A group of travelers visiting the exotic forests of Thailand is suddenly attacked by a multi-weapon wielding maniac. Some manage to escape, others perish under his merciless blows. The maniac is the Spirited Killer, a forest dweller who kills anyone who steps into his jungle.
James Stewart's final acting role in a film.
The song "Dreams to Dream" is based on a theme used in An American Tail (1986). It is heard at the end of the Orphans Alley sequence, as the camera pulls back on the orphaned mice sleeping in the rain.
When Fievel is riding on the tumbleweed, the "Theme from Rawhide" is being played in the background. It is the version sung by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd from The Blues Brothers (1980) which features a cameo appearance by Steven Spielberg in it
Steven Spielberg personally came to James Stewart's sound booth to direct him. He is uncredited as a voice-over director, though.
"Dreams To Dream" was originally recorded by Céline Dion, but the producers favored Linda Ronstadt, who sang the theme song, "Somewhere Out There", in An American Tail (1986).
In An American Tail (1986), Papa Mousekewiz is a tailor, according to the sign over the front door of his house as seen during "Somewhere Out There". In this movie, however, he is a violin maker.
One of the buildings in Green River reads "Wells' Dentistry", named after co-director Simon Wells.
Tanya Mousekewitz:
Look Mama, a singer... and an actor.
Mama Mousekewitz:
Tanya, stop that! You shouldn't stare at people less fortunate than yourself.
Miss Kitty:
You put a mouse on that stage and your saloon's gonna be as empty as Death Valley on a cold day in June when the snow don't fall.
Cat R. Waul:
What?
Fievel:
Give them the lazy eye.
Tanya Mousekewitz:
[admiring her new dress and makeup] I look like a real lady.
Miss Kitty:
Remember, the real lady is what's underneath the mask.
Tanya Mousekewitz:
Poppa, they're throwing vegetables at me AGAIN.
Papa Mousekiwitz:
Keep singing and they might throw some fruit for dessert.
Tiger:
[lost in desert] I'm lost and all alone, in a million acre catbox.
Tiger:
Can't we get an espresso and talk this over, please?
Fievel:
Have no fear. Filly the Kid is here.
Tanya Mousekewitz:
Someday, I'll be a big star. People will come from miles around...
Fievel:
Yeah. To eat.
Tiger:
It's funny how your appetite perks up when you find out you're gonna eat dinner, instead of BE dinner.
Wylie Burp:
Just remember, Fievel - one man's sunset is another man's dawn. I don't know what's out there beyond those hills. But if you ride yonder... head up, eyes steady, heart open... I think one day you'll find that you're the hero you've been looking for.
Wylie Burp:
One man's sunset is another man's dawn.
Wylie Burp:
Maybe a real hero is the last one to hear about it.
Cat:
I saw you cheating. You played your last hand, Chula.
T.R. Chula:
I don't think so. I have seven more, dog chow!
T.R. Chula:
[singing] The itsy bitsy spider caught a mouse in its web, the itsy bitsy spider bit off the mouse's head.
Wylie Burp:
Let this sleepin' dog lie, son. Dog-gone it, I'm dog tired. I'm tired of leading the dog's life and fightin' likes cats and dogs against cats and dogs, a young pup's doggin' my trail tryin' to become top dog. I'm going to the dogs in a dog eat dog world, son. I... I'm so far over the hill... I'm on the bottom of the other side.
[after Tiger falls off a cliff]
Tiger:
[as though nothing happened] I hurt myself.
Cat R. Waul:
I have mentioned that I dislike being referred to as Pussy Poos.
Miss Kitty:
Yeah? Well maybe I'm not so happy about being dumped in nature's ashtray 500 miles from a pastrami sandwich, either! Pussy Poos!
Wylie Burp:
[to Tiger on top of a cliff] Suck in you're paunch, boy.
Tiger:
[sucks in his paunch, causing his upper body to look like a balloon]
Wylie Burp:
Good. Now saunter on out there one leg in front of the other. Slow and easy.
Tiger:
[makes farting noises as he walks along the cliff, but falls off the side and flys around like a deflated balloon]
Tiger:
[sitting on the ground] I hoit myself.
[Fievel is running along the bottom of the train; T. R. Chula sneaks up from below]
T.R. Chula:
Mouse overboard!
Fievel:
Where?
T.R. Chula:
I just love the "flying aah!"
[grabs Fievel by the leg and throws him overboard]
Fievel:
Aah!
Tanya Mousekewitz:
[singing to the tune of The Star Spangled Banner] Oh say can you see... You're on a mouse trap?
Cat R. Waul:
[panicky] No, no, no, stop! You'll crush the diva!
Tiger:
I will be tough. I will be brave. I will...
[Sees Chula, the tarantula]
Tiger:
Ahhh! It's a spi... a spee... a spid-d-d-d... an arachnid!
Fievel:
I see you're missing an eye, pilgrim.
[Pulls hat over one eye]
Fievel:
Now that makes it a fair fight. That's right, I'm talkin' to you, furhead!
Cat R. Waul:
What do we have here? It appears to be a young pioneer.
[Fievel and Tiger are both lost in the desert; they see each other in the distance]
Fievel:
Tiger!
Tiger:
Fievel! I've been searching all over for you!
Fievel:
Tiger! Is that you?
Tiger:
Fievel!
Fievel:
Nope. Bet it's another mirage.
Tiger:
Oh, Fievel, I just can't tell you how much I wish... you weren't... a mirage.
[They pass each other]
Fievel:
Hi, mirage of Tiger.
Tiger:
Hi, mirage of Fievel.
Wylie Burp:
Cat R. Waul, we've come to close you down!
Cat R. Waul:
Okay, chaps, it appears it has become necessary to put these dogs through obedience school. Kill!
Cat R. Waul:
Which would you rather have, the crouton or the entire caesar salad? Of course we're going to eat the mice, but only after we have exploited their labors. See, we are nice to the mice because it is intelligent to be so. If we act sweetly, they will come in droves. If we hiss, they will run and we will have to chase after them, an unnecessary expenditure of calories.
Wylie Burp:
[to Fievel] It's too tough, kid. Get out while you still can.
Tiger:
Okay. Toodle-oo!
Tiger:
I think a little endive went down the wrong tube.
Tiger:
[to the Mousican chief] How!... do you do?
Fievel:
Oh, Tiger, I almost forgot. How do I get to Green River?
Tiger:
Just grab a passing sagecoach.
[a tumbleweed stops next to them, Fievel gets on it]
Fievel:
Thanks. See you later.
[the tumbleweed tumbles away with Fievel]
Tiger:
Sagecoach, get it? Sage. Ha ha ha! Aw, never mind.
Tiger:
Dogs. I hate those guys.
Fievel:
Are we out west yet?
Mama Mousekewitz:
West Jersey, maybe.
Papa Mousekiwitz:
What's the matter, Fievel my son? You should be happy we are going out west.
Fievel:
I never got a chance to say goodbye to Tiger. Will I ever see him again?
Papa Mousekiwitz:
Who am I to know? Tiger was a wonderful cat, but he was still a cat. Someday, you will understand.
Fievel:
When, Papa? When will I understand?
Papa Mousekiwitz:
Fievel, if growing up were so easy, would it take so long?
Tiger:
[Passes by a buffalo skeleton] Don't they ever dust this place? A guy can make a fortune out here selling...
[the skeleton rises up and tries to attack Tiger; Tiger turns around and the skeleton goes back to where it was]
Tiger:
... vacuum cleaners.
[the skeleton rises up again, then back when Tiger turns; this happens repeatedly until the skeleton breaks into a tap-dance routine and collapses]
Tiger:
Dancing buffalo bones. Nah!
[the skeleton suddenly jumps over Tiger, trapping him; Indian mice, which had been moving the skeleton in the first place, surround him]
Cat R. Waul:
Right, I want the subversive who attempted to assassinate me found.
T.R. Chula:
I just love finding subversives! Hey, boss, what's a subversive?
Cat R. Waul:
Someone who doesn't have very long to live.
Tiger:
[lands on a stagecoach] Mom always wanted me to be on the stage.
Tiger:
[escapes a dog by catching a train] I made it! What a stupid dog! Nah nah-nah nah-nah nah! Your mother was never housebroken! Ha ha! Toodle-oo!
[He enters the caboose, only to come face to face with another dog]
Tiger:
He-he... Hi. Ahhhhhh!
Tiger:
This is the worst moment of my life. I wouldn't wish this on a dog. Maybe a dog.
Papa Mousekiwitz:
I thought things would be better in America. In Russia, my violins were famous. At least we never went hungry.
Fievel:
Maybe Tanya shouldn't sing again.
Tanya Mousekewitz:
Very funny.
Papa Mousekiwitz:
They call America the land of oppurtunity. Oppurtunity for what? For children to play in the filthy streets? To never see the sun shine? Fievel's birthday is coming! And we don't even have enough money for presents.
Fievel:
Oh, Papa, I don't care.
Tanya Mousekewitz:
I could always sing in front of the gift shop, and maybe they'll throw presents.
Papa Mousekiwitz:
How sweetly blessed I am to have such fine children! Maybe things will get better!
Cat R. Waul:
Let the saliva flow!
Cat R. Waul:
[after pushing a button to activate a trap door on stage which an opera singing mouse falls into] Terrible! Absolutely, positively terrible. I must have better entertainment in this sall...
[Fievel, standing on a record player behind him, stabs him in the butt with the fork he's holding]
Cat R. Waul:
OON!
[Jumps out of his clothes through the ceiling to an upper level salloon where a lady grabs him]
Lady at Saloon:
Oh, Pussy, Pussy, Pussy! Pussy pussy!
[Wriggles out, falls down the hole back into his clothes on the stage]
Cat R. Waul:
Humans! Yeeuk. Pleh! Chula, why don't you find who it was who tried to assasinate me.
T.R. Chula:
I just love findin' assasins.
[starts his search when Fievel tries to run with his shirt caught on the needle of the record player and plays some music which Cat R. Waul notices]
Cat R. Waul:
Ah. If it isn't my delightful friend from the train.
Fievel:
Cat R. Waul! I found out all about your plan. To turn all the mice in town into Mouseburgers. I'm gonna call Wily Burp. Cause he's the law.
Cat R. Waul:
The Wily Burp?
[the whole saloon erupts in laughter, Cat R. Waul picks him up on a fork]
Cat R. Waul:
Listen, my dear friend. I am the law here. And you are a mere Hors D'Oeurve.
Miscellaneous: When Fievel says "Let's go on that ride again!" after the can goes down the last waterfall, his voice is sped up.
Follows
An American Tail (1986)
Followed by
"Fievel's American Tails" (1992)
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) (V)
An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999) (V)
References
Casablanca (1942)
- Miss Kitty utters lines that parody "We'll always have Paris" and "Here's lookin' at you, kid."
Cinderella (1950)
- When Tanya looks into the mirror and imagines herself a beautiful star, we see her reflection surrounded by sparkles of light, transforming her dress. A direct reference to Disney's 1950 film version of "Cinderella."
High Noon (1952)
"Gunsmoke" (1955)
- Miss Kitty, the saloon-girl cat, seems to be named after saloon girl Miss Kitty from "Gunsmoke," even though "kitty" also refers to her being a feline.
"Rawhide" (1959)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
- In at least one scene, Fievel talks tough to a cat by referring to him as "pilgrim."
The Blues Brothers (1980)
- The Blues Brothers version of the song "Rawhide" is used in the scene where Fievel is traveling across the desert in a tumbleweed.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Referenced in
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: Escape 2000 (#8.5)" (1996)
- "Well that's the plot of Fievel Goes West anyway"