Banjo the Woodpile Cat
Encyclopedia
Banjo the Woodpile Cat is a 1979 animated short television film
directed by Don Bluth
. 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
by catching a truck to Salt Lake City. The film took four years to make and it was Sullivan Bluth's debut film. It had a short theatrical run in November 1979 (Appearing as a short before The Muppet Movie
at theaters showing the film for a holiday season re-release in the Los Angeles
area.), but did not appear on network television until 1982. It is currently available on two-disc DVD on Amazon.com
and digital download at MyToons
.
On March 11, 2009, a Dragon's Lair
-esque version of the film under the name Banjo the Woodpile Cat Adventure Game was developed and released on the iPhone
and iPod Touch
by Iconic Apps.
, the film begins with chicken
s being chased by Banjo. His sisters, Emily and Jean, tell their parents and Banjo's father tries to stop Banjo as the sisters and Mother look on. Banjo stops when he runs headlong into his father. He apologizes and says he won't do it again.
As the song rises again, a montage of still and semi-animated scenes shows Banjo still full of mischief including smoking the pipe
from a snowman
while sitting on its head and standing among broken decorations while looking at his reflection in a Christmas
ornament. This ends with him and his sisters walking along the roof of the chicken coop. Banjo tells the girls that he has heard that a cat will always land on its feet and that they can prove it by jumping off the roof. The girls refuse but Banjo grabs their tails and all three go sliding off the roof into the snow.
Furious at his actions, Papa demands that Banjo get a switch from the field for an obvious spanking. While looking for a switch, Banjo becomes angry himself and decides to run away from home. At that moment, he overhears the driver of the feed truck talking about the good times in Salt Lake City. Banjo makes up his mind to leave and by grabbing a rope
on the truck hitches a ride to Salt Lake City. A small music
al sting follows Banjo as he watches his home get farther away.
In the city, Banjo finds plenty of excitement, once again largely through a series of stills and vignettes. He sees magazines, tries beer, plays around at a pool hall and other vices. Eventually he runs into trouble in traffic and causes a major collision. This begins a series of vignettes showing Banjo wearying of the city's lights and excitement.
When it begins to rain he looks for shelter. The first location is filled with rats so he leaves, finally ending up huddled up in a small can in an alley. He looks at a puddle and sees his family reflected in the pond. Banjo breaks down and cries.
Suddenly a gravelly voice is heard singing in the distance. It is Crazy Legs who discovers the lost kitten in the can. They strike up a friendship when Crazy tells Banjo the kitten can go back home by finding the truck he originally rode out on. As they begin to search, Crazy suggests they can look for some of the "good times" that Banjo wanted to see along the way
Crazy and Banjo come to a night club that Crazy recognizes so they go inside to look. Inside three cats (Zazu, Melina and Cleo) are singing a Boogie-Woogie style number on stage. After the song, the leader of the trio, Zazu comes over to Crazy and meets Banjo. She scolds Banjo for running away and the kitten becomes depressed again. To cheer him up, Crazy and the girls break into a musical number ("I'll Stick With You Kid") and Banjo ends up joining in. Afterwards, Crazy asks all the cats to look for the feed truck.
Later that night Crazy and Banjo are going through a dark alley when they encounter some mean dog
s. A chase begins and the pair only escape by climbing up a series of boxes. The pair arrives at the singing cats' home and Banjo goes to sleep. Before Crazy goes to sleep, he prays that he will be able to find the truck so that Banjo can go home.
The next morning, when Banjo wakes up, he hears the driver of the truck out in the street. All parties rejoice as Banjo, Crazy, Zazu, Melina and Cleo all go to the truck to say goodbyes. Suddenly, Banjo is sad again, because he has to leave his new friends. Crazy and Banjo take so long to say goodbye that the truck leaves. However, Crazy manages to get Banjo on board and the kitten waves goodbye to his new friend.
When the truck arrives home, Banjo leaps off it and into the middle of his family. He's home now, and probably never plans to leave again.
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
directed by Don Bluth
Don Bluth
Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from The Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated films such as The Secret of NIMH , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven ,...
. 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, Utah
Payson is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 12,716 at the 2000 census. The current mayor is Rick Moore, who in the 2009 election was the first write-in candidate ever to defeat an incumbent mayor in...
by catching a truck to Salt Lake City. The film took four years to make and it was Sullivan Bluth's debut film. It had a short theatrical run in November 1979 (Appearing as a short before The Muppet Movie
The Muppet Movie
The Muppet Movie is the first of a series of live-action musical feature films starring Jim Henson's Muppets. Released in 1979, the film was produced by Henson Associates, Children's Television Workshop and ITC Entertainment....
at theaters showing the film for a holiday season re-release in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area.), but did not appear on network television until 1982. It is currently available on two-disc DVD on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
and digital download at MyToons
MyToons
MyToons was a free online community for animation that supported content sharing and social networking. MyToons.com was headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.The site was founded in 2006 by Paul Ford, Stacey Ford and Dan Kraus as a spinoff of Bauhaus Software...
.
On March 11, 2009, a Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair is a laserdisc video game published by Cinematronics in 1983. It featured animation created by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth....
-esque version of the film under the name Banjo the Woodpile Cat Adventure Game was developed and released on the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
by Iconic Apps.
Plot
Taking place in 1944, UtahUtah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, the film begins with chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s being chased by Banjo. His sisters, Emily and Jean, tell their parents and Banjo's father tries to stop Banjo as the sisters and Mother look on. Banjo stops when he runs headlong into his father. He apologizes and says he won't do it again.
As the song rises again, a montage of still and semi-animated scenes shows Banjo still full of mischief including smoking the pipe
Pipe
Pipe may refer to:* Pipe , a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules* Smoking pipe* Pipe or butt, a cask measurement* Pipe , a type of metal casting defect...
from a snowman
Snowman
A snowman is an anthropomorphic snow sculpture. They are customarily built by children as part of a family project in celebration of winter. In some cases, participants in winter festivals will build large numbers of snowmen...
while sitting on its head and standing among broken decorations while looking at his reflection in a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
ornament. This ends with him and his sisters walking along the roof of the chicken coop. Banjo tells the girls that he has heard that a cat will always land on its feet and that they can prove it by jumping off the roof. The girls refuse but Banjo grabs their tails and all three go sliding off the roof into the snow.
Furious at his actions, Papa demands that Banjo get a switch from the field for an obvious spanking. While looking for a switch, Banjo becomes angry himself and decides to run away from home. At that moment, he overhears the driver of the feed truck talking about the good times in Salt Lake City. Banjo makes up his mind to leave and by grabbing a rope
Rope
A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...
on the truck hitches a ride to Salt Lake City. A small music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
al sting follows Banjo as he watches his home get farther away.
In the city, Banjo finds plenty of excitement, once again largely through a series of stills and vignettes. He sees magazines, tries beer, plays around at a pool hall and other vices. Eventually he runs into trouble in traffic and causes a major collision. This begins a series of vignettes showing Banjo wearying of the city's lights and excitement.
When it begins to rain he looks for shelter. The first location is filled with rats so he leaves, finally ending up huddled up in a small can in an alley. He looks at a puddle and sees his family reflected in the pond. Banjo breaks down and cries.
Suddenly a gravelly voice is heard singing in the distance. It is Crazy Legs who discovers the lost kitten in the can. They strike up a friendship when Crazy tells Banjo the kitten can go back home by finding the truck he originally rode out on. As they begin to search, Crazy suggests they can look for some of the "good times" that Banjo wanted to see along the way
Crazy and Banjo come to a night club that Crazy recognizes so they go inside to look. Inside three cats (Zazu, Melina and Cleo) are singing a Boogie-Woogie style number on stage. After the song, the leader of the trio, Zazu comes over to Crazy and meets Banjo. She scolds Banjo for running away and the kitten becomes depressed again. To cheer him up, Crazy and the girls break into a musical number ("I'll Stick With You Kid") and Banjo ends up joining in. Afterwards, Crazy asks all the cats to look for the feed truck.
Later that night Crazy and Banjo are going through a dark alley when they encounter some mean dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s. A chase begins and the pair only escape by climbing up a series of boxes. The pair arrives at the singing cats' home and Banjo goes to sleep. Before Crazy goes to sleep, he prays that he will be able to find the truck so that Banjo can go home.
The next morning, when Banjo wakes up, he hears the driver of the truck out in the street. All parties rejoice as Banjo, Crazy, Zazu, Melina and Cleo all go to the truck to say goodbyes. Suddenly, Banjo is sad again, because he has to leave his new friends. Crazy and Banjo take so long to say goodbye that the truck leaves. However, Crazy manages to get Banjo on board and the kitten waves goodbye to his new friend.
When the truck arrives home, Banjo leaps off it and into the middle of his family. He's home now, and probably never plans to leave again.