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Home On The
Range
Release Date: April 2, 2004
Released By: Walt Disney Pictures
Rated: PG
Director: Will Finn, John Sanford
Writer: Will Finn, John Sanford
Starring: Roseanne Barr, Judi Dench, Jennifer Tilly, Cuba Gooding
Jr., Randy Quaid, Carole Cook, Richard Riehle, Charles Dennis,
Charles Haid, G.W. Bailey, Estelle Harris, Joe Flaherty, Charlie
Dell, Steve Buscemi, Patrick Warburton, Gov. Ann Richards, Sam
Levine
Walt Disney Pictures' rollicking new animated musical-comedy brings
the music of Oscar®-winning composer Alan Menken ("The Little
Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," etc.) to this
colorfully wild and woolly tale. When a greedy outlaw named Alameda
Slim (voiced by Randy Quaid) schemes to take possession of the
"Patch of Heaven" dairy farm, three determined cows (voiced by
Roseanne Barr, Dame Judi Dench, and Jennifer Tilly), a
karate-kicking stallion named Buck (voiced by Cuba Gooding Jr.), and
a colorful corral of critters join forces to save the farm in a wild
quest full of high-spirited adventure. Braving bad men and the
rugged western landscape, this unlikely assortment of animals risk
their hides and match wits with a mysterious bounty hunter named
Rico in a high stakes race to capture Slim and collect the reward
money. With stylishly retro animation, hilarious action sequences
and great new songs performed by such superstars as k.d. lang,
Bonnie Raitt and Tim McGraw, this fun-filled comedy will have moo-viegoers
stampeding to theatres everywhere.
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CAST AND CREW
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All trails lead to laughter, adventure and musical comedy in Walt
Disney Pictures’ rollicking new animated feature, “Home on the
Range,” a wild and woolly tale spotlighting a colorful cast of
animal characters and some larger-than-life humans. Featuring six
great new songs by Oscar®-winning composer/songwriter Alan Menken
(“The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” etc.) and
lyricist Glenn Slater, this film follows in the best musical
tradition of Disney animation. Adding to the fun and entertainment
is an all-star vocal ensemble led by Roseanne Barr, Judi Dench,
Jennifer Tilly, Cuba Gooding Jr., Randy Quaid, Steve Buscemi, Carole
Cook, and Governor Ann Richards. Equally impressive is the line-up
of musical superstars – k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, Tim McGraw and The
Beu Sisters – who seem right at “home” singing the Menken/Slater
tunes. Menken also composed the film’s magnificent original score.
Set in a fanciful version of the untamed West, “Home on the Range”
takes off at a full gallop when a greedy outlaw named Alameda Slim
(voice of Randy Quaid) schemes to take possession of the “Patch of
Heaven” dairy farm from its kindly owner, Pearl (voice of Carole
Cook). Unwilling to stand by and see their idyllic way of life
threatened, three determined cows (voiced by Roseanne Barr, Judi
Dench, and Jennifer Tilly), a karate-kicking stallion named Buck
(voice of Cuba Gooding, Jr.), and a colorful corral of critters join
forces to save the farm in a wild quest full of high-spirited
adventure. This unlikely assortment of animals brave bad guys and the
rugged western landscape as they risk their hides and match wits
with a mysterious bounty hunter named Rico (voice of Charles Dennis)
in a high stakes race to capture Slim and collect the reward money.
With its stylish animation, hilarious action sequences and inspired
musical moments, “Home on the Range,” is an animated adventure that
is fun for moo-viegoers of all ages.
Overseeing the film in her role as producer was Alice Dewey
Goldstone, a 14-year Disney veteran whose previous credits include
producing “Hercules,” a stint as associate producer on “The Lion
King,” and production manager on “Aladdin.” Making their feature
film directing debuts are Will Finn and John Sanford. During his
25-year career in animation, Finn supervised the creation of such
memorable characters as the precision-minded clock Cogsworth (for
“Beauty and the Beast”), the evil parrot Iago (for “Aladdin”), and
the garrulous gargoyle Laverne (for “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”).
Sanford joined the Disney animation team in 1993 and contributed to
the story development of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Mulan,” and
“Lilo & Stitch.” He also served as head of story on “Atlantis: The
Lost Empire.” Finn and Sanford wrote the screenplay for “Home on the
Range,” and also received a “story by” credit along with Michael
LaBash, Sam Levine, Mark Kennedy, and Robert Lence. David J.
Steinberg served as the film’s associate producer. H. Lee Peterson
was the editor.
According to Sanford, “Our goal with this film was to make it a lot
of fun for ourselves and for the audience. Will and I share a love
of cartoons and feel that making them is a great art. There are
values in our story that are good, but we didn’t want to be too
heavy handed with any kind of message. We’re proud to have made a
very fun and entertaining cartoon.”
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STORY
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Life is at its best for the happy animals at “Patch of Heaven,” a
“pretty as pie” dairy farm way out west owned by a kindly lady named
Pearl. Seldom is heard a discouraging word except perhaps from Jeb,
a cantankerous old goat who thinks every tin can belongs to him. In
her unofficial role as barnyard boss is Mrs. Calloway, a fastidious
British cow with an air of authority and a stylish straw hat. Grace,
the younger cow, is wide-eyed, a bit naďve, and has a penchant for
new age thinking. The farm’s other inhabitants include a colorful
assortment of pigs, chicks, and ducks.
This idyllic life is shaken to its core by two major events. A sassy
show cow named Maggie (three time winner of the Golden Udder Award
and the original Happy Heifer) comes to live at the farm when her
owner’s land is foreclosed and she finds herself in need of a new
home. Shortly afterwards, Sheriff Brown, on his hotshot horse Buck,
arrives to tell Pearl that “Patch of Heaven” is set to go on the
auction block in three days unless she comes up with a payment of
$750.Maggie proposes that the animals could win some Blue Ribbon
prize money at the upcoming county fair, and suggests the three cows
mosey into town to convince Buck to help them get more time.
Mrs. Calloway sees Maggie as an outsider and is reluctant to leave Pearl,
but ultimately agrees to go along with the plan.
In town, Maggie, Mrs. Calloway and Grace learn about a $750 reward
being offered for a notorious cattle rustler named Alameda Slim.
They decide to pursue the desperado themselves and collect the
reward money in order to save the farm. Buck refuses to help the
girls, and sets his sights instead on assisting his hero, a
mysterious champion bounty hunter named Rico. When Rico chooses Buck
to be his horse, the ambitious horse champs at the bit to ride into
action.
Meanwhile, the three cows attempt to find Slim by hitching up to a
chuck wagon that is headed to a cattle drive. Their plan pays off,
but the wily cattle rustler sends all of the cattle into a hypnotic
trance with his trademark yodel before Maggie and the gang can stop
him. Luckily, a tone-deaf Grace is unaffected and manages to save
her two traveling companions while Slim makes off with the rest of
the herd. Rico arrives too late to catch the slippery varmint, and
ends up dumping Buck in favor of a more reliable horse.
The cow trio can’t seem to catch a break, and getting caught in a
turbulent flash flood leaves them wondering, “will the sun ever
shine again?” Their luck changes with the arrival of Lucky Jack, a
one footed rabbit who turns out to be a Jack-of-all-trades. When he
reveals that his home at Echo Mine has been taken over by a yodeling
cattle rustler, the girls set out with a new sense of purpose.
At the mine, Slim outlines his master plan to his knuckle-headed
nephews, the Willies, and prepares to sell off his hijacked cows to
a shifty cattle broker named Wesley. Maggie, Grace and Mrs. Calloway
arrive on the scene and set into motion a daring plan to de-rail
Slim. Things seem to be going their way until Rico makes an
appearance and reveals a few surprises of his own.
Slim escapes and heads for the “Patch of Heaven” auction. It is the
last parcel of land he needs to complete his real estate kingdom and
exact his revenge on the homesteaders who failed to appreciate his
genius for yodeling. Buck finally sees Rico’s true colors and joins
the girls as they make a last ditch effort to save the farm. With the
odds firmly against them and time rapidly running out, the stage is
set for a final confrontation with Alameda Slim.
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ORIGINS
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Walt Disney Feature Animation had been interested in making a
western themed comedy for many years, and several different
storylines were explored during the film’s development period. One
early version of the story, entitled “Sweating Bullets,” followed a
little calf named Bullets, who wanted to be more like the horses who
led the herd. In 1999, story artist Michael LaBash suggested a
surprising approach involving three cow protagonists who become
bounty hunters to save the farm. Other story artists and writers
contributed to the new idea – including Sam Levine, Mark Kennedy,
and Robert Lence and Shirley Pierce. Directors Finn and Sanford came
on board in October, 2000, and helped to shape the story further and
write the final screenplay.
Sanford recalls, “When we came on board, we had a free hand. The
song ‘Little Patch of Heaven’ was already in production, but other
than that we had no restrictions. We knew we wanted to make an
upside-down western where the cows are the heroes instead of the
cowboys. And from there, we had the freedom to move in any
direction.”
Finn adds, “The good news was we could make it our own, in any shape
or form we wanted. The bad news was we had to move the project along
quickly. It was like jumping on a moving train. We were pretty bold
with the story and with the arcs of the characters. Buck and Slim
were the characters that needed a lot of work. Buck was unlikable
and arrogant. Instead of being the best bounty-hunting horse in the
West, we made him this sort of untried, young hopeful character who
wanted to be a hero but never had a shot.”
“Figuring out what to do with Slim was another major hurdle for our
story team,” adds Sanford. “We went through so many motivations and
so many different reasons for why he was doing what he was doing.
The problem was we had heroes who had absolutely nothing to do with
the villain. When we came up with the idea that Slim was stealing
cows to buy up the land, it all started to fall into place. By going
after the land, and specifically ‘Patch of Heaven,’ we gave the cows
something to gain by catching him.”
Another major piece of the story puzzle fell into place with the
inspired idea to cast Roseanne Barr as the outsider cow, Maggie.
Sanford explains, “Will and I have been huge fans of the Roseanne
show from way back, and I loved her HBO specials. But the idea to
cast her really came from my wife Sara. I was showing her some
scenes from the movie, and she was having trouble liking or
understanding the Maggie character. She just blurted out, ‘Why don’t
you get Roseanne?’ Will and I had been racking our brains trying to
figure out what kind of personality might contrast with Calloway and
Grace. This seemed like a great idea and when I brought it up at the
Studio, everyone seemed to agree. Suddenly we had a character who
was disruptive and a consensus breaker.”
Finn adds, “Maggie adds a tension that wasn’t there before. Even if
they do save the farm, will Maggie ever fit in? And is Mrs. Calloway
going to accept her? It made the tension that we always wanted to
have between those characters real.”
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MUSIC
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The name Alan Menken has come to be closely associated with the very
best in Broadway music, as well as Academy Award®-winning songs and
scores for Disney animated films including such modern standards as
“Under the Sea,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “A Whole New World,” and
“Colors of the Wind.” One genre he has not tackled before is the
western. The renowned composer/songwriter set out to demonstrate the
full range of his musical talents with the songs and score for “Home
on the Range.” Working with lyricist Glenn Slater, a major new
talent, Menken proved that he was very at home with this genre too.
“‘Home on the Range’ is a hybrid kind of musical,” notes Menken.
“Two of the songs are sung by characters in the film and the rest
are under the action. This was quite different from the musicals I
have written in the past, where the characters break into song. As a
musical theatre writer, my job is to create a stylistic language for
telling the story. With this film, the language and the intent were
quite different from things I’ve done in the past. It was fun and
challenging at the same time.”
“The main thing I want is to provide an audience in a song something
to take away with them,” he continues. “So that after they’ve heard
that song, it’s alive to them. That, to me, is the most important
aspect of songwriting. It should be evocative and memorable. And it
should be something that, once somebody's heard it, belongs to them
for the rest of their lives.”
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NOTE: All content and images appearing above were
culled from Buena Vista Press Releases.
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