In recent times, I've succeeded in tracking down a fair few movies that I'd fondly remembered from childhood but whose titles I could no longer recall. On 1 September 2021, I added another one to my tally of rediscoveries, finally identifying after a mere 49 years a mystifying Disney film from my distant past.
Back in the 1960s and early 1970s (possibly later too), whenever as a child I went to the cinema with one of my parents to watch a classic Disney animated movie, it was always part of a double-bill (great value for money!), being partnered with one of Disney's lesser-known live-action movies.
On one such occasion, I remember that the live-action movie in question was about a young boy running away into the wilds of North America with a pet lion (as you do!), together with his only friend, a little girl, seeking a young man aged in his 20s who was a family friend, wore denim, rode a motorbike, and would look after them all, which he did when they eventually found him.
Unfortunately, that sparse little précis was the sum total of my memories concerning this movie, and was all that I had to call upon, therefore, when trying to identify it in later years – except, however, for one additional, intriguing little fact about it that I'd read somewhere way back then.
The little fact in question was that the actor who played the young man was the son of a very famous Hollywood actor and had recently begun following his famous father into the acting profession – but instead of helping me identify the movie, this fact actually led me astray. That was because I had it in my mind that the young actor was Patrick Wayne, son of John Wayne, because I knew that Patrick had indeed starred in some Disney movies from that same time period. But after reading up on them, I realized that none of their plots matched my memories of the film that I'd seen as a child. Consequently, I remained resolutely puzzled down through the decades, until just over a month ago, when this mystifying movie came to mind yet again.
So, just like I'd done several times in the past, though always without success, I entered some relevant words into Google Image's search engine to see if anything that looked familiar came up – and this time, lo and behold, something did. Up popped some photographic stills of a young boy and girl with a lion, and the same young boy with a young man dressed in denim (one of these latter photos is included at the end of this present blog article), as well as some of the man riding a motorbike, plus the all-important information identifying which film these photo stills were from!
At last, I'd tracked down and identified the elusive film – it was Napoleon and Samantha, a Disney movie from 1972, directed by Bernard McEveety. And I'd been correct in remembering that the young man was the son of a much more famous actor – the only problem was, I'd misremembered who the famous father was!
It wasn't John Wayne after all. Instead, it was Kirk Douglas, and his son who was just starting out in acting was none other than Michael Douglas, as the photos from Napoleon and Samantha called up by Google unequivocally confirmed. Another movie mystery duly solved!
Since then I've been looking out now for a decently-priced DVD or VHS video of Napoleon and Samantha, as it would be nice – and nostalgic – to watch it again and add it to my Disney collection, and a few days ago I finally succeeded in purchasing its official DVD. So I now look forward to revisiting this tenaciously recalled movie from my youth.
Incidentally, in case you haven't seen this movie and are wondering about the names in its title, Napoleon is the boy (played by Johnny Whitaker), and Samantha is the girl (played by a young Jodie Foster no less, in her big-screen debut). The lion's name in the movie is Major, and Michael Douglas's character is the impressively-named Daniel Arlington Williams III (or simply Danny, as the children called him).
As for director Bernard McEveety, he went on to carve out a major name for himself in TV, directing and/or producing such classic 70s and 80s shows as Knight Rider, The Fall Guy, Petrocelli, The Incredible Hulk, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Charlie's Angels, with earlier, pre-Napoleon and Samantha credits for the likes of Rawhide, Bonanza, The Virginian, and various other Western-themed shows.
Another interesting little snippet, especially for animation fans and historians is that although Napoleon and Samantha is a live-action movie, its executive producers were none other than William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who were famous for their animation studio and its prodigious output of TV cartoon shows. These included such perennial favourites as Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo, Wacky Races, Pixie and Dixie, Secret Squirrel, Atom Ant, and, further back in time, Tom and Jerry for the big screen.
If you'd like a preview of Napoleon and Samantha, be sure to click here to view an exciting scene from it on YouTube.
To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
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