#carface caruthers

[punster-2319]

Happy 34th anniversary of Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Don Bluth’s All Dogs Go to Heaven which were both released on November 17, 1989.

[animationgirl89]

All Dogs Go To Heaven/Adgth Supremacy! ✨💜

(These Were All Made By Me, And I Decided To Make Another Set Of "I Believe In Supremacy" Meme, Adgth Edition. Wanted To Make This For My Good Friend @bluestar-of-thunderclan And Others Who Like All Dogs Go To Heaven, And To Those Who Find Enjoyment And Comfort In Any Of The Characters. Feel Free To Reblog, Guys!)

[hi-im-greenjunipertree]

I thought I'd "Don Bluth-ifiy" Scruff for this entry. I got inspiration from the design of the character Carface from All Dogs Go To Heaven.

[dweemeister]

All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)

When Don Bluth and eleven other animators resigned from Walt Disney Productions in 1979, the defection was so stunning that the development was headline news in Hollywood. Bluth’s group (also including Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy) had been with Disney through the 1970s, working on the Winnie the Pooh short films, The Rescuers (1977), and Pete’s Dragon (1977). The defectors chafed under producer Wolfgang Reitherman’s leadership on The Fox and the Hound, accusing Reitherman (one of the Disney’s Nine Old Men, employed by the House of Mouse since 1933) for exerting too much control over artistic decisions cutting costs for training newer animators. Within a year, the defectors’ breakaway studio, Don Bluth Productions, was at work on The Secret of NIMH (1982) – a financial failure for various reasons little to do with the quality of the film itself. With funding from businessman Morris Sullivan and artistic collaborations with Steven Spielberg, the studio reformed as Sullivan Bluth Studios (often referred to without Sullivan’s name). Two animated features later (1986’s An American Tail, 1988’s The Land Before Time) and fatigued with Spielberg increasing control over all creative aspects of these movies, Bluth inked a deal with independent British studio Goldcrest Films to craft three animated features almost entirely free of outside interference.

All Dogs Go to Heaven is the first of these three movies, and the first Don Bluth movie where almost all of the animation took place in Ireland. The film, with a screenplay by David N. Weiss (1998’s The Rugrats Movie, 2004’s Shrek 2), is Bluth’s directorial vision unvarnished, without an esteemed producer there to overrule him. As such, All Dogs Go to Heaven boasts animated sequences unlike anything seen in prior Bluth movies, but suffers in its second half due to narrative indiscipline.

It is 1939 in New Orleans. German Shepherd Charlie B. Barkin (Burt Reynolds) and Dachshund Itchy Itchiford (Dom DeLuise in a fantastic performance and the film’s second best – more on the best later) explosively escape from a dog pound to return to the bayou. There, they head straight for a casino riverboat owned and patronized by dogs. The owner of the establishment is American Pit Bull Terrier/Bulldog Carface Caruthers (Vic Tayback), who orders his assistant, Killer (Charles Nelson Reilly), to intoxicate and execute Charlie. After a macabre execution – the fateful moment thankfully not shown – Charlie, despite his vices, finds himself at the pearly gates of heaven. He learns from a Whippet angel (Melba Moore) that all dogs, regardless of their life’s sins (and because dogs are naturally good and loyal), are guaranteed a place in heaven. But Charlie attempts to cheat death by stealing a special watch that allows him to return to Earth. The angel warns Charlie that this gambit may cost him his heavenly entitlement and that, when the clock stops ticking, he might find himself in hell. Charlie does not pay this much mind and reunites with Itchy, and soon hatches a plot to exact revenge on Carface. Their lives (but not necessarily their plans) change when both of them encounter a seven-year-old orphan girl named Anne-Marie (Judith Barsi), a human slave to Carface.

Just skimming the above synopsis make clear that this is not a children’s movie in the strictest sense. All Dogs Go to Heaven ends as one might expect, with Charlie’s earthly redemption. But the route to that final destination is abound with terrible moral choices from our canine protagonist and grim moments not appropriate for the youngest of children. The film’s first half illustrates the morality play that follows with clarity and narrative flow. Bluth and Weiss wisely keep the focus on Charlie and Itchy and their selfish, materialistic, and hedonistic ways. Even after coming into contact with Anne-Marie, there are aspects to their treatment of her that directly echo Carface’s. Can the audience forgive Charlie and Itchy for their behavior, given the rough-and-tumble (or perhaps, “dog-eat-dog”) reality of the bayou? The value of kindness and reciprocity is foreign to both. Abuse and exploitation are the near-sum of their life experiences. Credit to Bluth and Weiss for not allowing Charlie any simple redemption, even though one could credibly have questions about how the character arc transpires. Without the first half’s emotional and moral intimacy, All Dogs Go to Heaven might otherwise lose its way in its final stages.

A major factor keeping All Dogs to Heaven from crumbling due to its narrative cracks is Anne-Marie. In American animated features and television from the 1970s onwards, too many of these works have their child characters appear too cloying and cute, their eyes and usually-upturned mouths taking up far too much space on their faces, overdone cheek colorations, bodily movements exaggerated to an excessive degree – sometimes averted if the animators intentionally wished to provoke such a reaction (see: Elmyra Duff in Tiny Toon Adventures, Dee Dee in Dexter’s Laboratory). Anne-Marie feels like a throwback, a suggestion of Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Her rather limited movements, slight hesitations in her bearing, and smooth transitions from one expression to the next (whether radical or subtle in emotional change) is a masterstroke of animation. From the moment Anne-Marie appears on-screen, the viewer empathizes with her – a tribute to the one of the best-designed characters on Bluth’s roster of characters in his filmography.

Much of the genius of her character lies in Judith Barsi’s voice performance, which quivers with youthfulness and vulnerability. Described by Bluth as a natural voice actor who could intuit complicated voice direction and having starred as Ducky in The Land Before Time, Barsi delivers the performance of the movie. For Barsi – abused and later murdered by her father at home – this is her final film. With the foreknowledge of what happened to Barsi before, during, and after her recording sessions on All Dogs Go to Heaven, it paints her turn as Anne-Marie in an agonizing, but soulful light. A heartbroken Don Bluth had Anne-Marie’s physical mannerisms based on Barsi to cope with the loss.

For the remainder of the cast, All Dogs Go to Heaven has some of the most expressive canine anthropomorphisms not seen since arguably Robin Hood (1973). The dogs quaff beers out of glasses, wave their paws in frustration as their rat race bets lose them their steak bets, and hold submachine guns like a person trained in firearms. But unlike Robin Hood and several other films from that period in Disney animation history, Bluth and his animators did not recycle any animation effects from a previous film. Directing animator John Pomeroy (character designer of Fievel from An American Tail and Elliot from Pete’s Dragon) designed Charlie, Itchy, Carface, and King Gator. And with Charlie, Itchy, and Carface in particular, Pomeroy sets the balance the canine and anthropomorphic. That style defines almost the remainder of character animation in All Dogs Go to Heaven – never off-putting, and supremely engaging.

Pomeroy also happened to design King Gator, a character who, despite their comedic value, threatens to steer All Dogs Go to Heaven off-course, also representing another glaring weakness to the film – a poor soundtrack. All Dogs Go to Heaven, with music by Ralph Burns (music supervisor on 1972’s Cabaret and 1977’s New York, New York) and lyrics by Charles Strouse (the musicals Bye Bye Birdie and Annie), T.J. Kuenster, Joel Hirschhorn (1972’s The Poseidon Adventure, Pete’s Dragon), and Al Kasha (The Poseidon Adventure, Pete’s Dragon), makes the mistake of having Burt Reynolds sing four times in this movie. This is not saying that Reynolds is terrible (“inoffensive” and “vocally limited” are how I will describe his singing), but he is no one’s idea of a musical star, despite what King Gator says about his howling. With no disrespect intended towards Ken Page as King Gator, King Gator’s song, “Let’s Make Music Together” is a momentum-stopper, screeching the brakes on the narrative at an inopportune time. Yours truly is no opponent of diverting (perhaps even time-wasting) Esther Williams homages, but not when they appear at critical dramatic junctures in the plot. The few songs of note include “Soon You’ll Come Home” (the most organically-placed song in the soundtrack; sung by Lana Beeson for Judith Barsi after the latter broke down during her audition) and the end credits’ “Love Survives” (sung by Irene Cara and Freddie Jackson, composed after Barsi’s death and dedicated to her). Otherwise, too many of the soundtrack’s numbers are plagued with dull melodies that neither do narrative or musical justice to the film at large.

All Dogs Go to Heaven possesses some of the most beautiful animation in the Don Bluth filmography. A vibrant waterfall of colors, the film’s classical backgrounds recall the mastery of earlier Disney animated features. The scene where Charlie dreams he is in hell (the provided link provides a rough cut of the entire scene; MGM/UA trimmed the scene for its theatrical release to avoid a “PG” rating from the MPAA – the film should be rated “PG” anyways) outdoes the demonic art Disney cooked up for The Black Cauldron (1985). Those few minutes are unadulterated nightmare fuel – a breathtaking demonstration of animation effects to flaunt the techniques that Bluth accused Disney of abandoning.

After handily defeating The Great Mouse Detective with An American Tail at the 1986 box office and with ongoing turmoil at Disney, it seemed – for a brief moment – that Don Bluth might become the premier name animation in the United States. Upon the release of All Dogs Go to Heaven and The Little Mermaid to American theaters on November 17, 1989, that possibility became undone. Bluth, who had left Disney after justifiably accusing the studio of deserting its creative foundations, was correct in his assessment when he left Burbank ten years earlier. The Little Mermaid was an instant classic; critics, comparing the two, eviscerated All Dogs Go to Heaven. In the following years, Bluth was regarded as a foolhardy Judas to the House of Mouse – harmful hyperbole that has not helped the reputation of his movies. Interestingly, the legacy of All Dogs Go to Heaven is mostly thanks to home media. The film had one of the highest-selling VHS releases of all time. Its success there and repeat showings on cable television (Bluth films aired on Cartoon Network with regularity in the ‘90s and 2000s) prompted a 1996 sequel (Bluth was not involved, Dom DeLuise was the only cast member reprising his role, and there is no Anne-Marie) and a TV series.

With the exception of Anastasia (1997), All Dogs Go to Heaven – a film that beautifully, though imperfectly, reflects Bluth’s represents the last commercial success in Don Bluth’s filmography. Animation in the 1990s belonged, once more, to Disney, despite the mostly-dismissed incursions from Japanese animation into international markets at this time. One wonders how Bluth perceived the irony of Disney returning to its origins of innovation and cut-no-corners artistry during that decade – a change that might not have happened if Bluth and his fellow eleven other animators never left the studio in protest. Of course, the Disney Renaissance did not last, and Disney shows no indications of returning to hand-drawn animation. Once more, Don Bluth’s vision of hand-drawn animation is dormant at the studio he idolized during his El Paso childhood. Yet his vision persists, shared by more people than he might have realized. Perhaps not in the form or in the places (Cartoon Saloon’s Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey, and Paul Young may never have made The Secret of Kells or Wolfwalkers without first meeting at an animation program set up by Bluth in Ireland) he imagined, but that belief in hand-drawn animation’s expressiveness, versatility, and timelessness survives.

My rating: 7.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

[tinydarlingnightmares]

All Monsters Go To Hell! AU

@llamagoddessofficial

For those not familiar with Don Bluth's 1989 "All Dogs Go To Heaven"; here's a link to the movie on YouTube (and yes, it's free!):

https://youtu.be/Xiu62ETFlyk

Here is your cast:

(UF) Red as Charlie B. Barkin: he's suave, charming, quick-witted, but very much full of himself to the point of nauseating arrogance. And of course this lovely personality trait, on top of being a natural-born con artist with a never ending thirst for thrills (and that includes chasing anything with a skirt shamelessly) gets him in trouble a lot with his numbskull schemes; which he shows very little remorse of who gets caught in the crossfire. But he's not completely heartless... uh... soulless... unlike his twin brother that is...

(UT) Sans as Itchy Itchiford: does stray a little from the Canon perspective of the original character. Being that Sans is more passive aggressive instead of just passive; mostly tolerating his antics while giving a backhanded remark in any way he can (total sassmaster), and not as nervous or anxiety-ridden as the Dachshund, but definitely cautious due to the people they deal with; be it monster or human, because as his motto goes: everyone's got guns and teeth.

MC as Anne Marie: is older, of course, but just as sweet and just as gifted with talking to animals and to people's Souls.

She unfortunately has hit a rough patch that left her homeless, due to people believing she was crazy, and unfortunately it only gets worse when her naive and trusting nature lead her straight into the callous phalanges of a very obsessed individual...

(MF) Hit as Carface Caruthers: is the ruthless mobster who controls the city with an iron fist, completely soulless, very~very~very infatuated with MC, and yes! The twin brother of Red (essentially Papyrus does not exist in this universe). He has played dirty all his life to ensure his survival and success. That includes framing his own brother for murder, killing him when Red escapes prison, and kidnapping a sweet innocent girl from the streets because she invades his every thought and, quite conveniently, has a very useful skill he can exploit, just to be the top dog... and nothing, not no one, will stand in his way to keep what he perceives as his.

(HT) Skull as 'Killer'/king Gator: is an odd choice, I know, but I like the idea of our sweet, damaged, giant skeleton working for the bad guy to be closer to MC in an effort to keep her safe. He technically found her first, enchanted by her kind nature and lovely voice, but did not approach; terrified he might scare her away. And since Hit didn't take her forcefully when they first met in that back alley way, he did not go into a Berserker rage in a attempt to intervene. Instead, Hit saw him and made an offer Skull could not refuse: being MC's personal bodyguard and care taker.

(A/N): I would like to actually get into this and make content, but I might need a little help along the way. If anyone has any suggestions or maybe questions; please don't hesitate to ask or speak your mind. Thank you in advance!😊

[bm2ab]

Arrivals & Departures 24 January 1917 – 08 July 2012 Celebrate Ermes Effron Borgnino [Ernest Borgnine] Day!

Ernest Borgnine (/ˈbɔːrɡnaɪn/; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; 24 January 1917 – 08 July 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but calm voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin  A popular performer, he also appeared as a guest on numerous talk shows and as a panelist on several game shows.

Borgnine's film career began in 1951, and included supporting roles in China Corsair (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953), Vera Cruz (1954), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and The Wild Bunch (1969). He also played the unconventional lead in many films, winning the Oscar for Best Actor for Marty (1955). He achieved continuing success in the sitcom McHale's Navy (1962–1966), in which he played the title character, and co-starred as Dominic Santini in the action series Airwolf (1984–1986), in addition to a wide variety of other roles.

Borgnine earned his third Primetime Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the 2009 series finale of ER. He was known as the voice of Mermaid Man on SpongeBob SquarePants from 1999 until his death in 2012. He had earlier replaced the late Vic Tayback as the voice of the villainous Carface Caruthers in both All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) and All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996–1998).

[animationgirl89]

"Happy 32nd Anniversary To Don Bluth's 1989 Classic, "All Dogs Go To Heaven!!" That's Right, All Dogs Go To Heaven Turns 32 Years Old Today. Adgth Was Released On November 17th 1989 (The Same Day As The Disney's, 'The Little Mermaid') All Dogs Go To Heaven Tells The Story About A Selfish, Rude German Shepherd Named, Charlie B. Barkin (Played By Burt Reynolds) As He Is Murdered And Killed By Former Business Partner, Carface Caruthers. (Played By Vic Tayback) He Is Then Sent Up To Dog Heaven, Which Is Absolutely Perfect And Wonderful, But Charlie Doesn't Like It Very Much, So He Escapes Back To Earth And Withdraws His Place In Heaven. After Returning To Earth And Reuniting With His Best Friend Itchy, (Played By Dom Deluise) Charlie Plans To Take Revenge On Carface, But Ends Up Meeting And Befriending A Little Orphan Girl, Named Anne Marie (Played By Judith Barsi) Who Can Communicate And Talk To Animals. Charlie Uses Her Ability, And Exploits Her Talent To Win At Gambling In Races, Only To Realize That There's More To Life Than Money, And In The Process Learns The Importance Of Kindness, Love And Friendship."

(Absolutely Love And Adore This Movie To Death!! And It Still Holds A Place In My Heart, I Remember Being Scared Of This Film When I Was Younger. I Would Go To Say That This Was Don Bluth's Last Good Film Before He Started To Go Down, With His Later Movies Not Exactly Being The Best..Like This Film, Or The Secret Of NIMH. Speaking Of Which, Most Say NIMH Is His Best, Which I Can See Where They're Going From, And I Also Love The Film..But I Kinda Disagree And See This Film As His Best, Maybe It's Because This Is The One I've Watched The Most, Lol. But The Secret Of NIMH And An American Tail Are Ones I Also Love And Adore, They're Both Amazing! 💙✨ But Again, Happy 32nd Anniversary All Dogs Go To Heaven!!)

(@bluestar-of-thunderclan)

[bm2ab]

Arrivals & Departures - 24 January 1917 Celebrate Ernest Borgnine Day!

Ernest Borgnine (/ˈbɔːrɡnaɪn/; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but calm voice, and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular performer, he had also appeared as a guest on numerous talk shows and as a panelist on several game shows.

Borgnine's film career began in 1951, and included supporting roles in China Corsair (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953), Vera Cruz (1954), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and The Wild Bunch (1969). He also played the unconventional lead in many films, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for Marty (1955). He achieved continuing success in the sitcom McHale's Navy (1962–1966), in which he played the title character, and co-starred as Dominic Santini in the action series Airwolf (1984–1986), in addition to a wide variety of other roles.

Borgnine earned his third Primetime Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the 2009 series finale of ER. He was known as the voice of Mermaid Man on SpongeBob SquarePants from 1999 until his death in 2012. He had earlier replaced the late Vic Tayback as the voice of the villainous Carface Caruthers in both All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) and All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996–1998).