Movie Type: Animal Picture, Family-Oriented Adventure
Themes: Heroic Mission
Main Cast: Elliott Gould, Geneviève Bujold, Rick Schroder, Tammy Lauren, John Fujioka
Release Year: 1980
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: G
Plot
Even animal lovers may balk at this light, light drama about how a missionary (Genevieve Bujold) and Bobby (Rick Schroder), a young boy manage to populate a deserving island with critters of all types. Noah Dugan (Elliott Gould) is a pilot in need of escaping his creditors and he agrees to fly the animals to their destination. Bobby and the missionary sneak on board and the plane crash-lands on another island on which two Japanese soldiers are still fighting World War II. The story veers ever more into fantasy as the Japanese and the pilot join together to make a boat out of the plane with the goal of taking every animal with them into uncharted waters. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Vincent Gardenia - Stoney; Yuki Shimoda - Hiro; John Ryan - Coslough; Dana Elcar - Benchley; Arthur Adams - Leipzig Manager; Ruth Manning - Charlotte Braithwaite; Pete Renaday - Irate Pilot; Bob Whiting - Chaplain; Austin Willis - Slabotsky
Credit
John Mansbridge - Art Director, Bill Shepard - Casting, Jan Williams - Co-producer, Charles Jarrott - Director, Gordon D. Brenner - Editor, Maurice Jarre - Composer (Music Score), Preston Ames - Production Designer, Richard J. Lawrence - Production Designer, Louis Mann - Production Designer, Charles Wheeler - Cinematographer, Ron Miller - Producer, Art Cruickshank - Special Effects, Eustace Lycett - Special Effects, Danny Lee - Special Effects, George Arthur Bloom - Screenwriter, Steven Carabatsos - Screenwriter, Sandy Glass - Screenwriter, Ernest K. Gann - Short Story Author
A jaded pilot named Noah Dugan (Gould) is unemployed and owes a large amount of money due to his gambling. He goes to an old friend named Stoney (Vincent Gardenia) who owns an airfield. He is offered a job flying a cargo of animals to a remote South Pacific island aboard a B-29bomber. Bernadette LaFluer (Bujold) is the prim missionary who accompanies him. Bernadette has raised the animals at an orphanage and is close to two of the orphans Bobby and Julie (Schroeder and Tammy Lauren). The two children cannot bear to part with their beloved animals and stow away aboard the bomber as it takes off. During the flight, the plane goes off course and Dugan is forced to crash land on an uncharted island. While on the island, the group meets two elderly Japanese soldiers who have lived there alone for 35 years. At first they treat them as enemies as they are unaware that World War II is over. However, Bernadette wins their friendship and trust and they propose to turn the plane into a boat to sail back to civilization. In the meantime Noah and Bernadette (or Bernie as he calls her) fall in love. The two had resented each other at first. Bernie even paints the logo "Noah's Ark" on the converted boat-plane. The animals are also brought on board at Bobby's urging. Bobby resents Dugan at first, but the two eventually develop a close bond, especially after Dugan saves Bobby's life when the boy falls overboard while fishing for sharks. In the end, the characters are rescued by a United States Coast Guard cutter. The ending of the film shows Noah and Bernadette being married and then embracing the orphans as their own children.
Background and production
This film was released to many drive-in theaters on a double bill with 101 Dalmatians (another Disney classic). The films' promotional slogan was "treat your family to a Disney summer".
Elliott Gould has said that this was the finest film he ever did and the one he was proudest of.
It was directed by the noted English director Charles Jarrott (who had previously directed Bujold in Anne of the Thousand Days).
