The Rescuers (1977)
Based on a series of books by Margery Sharp, most notably The Rescuers and Miss Bianca.
In an abandoned riverboat in Devil's Bayou, Louisiana, a young orphan named Penny drops a message in a bottle, containing a plea for help, into the river (“The Journey”). The Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization inside the United Nations, sings (“Rescue Aid Society”) and discuss the bottle that had washed up in New York City. The Hungarian representative, Miss Bianca, volunteers to accept the case. She chooses Bernard, a stammering janitor, as her co-agent. The two visit Morningside Orphanage, where Penny lived, and meet an old cat named Rufus. He tells them about a sketchy woman named Madame Medusa who once tried to lure Penny into her car, and may have succeeded in abducting Penny this time.
The mice travel to Medusa's pawn shop, where they discover that she and her partner, Mr. Snoops, are on a quest to find the world's largest diamond, the Devil's Eye. The mice learn that Medusa and Snoops are currently at the Devil's Bayou with Penny, whom they have indeed kidnapped and placed under the guard of two trained crocodiles, Brutus and Nero. Medusa heads to the Devil’s Bayou with Bernard and Miss Bianca in pursuit. They enlist the help of the Fly Albatross Air Service and with the help of an albatross named Orville, the mice fly to the bayou (“Tomorrow Is Another Day”). At the bayou, they meet local mice and a dragonfly named Evinrude who helps them reach the riverboat where Penny is located. There, they learn that Medusa plans to force Penny to enter a small blowhole that leads down into a blocked-off pirates' cave where the Devil's Eye is located. Penny sings (“Someone’s Waiting for You”).
Bernard and Bianca find Penny and devise a plan of escape. They send Evinrude to alert the local animals, who loathe Medusa, but Evinrude is delayed when he is forced to take shelter from a cloud of bats. The following morning, Medusa and Snoops send Penny down into the cave to find the gem. Unbeknownst to Medusa, Bianca and Bernard are hiding in Penny's skirt pocket. The three soon find the Devil's Eye within a pirate skull. As Penny pries the mouth open with a sword, the mice push the gem through it, but soon the oceanic tide rises and floods the cave. The three barely manage to retrieve the diamond and escape.
Medusa betrays Snoops and hides the diamond in Penny's teddy bear, while holding Penny and Snoops at gunpoint. When she trips over a cable set as a trap by Bernard and Bianca, Medusa loses the bear and the diamond to Penny, who runs away with them. The local animals arrive at the riverboat and aid Bernard and Bianca in trapping Brutus and Nero, then set off Mr. Snoops's fireworks to create more chaos. Meanwhile, Penny and the mice commandeer Medusa's swamp-mobile, a makeshift airboat. Medusa unsuccessfully pursues them, using Brutus and Nero as water-skis. As the riverboat sinks from the fireworks' damage, Medusa crashes and is left clinging to the boat's smoke stacks. Mr. Snoops escapes on a raft and laughs at her, while the irritated Brutus and Nero turn on her and circle below.
Back in New York City, the Rescue Aid Society watch a news report of how Penny found the Devil's Eye, which has been given to the Smithsonian Institution. Penny has also been adopted. The meeting is interrupted when Evinrude arrives with a call for help, sending Bernard and Bianca on a new adventure (“Tomorrow Is Another Day”).
TRIVIA
Technology
The Rescuers would be the first film to employ a new xerography process that restored a softer outline that previously was not possible with the technology. This allowed the use of a medium-gray tone and even a purple tone for outlines, such as that used for Miss Bianca.
Easter Egg(s)
Penny’s teddy bear references Winnie the Pooh from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.