together that gets the greatest climax? I know how that sounds and I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I didn’t just watch it but the final action scene of The Fox & The Hound of all things really is that good. It all starts off with Tod and Vixie out for a walk in the forest, unaware that Copper and Slade have laid traps and are waiting in the shadows. Things start out really quiet and ominous, the sense of impending doom slowly setting in. Then, as soon as Tod manages to narrowly avoid one of the traps, all hell breaks loose and the chase is on. There’s this one especially intense part where Tod and Copper have to fight and for the first time, they look like vicious animals instead of cute Disney characters. It’s actually a little unsettling, even for an adult. Tod gets away and he and Vixie try to hide in their burrow but Copper is relentlessly clawing at the front entrance trying to get in while Slade is waiting at back ready to shoot. Slade lights a fire to smoke the two foxes out and it looks like Tod and Vixie are done for but they manage to escape through the flames. The chase continues up the side of a waterfall where this huge bear comes out of nowhere and easily knocks Slade off the side of the hill where he stumbles into one of his own traps. Copper tries to protect his master but he’s no match for a fully-grown black bear. Tod hears Copper in pain and while he has the perfect chance to escape, he doesn’t want to leave his old friend to his fate attacks the bear, leading it back up the side of the waterfall where they both tumble over the cliff. Tod, who barely survived the fall, exhaustedly limps his way to shore where Slade is waiting with his rifle cocked. Copper, realizing what Tod did for him stands between Slade and Tod until finally, Slade sees reason and stands down. In this amazingly simple yet amazingly well executed moment, there’s no final exchange of dialogue between Tod and Copper. There doesn’t need to be. All we really get is the two exchanging looks of appreciation and understanding as they bid their final farewell. It’s a simply incredible scene that just does everything right and is exactly how a movie like this should end.

Story:

The overall point of this film, at least as I see it, is to show how certain friendships don’t last. That’s not exactly a happy message but I think it’s an important one for children to learn. Sure, maybe they won’t all grow up to try and kill you, but as you grow older you will grow apart from many of your childhood friends. That’s not a good thing or a bad thing, it’s just life. Let me give you an example. In first grade, there was this girl I had a crush on and we thought of each other as boyfriend and girlfriend, our seven-year-old minds not yet mature enough to understand what that actually meant. Still, at the time, young Wes thought we’d be together forever, but as Big Mama says, “Forever is a long time and time has a way of changing things.” Eventually, me and this person grew up, grew apart and moved on to adult lives and new relationships. Now, I am pleased to report that years later this person and I have reconnected and remain friends to this day, but that’s not always the case. Like I said, it’s not a bad or good thing that people grow apart over time, it’s just part of life. And I think that’s what this movie is, a slice of life. It shows some harsh realities, but also shows that things can eventually turn out okay, a great message for both children and adults.

The Dark Disney Factor:

So this movie opens with Tod’s mother getting shot, and unlike Bambi, the movie doesn’t ruin the moment by cutting to no happy birdies, she’s just dead. I’m astounded that no one ever brings this up but whatever. There’s also this really dark scene where the birds try to explain to Tod that Copper is to become a hunting dog and a trained killer and illustrates this by showing him Slade’s hunting shed and all the dead animal skins contained within. The look of utter horror on Tod’s face really says it all.

Final Thoughts:

I honestly wasn’t expecting to get much out of this one, so I can honestly say I am blown away by how much I enjoyed this viewing of The Fox & The Hound. It’s a wonderful, emotional and heartfelt film that’s even better than I remember it. I would happily recommend it to anyone of any age who’s looking for a fun Disney film with a strong message. Next time, it’s a film that I’ve been looking forward to for some time. It’s a film I have never seen before, it’s often regarded as one of Disney’s greatest failures as well as one of Disney’s darkest films. One way or another, it’s sure to be quite an experience. My friends, join me next time as Deep Dive Disney takes a look at The Black Cauldron.