The Jungle Book (1967 movie)

The Jungle Book
Directed by	Wolfgang Reitherman
Screenplay by	Larry Clemmons Ralph Wright Ken Anderson Vance Gerry Floyd Norman (uncredited) Bill Peet (uncredited)
Based on	The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Produced by	Walt Disney
Starring	Bruce Reitherman Phil Harris Sebastian Cabot Louis Prima George Sanders Sterling Holloway
Narrated by	Sebastian Cabot
Music by	George Bruns (Score) Terry Gilkyson Richard M. Sherman Robert B. Sherman (Songs)
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release date	October 18, 1967 (1967-10-18)
Running time	78 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$205,843,612

The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Productions. It was released on October 18, 1967. The Jungle Book was re-issued to theaters in 1978, 1984 and 1990. It is the 19th animated movie in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was inspired by the stories about Mowgli from the book of the same name by Rudyard Kipling. It was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. It was the last to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. The Jungle Book was the final Disney animated movie to be released under the Hays Code.

The early versions of both the screenplay and the soundtrack followed Kipling's work more closely. There was a dramatic, dark, and sinister tone which Disney did not want in his family movie. The first writer Bill Peet and composer Terry Gilkyson were replaced. The movie made over $73 million in the United States in its first release. After inflation, it’s the sixth highest grossing animated movie in the world.

This movie has a sequel called The Jungle Book 2.

Story

In the jungles of India, Bagheera the wise black panther discovers an orphaned baby boy and brings him to a pack of wolves, who name him Mowgli.

Ten years later, the pack learns that the murderous Bengal tiger Shere Khan has returned to their area of the jungle.

Knowing that he hates humans and will stop at nothing to kill Mowgli, the pack decides that the latter must leave;

Bagheera agrees to escort Mowgli to a nearby "Man-Village", though Mowgli is reluctant to leave the only home he has ever known, as he does not fear Shere Khan, and believes he can last against him (not to mention that he has never met others of his own kind, thus everyone in the Man-Village will seem like strangers to him).

Bagheera and Mowgli rest in a tree where an Indian python named Kaa attempts to devour Mowgli by hypnotizing him, but is stopped by Bagheera.

The next morning, Mowgli encounters Colonel Hathi and his elephant herd.

Following an argument where Mowgli refuses to go to the Man-Village, he is abandoned by Bagheera.

All alone, Mowgli meets and befriends Baloo, a laid-back and carefree sloth bear who promises Mowgli can stay in the jungle with him.

Mowgli is soon kidnapped by monkeys who bring him to their leader, King Louie, an orangutan.

King Louie tries to persuade Mowgli to teach him the ways of man, until Baloo and Bagheera arrive and rescue him, destroying King Louie's temple in the process.

Whilst Mowgli is sleeping that night, Bagheera tries to convince Baloo that Mowgli must be taken to the Man-Village.

Baloo remains unconvinced until Bagheera reminds him that Shere Khan will try and kill Mowgli, as he is afraid of guns and fire.

This persuades Baloo, who tells Mowgli the next morning that he must take him to the Man-Village; feeling betrayed, Mowgli accuses him of breaking his promise and runs away.

Bagheera later finds Colonel Hathi's herd and seeks their help in finding Mowgli. However, unbeknownst to any of them, Shere Khan has overheard this and now decides to hunt and kill Mowgli himself.

Whilst going through the jungle, Mowgli is ambushed by Kaa once more, who hypnotizes him again.

However, before he can devour him, Shere Khan arrives and tells Kaa that he is looking for a "man-cub"; Kaa manages to hide Mowgli.

After escaping Kaa, Mowgli reaches the wastelands of the jungle where he meets and befriends a group of vultures.

However, Shere Khan soon arrives and tries to kill Mowgli.

He tries to fight, but soon begins to lose his nerve after realizing how terrifying the tiger truly is, before Baloo intervenes.

Whilst Shere Khan attacks and nearly kills Baloo, Mowgli ties a burning branch to Shere Khan's tail, forcing him to run away in defeat.

Mowgli now mourns the loss of Baloo; as Bagheera respectfully takes Mowgli away, Baloo reveals he is alive, much to everyone's happiness.

As they get closer to the Man-Village, Mowgli meets a girl getting water from the river.

He follows her into the Man-Village, having finally accepted the fact that he is a human.

Content that Mowgli is where he belongs, Baloo and Bagheera return to the jungle.

Cast

• Bruce Reitherman as Mowgli, a 10-year-old orphaned boy, commonly called "man-cub" by the other characters.
• Phil Harris as Baloo, a sloth bear who leads a carefree life and believes in letting the good things in life come by themselves.
• Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera, a serious black panther who is determined to take Mowgli back to the village and disapproves of Baloo's carefree approach to life.
• Louis Prima as King Louie, an orangutan who wants to be a human, and wants Mowgli to teach him how to make fire.
• George Sanders as Shere Khan, an intelligent and sophisticated yet merciless Bengal tiger who hates all humans for fear of their guns and fire and wants to kill Mowgli.
• Sterling Holloway as Kaa, an Indian python who wants Mowgli as prey, but comically fails each time he attempts to eat him.
• J. Pat O'Malley as Colonel Hathi the Indian elephant/Buzzie the Vulture
• Verna Felton as Winifred, Colonel Hathi's wife.
• Clint Howard as Junior, Colonel Hathi's son.
• Chad Stuart as Flaps the Vulture
• Lord Tim Hudson as Dizzie the Vulture
• John Abbott as Akela the Indian Wolf
• Ben Wright as Rama the Father Wolf
• Darleen Carr as Shanti
• Leo De Lyon as Flunkey the Langur*
• Hal Smith as The Slob Elephant*
• Ralph Wright as The Gloomy Elephant*
• Digby Wolfe as Ziggy the Vulture*
• Bill Skiles and Pete Henderson as Monkeys*
• James MacDonald as Shere Khan/Bagheera roaring*

Asterisks mark actors that were the "Additional Voices", but were uncredited.

Production

Walt Disney first considered making an animated version of Rudyard Kipling's 1894 collection of stories The Jungle Book in the late 1930s. The vultures and King Louie, which does not appear in the original book, was created because Disney wanted an all-American character that could appeal to the children, and also add an element of comedy.

The film was shot from June 1, 1966, to July 27, 1967.

The film was paid $634,434 plus 23% of the profits.

Much of the Jungle scenes took place at India. The jungle interiors was constructed at Shepperton Studios and at Group 3 Studios in Beaconsfield. Filming also took place at Pinewood Studios with the footage of Angel Falls was built. Other interiors were filmed at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes rated the film 88%.

Disney reported in 1967 that the film made a profit.

Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote:

<poem> As "simple, uncluttered, straight-forward fun, as put together by the director, Wolfgang Reitherman, four screen writers and the usual small army of technicians. Using some lovely exotic pastel backgrounds and a nice clutch of tunes, the picture unfolds like an intelligent comic-strip fairy tale" <poem>

Home media

The film was released on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and has broadcast on Television. It is available to stream on Disney+.

Awards

The song "The Bare Necessities" was nominated for Best Song at the 40th Academy Awards. It lost to "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Gregory Peck wanted this movie to be nominated for Best Picture, but he was unsuccessful.

Music

The Jungle Book
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released	1967
Recorded	February 1964 – June 1967
Studio	Sound Stage A, Walt Disney Studio Lot
Genre	Soundtrack jazz
Label	Disneyland Walt Disney
Producer	Larry Blakely
Walt Disney Animation Studios soundtrack chronology
The Sword in the Stone (1963) The Jungle Book (1967) The Aristocats (1970)

All tracks are written by The Sherman Brothers.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer	Length
1.	"Overture"		(score)	2:43
2.	"Baby"		(score)	2:11
3.	"Colonel Hathi's March (Elephant Song)"	Sherman, Sherman	J. Pat O'Malley, Verna Felton and Chorus	2:32
4.	"The Bare Necessities"	Gilkyson	Bruce Reitherman, Phil Harris	3:31
5.	"I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)"	Sherman, Sherman	Louis Prima, Phil Harris	4:39
6.	"Monkey Chase"		(score)	1:06
7.	"Tell Him"		(score)	2:15
8.	"Colonel Hathi's March (Reprise)"	Sherman, Sherman	J. Pat O'Malley, Verna Felton and Chorus	2:00
9.	"Jungle Beat"		(score)	1:22
10.	"Trust in Me (Python's Song)"	Sherman, Sherman	Sterling Holloway	2:50
11.	"What'cha Wanna Do"		(score)	3:09
12.	"That's What Friends Are For (Vulture Song)"	Sherman, Sherman	J. Pat O'Malley, Chad Stuart, Lord Tim Hudson, Digby Wolfe, Bruce Reitherman, Bill Lee	2:06
13.	"Tiger Fight"		(score)	2:44
14.	"Poor Bear"		(score)	1:08
15.	"My Own Home (Jungle Book Theme)"	Sherman, Sherman	Darlene Carr	3:32
16.	"The Bare Necessities (Reprise)"	Gilkyson	Phil Harris and Sebastian Cabot	0:54

Other websites

• Official website
• The Jungle Book at the Big Cartoon DataBase (dead link)
• The Jungle Book on IMDb
• The Jungle Book at Rotten Tomatoes