| | | | Oliver & Company
(1988) |
ike Huey Lewis's bluesy-sounding song states, anything can happen "Once Upon A Time In New York City." Dogs can sing, cats can find themselves millionaire owners, and the viewers of this film can feel that it's a heartfelt, believable story.
"Oliver & Company" is Disney's rendition of "Oliver Twist", and is a much more entertaining, kids-version then the original. Granted, Charles Dickens was an amazing novelist, but his Old English is perhaps a little too complicated for most children today to understand. The characters in this animated film speak up-to-date streetwise-American english, not to mention they are much more adorable to children, being that they're all cuddly animals.
Oliver(Joey Lawrence) is an innocent, homeless kitten on the streets. He is alone and seemingly invisible to the world until the mixed-breed, artful Dodger(Billy Joel) and his gang of friends, all dogs as well; including the feisty Chihuahua Tito(Cheech Marin), the lovely Irish spaniel Rita, the burly English bulldog Francis, and the dopey Great Dane Einstein. The mutts are thieves who steal food to provide for their owner, a friendly bum named Fagin(Dom Deluise). Dodger uses Oliver to help him steal some hotdogs,while singing the hit "Why Should I Worry?", and now the tiny kitten wont leave him alone. Oliver feels he's finally found himself a home.
While on another criminal escapade, Oliver gets stuck in the limo of a girl named Jenny Foxworth(Natalie Gregory), and the girl immediately falls in love with Oliver. What's not to love? Plenty, according to Georgette(Bette Midler), Jenny's lavender pet Poodle. Georgette is a conceited, award-winning pooch who has the gaul to sing "Perfect Isn't Easy". Jenny, however, ignores Georgette and relates through her song "Good Company" that she and Oliver are best friends.
Although Oliver is finally content, things aren't looking so great for his friend Dodger and the rest of the gang. A money-lender named Sykes(Robert Loggie) and his two Doberman Pinchers, Roscoe and Desoto, will kill Fagin and the dogs if they don't pay him a large sum of money, not to mention Tito is in love with Georgette, and Jenny is heartbroken when the dogs steal Oliver away.
What happens at the end? Well, you just have to watch this cartoon classic to find out. Disney did a great job at making this an enjoyable film for both children and adults. Filled with music, laughter, and suspence, this film has all the recquirements to make it a Disney must-see.
 Don't forget that Oliver & Company is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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This was one of the first animated films that I saw at the movies and really loved. It was my favorite cartoon for a long time, I was only 7 when it was first released, and I remember being very dissapointed that it took so many years to be released on video.
I had all the Oliver & Co merchandise, including a Georgette doll, and I also had a Border Collie mix for many years that I named Dodger after the character in the film.
I enjoy watching this film as a nostalgia to my childhood. It brings back memories of such carefree days.
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Oliver & Company marked the start of a new flood of feature-animation productivity by Disney, which had set itself the target of releasing one new full-length animated feature per year. This pattern of annual release had been a dream of Walt Disney's since the time of Snow White, but it wasn't realized until over two decades after his death. 
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There was a lot of controversy over the intensity of Sykes, Roscoe, and Desoto, there was a feeling that the characters were too dark to be in a kids show. Not to mention the part where Sykes gets run over by a train. -Thanks to David
The only characters who are derived directly from their Dickensian counterparts are Oliver, Dodger, Fagin and Sykes.
Of all the famous names in the voice cast, only Cheech Marin (Tito) as ever done more voices for Disney films. in 1994, he was heard as Banzai, one of the hyenas in Disney's blockbuster "The Lion King", and in 2006 Cheech voiced low-riding Ramone in the Disney-Pixar smash "Cars". -Thanks to C.T. Warren
I think Oliver's parents were originally supposed to have been killed by Roscoe and De Soto, but it was deemed too complicated plot-wise. (read this in Mouse Under Glass)
If you look closely during the song "Why Should I Worry?" you can clearly see Lady, Tramp, Pongo and Jock from "Lady and the Tramp", parading along with other dogs after Dodger. -Thanks to Alana
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It was the first film to have its own department set up expressly for the purpose of generating computer animation. Of course, computer animation had earlier played a part in The Great Mouse Detective, but with Oliver & Co it began to come into its own, with just under 11 minutes of computer-assisted imagery used in combination with traditional hand-drawn character animation.
When asked about how the character of Oliver was created, supervising animator Mike Gabriel had this to say: "...the original concept was to make him a little older, more of a gangly teenager. But we quickly discovered that an innocent waif on the street was more sympathetic and vulnerable if he was played younger. By studying some of the classic Disney characters like Thumper in Bambi, we learned that young characters didn't have to be cloying or just a cute ball of fur. They worked because they were sincere and genuine. That's what we wanted for Oliver."
I think Jeffrey Katzenberg's status as a native New Yorker was a big influence on this film! (just a guess) -Thanks to Haly
When asked how they created the character of Dodger, supervising animator Andreas Deja had this to say: "In desigining the character of Dodger there was a natural tendency in the beginning to model him after Tramp since both are happy-go-lucky street dogs. But we wanted Dodger to have a unique look, so we gave him a rougher and scroungier appearance that seemed to fit in with the city setting."
Tad Gielow, the movie's head computer graphics engineer, had this to say about the movie: "Animating with a computer is like building a set. It may take a day or a week to compose a single frame or model, depending on its complexity. But once it's built, you can change the camera angle or revise the scene in no time at all."
Cheech Marin, the voice of Tito, said he read about 75 percent of his lines and improvised the other 25 percent. Cheech urged the movie makers to give his character of Tito a song, but they declined. The full name of "Tito" is Ignacio Alanzo Julio Federico de Tito.
The director of Oliver & Co, George Scribner, had this to say: "Because the city itself is, in some respects, another character in the picture, we wanted it to be realistic with lots of movement and traffic; not just static backgrounds. The computer has enabled us to generate the rhythm and action that goes with an urban center and then animate our characters on top of it."
Tito's supervising animator Hendel Butoy remarked in an interview with Charles Solomon for the Los Angeles Times that "Cheech was very animated while he was recording--Tito's expressions and body language were all there. But if I hadn't seen him, his voice would have been enough. The energy and spontaneity and entertainment value he put into his readings were very inspirational."
The supervising animator Glen Keane summarized the resulting character of Sykes very well" "We wanted him to be a solid, powerful guy who is seen mostly in shadow. He is personified by his car. We found it was much more intimidating if we didn't show him in light all the time. Also suggesting a sense of power are his hands, which are big, meaty mits with bratswurst-like fingers--yet they are very dexterous and delicate. In fact, his hobby is building models of his car."
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|  |  |  | | Oliver & Company
Locations |
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No locations - Animated feature!
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The main score was written by J.A.C. Redford and teh orchestration was by Thomas Pasatieri.
The CD is full of 80's music superstars like Billie Joel,Huey Lewis,Ruth Pointer,and Bette Midler. It is, in my opinion, one of the most enjoyable Disney soundtracks because the songs are more targeted towards typical radio-aired music, rather than dramatic Broadway. The tracks are:
1. Once Upon A Tine In New York City--Huey Lewis
2. Why Should I Worry--Billy Joel
3. Sykes--composed by J.A.C. Redford
4. Bedtime Story--composed by J.A.C. Redford
5. Streets Of Gold--Ruth Pointer
6. Perfect Isn't Easy--Bette Midler
7. Good Company--Natalie Gregory
8. The Rescue--composed by J.A.C. Redford
9. Pursuit Through The Subway--composed by J.A.C. Redford
10. Buscando Guayaba--Ruben Blades
11. End Title--composed by J.A.C. Redford
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Soundtrack Available:
Used On CD
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