Dear Friends, I have been excited all week about our movie talk this week. It is about my favorite movie in the world -- The Ugly Dachshund! This is also my Momma's favorite live action Disney movie.
The Ugly Dachshund was made in 1966. It stars Suzanne Pleshette and Dean Jones as a young married couple, Fran and Mark. Fran loves dachshunds. She has a beloved dachshund named Danke who has three beautiful puppies: Heidi, Wilhelmina, and Chloe. The puppies are born at the vet clinic and there Danke adopts a Great Dane puppy named Brutus, who was rejected by his own mother.
Danke and the puppies all come home. They settle in -- but as Brutus grows, he thinks he is a dachshund, although he is 150 pounds! The dachshunds are very fun loving and mischievous and Brutus gets blamed for a few of their adventures.
This is a little bit of a romantic comedy and a little bit of a screwball comedy -- but it is SO MUCH BETTER because it has dachshunds (and a Great Dane!). I love this movie and highly recommend it to all my dog loving friends!
Trivia: The movie was based on the 1938 book The Ugly Dachshund by G.B. Stern. My Momma has read the book and said the movie was much better! Brutus the Great Dane also appeared in the Disney movie The Swiss Family Robinson. Suzanne Pleshette's little Yorkshire Terrier, Missy, was jealous of the dog smells she came home with during filming. She had to shower and change every afternoon before leaving the studio! Here is the trailer for the movie. It will make you laugh! Have you seen The Ugly Dachshund? I would love to hear from you in the comments, below. Love, Abby xoxoxo
Dear Friends, Several friends have mentioned Oliver and Company as a favorite movie that includes dogs, so I wanted to be sure to include it here.
Oliver and Company is a 1988 Disney movie. It is a clever retelling of the story of Oliver Twist. However, in this movie Oliver is a cat and his friends on the street are all dogs! Oliver and Company is set in present day New York. The dogs in the movie include a mixed breed dog (the Dodger), an Afghan Hound, a Chihuahua, a Bulldog, a Poodle, and a Great Dane. Voice actors in this movie include Joey Lawrence, Billy Joel, Cheech Marin, Richard Mulligan, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Dom Deluise, Robert Loggia, Bette Midler, and more. The movie features songs by Billy Joel, Huey Lewis, and Barry Manilow. The movie's song "Why Should I Worry?" won a Golden Globe award.
A little trivia: The animators who worked on this movie shot footage of New York City from 18 inches off the ground in order to capture a dog's eye view!
Roger Radcliffe from 101 Dalmatians makes a cameo. He appears when Oliver wakes up after sleeping on the truck.
The "Why Should I Worry" number also features Pongo (101 Dalmatians) and Jock, Trusty, and Peg (Lady and the Tramp).
The dogs do dances that are inspired by the work of Bob Fosse. Here is the trailer for this movie: Have you seen Oliver and Friends? Or do you have any other dog movies to share? Thanks for visiting - have a wonderful weekend! Love, Abby xoxoxo
Dear Friends, When I asked for favorite dog movies, several people mentioned the Disney movie The Fox and the Hound. I have not seen this movie, but enjoyed learning more about it to share with you.
The Fox and the Hound is a 1981 Disney movie. It tells the story of the unlikely friendship of a young fox and a hound puppy. The fox is named Tod (voiced by Mickey Rooney) and the hound is Copper (voiced by Kurt Russell). As the fox and hound grow up they are separated. When they reunite as grown animals, Tod is living in the wild and Copper is owned by a hunter -- who wants to hunt foxes. The movie is about the strength of friendship. (And it sounds like a tearjerker, despite a Disney ending!)
Trivia:
The movie is based on the book The Fox and the Hound by Daniel P. Mannix. The book sounds much, much sadder than the movie. Tim Burton did some uncredited animation work on this movie. The producer's son had a pet fox who visited the Disney studio and met the animators. Phil Harris and Charo voiced cranes in this movie, but their parts were cut from the final film. Here is the original trailer for the movie: Have you seen The Fox and the Hound? I would love to hear from you about this movie, or other favorite dog movies, in the comments. Love, Abby xoxoxo
Dear Friends, Today I would like to share an older Disney movie called The Shaggy Dog. This movie, from 1959, was Disney's first live action comedy. It was based on a novel called The Hound of Florence by Felix Salten, who also wrote Bambi.
The movie starred Fred MacMurray (later seen in My Three Sons) as the father of a boy named Wilby. Wilby, played by Tommy Kirk, is a boy who loves inventions. Wilby finds a mysterious ring belonging to the Borgias at a museum and it transforms him into a dog! Wilby the dog is adventurous -- just like Wilby the teenage boy. He even enjoys driving an old jalopy! After a number of fun-loving misadventures, Wilby turns back into a boy ... and his family ends up adopting a dog. It seems they discovered they loved dogs when he was one!
Here is a photo of Fred MacMurray and Wilby the sheepdog:
This photo shows Tim Considine (who also later appeared in My Three Sons), a dog friend, and Tommy Kirk (Wilby).
Some fun trivia about this movie: The Shaggy Dog was originally imagined as a TV pilot. The producer of The Shaggy Dog liked to joke that perhaps The Shaggy Dog inspired My Three Sons: "Same kids, same dog and Fred MacMurray!" The movie was later the inspiration for a Scholastic book for children (1967) and a comic book.
There was a sequel in 1976 starring Dean Jones as a 45 year old version of Wilby. It was also remade in 2006 with Tim Allen. Here is a clip from the movie: Have you seen The Shaggy Dog or the remake? I would love to hear from you in the comments, below.
I enjoyed visiting with you today and look forward to catching up again next week! Love, Abby xoxoxo
