The Fox and the Hound

In May 1967, shortly before The Fox and the Hound won the Dutton Animal Book Award, it was reported that Walt Disney Productions had obtained the film rights to the novel.[4] In spring 1977, development began on the project after Wolfgang Reitherman had read the original novel and decided that it would make for a good animated feature as one of his sons had once owned a pet fox years before.[3][5] The title was initially reported as The Fox and the Hounds,[6] but the filmmakers dropped the plural as the story began to focus more and more on the two leads.[7] Reitherman was the film's original director along with Art Stevens as co-director. A power struggle between the two directors and co-producer Ron Miller broke out between them over key sections of the film with Miller supporting the younger Stevens. Miller instructed Reitherman to surrender reins over the junior personnel,[8] but Reitherman resisted due to a lack of trust in the young animators.[9]

In an earlier version of the film, Chief was slated to die as he did in the novel. However, the scene was modified to have Chief survive with a cast on his back paw. Animator Ron Clements, who had briefly transitioned into the story department, protested that "Chief has to die. The picture doesn't work if he just breaks his leg. Copper doesn't have motivation to hate the fox." Likewise, younger members of the story team pleaded with Stevens to have Chief killed. Stevens countered that "Geez, we never killed a main character in a Disney film and we're not starting now!" The younger crew members took the problem to upper management who would also back Stevens.[10] Ollie Johnston's test animation of Chief stomping around the house with his leg in a cast was eventually kept, and Randy Cartwright re-animated the scene where Copper finds Chief's body and had him animate Chief's eyes opening and closing so the audience knew that he was not dead.[11]

Another fight erupted when Reitherman, in thinking the film lacked a strong second act, decided to add a musical sequence of two swooping cranes voiced by Phil Harris and Charo who would sing a silly song titled "Scoobie-Doobie Doobie Doo, Let Your Body Turn Goo" to Tod after he was dropped in the forest. Charo had recorded the song and voice tracks which were storyboarded,[12] and live-action reference footage was shot of her in a sweaty pink leotard. However, the scene was strongly disliked by studio personnel who felt the song was a distraction from the main plot with Stevens stating "We can't let that sequence in the movie! It's totally out of place!"[13] Stevens notified studio management and after many story conferences, the scene was removed. Reitherman later walked into Stevens's office, slumped in a chair, and said, "I dunno, Art, maybe this is a young man's medium." He later moved on to undeveloped projects such as Catfish Bend and died in a car accident in 1985.[14]

By late 1978, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Cliff Nordberg had completed their animation. Thomas had animated scenes of Tod and Copper using dialogue Larry Clemmons had written and recorded with the child actors.[15] This project would mark the last film to have the involvement of Disney's Nine Old Men who had retired early during production,[16] and animation was turned over the next generation of directors and animators, which included John Lasseter, John Musker, Ron Clements, Glen Keane, Tim Burton, Brad Bird, Henry Selick, Chris Buck, Mike Gabriel, and Mark Dindal, all of whom would finalize the animation and complete the film's production. These animators had moved through the in-house animation training program, and would play an important role in the Disney Renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s.[17]

However, the transition between the old guard and the new resulted in arguments over how to handle the film. Reitherman had his own ideas on the designs and layouts that should be used, but the newer team backed Stevens. Animator Don Bluth animated several scenes including of Widow Tweed milking her cow, Abigail, while his team worked on the rest of the sequence, and when Tweed fires at Amos Slade's automobile. Nevertheless, Bluth and the new animators felt that Reitherman was too stern and out of touch,[12] and on his 42nd birthday, September 13, 1979, Bluth, along with Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, entered Ron Miller's office, and they turned in their resignations. Soon after, 13 more animators followed suit in turning in their resignations. Though Bluth and his team had animated substantial scenes, they asked not to receive screen credit.[16]

With those animators now gone,[3] Miller ordered all of the resigning animators off the studio lot by noon of that same day and would later push the release of The Fox and the Hound from Christmas 1980 to summer 1981. New animators were hired and promoted to fill the ranks. To compensate for the lack of experience of the new animators, much of the quality control would rely upon a corp of veteran assistant animators.[18][11] Four years after production started, the film was finished with approximately 360,000 drawings, 110,000 painted cels and 1,100 painted backgrounds making up the finished product. A total of 180 people, including 24 animators, worked on the film.[3]

Early into production, the principal characters such as young Tod and Copper, Big Mama, and Amos Slade had already been cast. The supporting characters were cast by Disney voice regulars including Pat Buttram for Chief, Paul Winchell for Boomer, and Mickey Rooney, who had just finished filming Pete's Dragon, for adult Tod. Jeanette Nolan was the second choice for Widow Tweed after Helen Hayes turned down the part.[19] The last role to be cast was for adult Copper. Jackie Cooper had auditioned for the role, but left the project when he demanded more money than the studio was willing to pay. While filming the Elvis television film, former Disney child actor Kurt Russell was cast following a reading that had impressed the filmmakers, and completed his dialogue in two recording sessions.[20]

The Fox and the Hound was first released on VHS on March 4, 1994 as the last video installment of the Walt Disney Classics collection. The release was placed into moratorium on April 30, 1995.[23] On May 2, 2000, it was released to Region 1 DVD for the first time as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection line.[24] A 25th anniversary special edition DVD was released on October 10, 2006.[25]

The Fox and the Hound was released on Blu-ray Disc on August 9, 2011 to commemorate the film's 30th anniversary. The film was released in a 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack alongside its direct-to video followup The Fox and the Hound 2 in a 2-movie Collection Edition. Featuring a new digital restoration, the Blu-ray transfer presents the film for the first time in 1.66:1 widescreen and also features 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The Fox and the Hound 2 is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and features the same sound as the first film.[26] A DVD-only edition was also released on the same day.[26]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times claimed that the film "breaks no new ground whatsoever", while describing it as "a pretty, relentlessly cheery, old-fashioned sort of Disney cartoon feature, chock-full of bouncy songs of an upbeatness that is stickier than Krazy-Glue and played by animals more anthropomorphic than the humans that occasionally appear." Finally, he said that, "Like all Disney features, The Fox and the Hound is rather overstuffed with whimsy and folksy dialogue. It also possesses a climax that could very well scare the daylights out of the smaller tykes in the audience, though all ends well. Parents who don't relish chaperoning their tykes to see the movie, but find they must anyway, can take heart in the knowledge that the running time is 83 minutes. That's about as short as you can get these days."[27] Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times praised the animation, but criticized the story for playing it too safe. She acknowledged that the writers were "protecting us from important stuff: from rage, from pain, from loss. By these lies, done for our own good, of course, they also limit the growth that is possible."[28] Newsweek stated that "Adults may wince at some of the sticky-sweet songs, but the movie is not intended for grownups."[16]

Richard Corliss of Time praised the film for an intelligent story about prejudice. He argued that the film shows that biased attitudes can poison even the deepest relationships, and the film's bittersweet ending delivers a powerful and important moral message to audiences.[29] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times also praised the film, saying that "for all of its familiar qualities, this movie marks something of a departure for the Disney studio, and its movement is in an interesting direction. The Fox and the Hound is one of those relatively rare Disney animated features that contains a useful lesson for its younger audiences. It's not just cute animals and frightening adventures and a happy ending; it's also a rather thoughtful meditation on how society determines our behavior."[30]

TV Guide gave the film four out of five stars, saying that "The animation here is better than average (veteran Disney animators Wolfgang Reitherman and Art Stevens supervised the talents of a new crop of artists that developed during a 10-year program at the studio), though not quite up to the quality of Disney Studios in its heyday. Still, this film has a lot of "heart" and is wonderful entertainment for both kids and their parents. Listen for a number of favorites among the voices."[31] Michael Scheinfeld of Common Sense Media gave the film's quality a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, stating that the film "develops into a thoughtful examination of friendship and includes some mature themes, especially loss."[32]

In The Animated Movie Guide, Jerry Beck considered the film "average", though he praises the voice work of Pearl Bailey as Big Mama, and the extreme dedication to detail shown by animator Glen Keane in crafting the fight scene between Copper, Tod, and the bear.[33] In his book The Disney Films, Leonard Maltin also notes that the fight scene between Copper, Tod, and the bear received great praise in the animation world. However, Maltin felt the film relied too much on "formula cuteness, formula comedy relief, and even formula characterizations".[34] Overall, he considered the film "charming" stating that it is "warm, and brimming with personable characters" and that it "approaches the old Disney magic at times."[35] Craig Butler from All Movie Guide stated that the film was a "warm and amusing, if slightly dull, entry in the Disney animated canon." He also called it "conventional and generally predictable" with problems in pacing. However, he praised the film's climax and animation, as well as the ending. His final remark is that "Two of the directors, Richard Rich and Ted Berman, would next direct The Black Cauldron, a less successful but more ambitious project."[36]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film received a 70% approval rating with an average rating of 6.48/10 based on 27 reviews. The website's consensus states that "The Fox and the Hound is a likeable, charming, unassuming effort that manages to transcend its thin, predictable plot".[37] Metacritic gave the film a score of 65 based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[38]

In its original release, The Fox and the Hound grossed $39.9 million in domestic grosses, the highest for an animated film at the time from its initial release.[39] Its distributor rentals were reported to be $14.2 million while its international rentals totaled $43 million.[40] The film was re-released theatrically on March 25, 1988,[3] where it grossed $23.5 million.[41] The Fox and the Hound has had a lifetime gross of $63.5 million across its original release and reissue.[42]