Classic 60s Movie: Jungle Book

January is Classic 60s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Ally Shina.

Movie: The Jungle Book

Year: 1967

Screenwriters: Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, Vance Garry, based on a book by Rudyard Kipling

Lead Actors: Phil Harris as ‘Baloo the Bear’ (voice), Sebastian Cabot as ‘Bagheera the Panther’ (voice), Bruce Reitherman as ‘Mowgli the man cub’ (voice), George Sanders as ‘Shere Khan the Tiger’ (voice), Sterling Holloway as ‘Kaa the Snake’, Louis Prima as ‘King Louie of the Apes’ (voice)

Director: Wolfgang Reitherman

Plot Summary: Bagheera the Panther and Baloo the Bear have a difficult time trying to convince a boy to leave the Jungle for human civilization.

Why I Think This Is A Classic 60s Movie: The characteristics of each animated animal is derived from the true nature of its wild animal counterpart. Initially, Baloo doesn’t comprehend how dangerous it would be for Mowgli to stay in the jungle because Bears are laid back, and none of the other animals would attack a Bear. Bagheera immediately senses the danger because he is a carnivorous Panther, so Mowgli looks like a meal to him and all the other meat eating animals in the Jungle.

My favorite example is King Louie, because Apes are infamous for trying to imitate human behavior. So, he is aware that he could learn to be human because Apes can do things most Jungle animals can’t do, and he wants to take the opportunity to learn from Mowgli.

This characteristic theme resonates with all the other characters in the movie, and I think it’s a marvelous execution of animal personification.

My Favorite Moment In The Movie: The vultures circling up ahead when Mowgli is sickly, and waiting for him to die so they can have their next meal. When they swoop in on him to discover that he’s still alive, they offer him friendship instead. Vultures are always in groups, so it makes sense that they would value friendship so much.

The true beauty in this moment for me is the fact that Vultures only eat dead animals, so the movie captures their value for living beings, and the difference between life and food. This is also another example of how the characters capture the true nature of the wild animals. It’s stunning.

My Favorite Dialogue:

BUZZIE: Look, Flaps, first I say, “What we gonna do?” Then you say, “I don’t know, what you wanna do?” Then I say, “What we gonna do?” You say, “What you wanna do?” “What we gonna do?” “What you want…” LET’S DO SOMETHING!

Key Things You Should Look Out For When You Watch The Movie: The behavioral characteristics of the each animal character…. The ones I’ve already listed are a few I’ve noticed over the years, but each time I watch the movie, something else comes up. I can’t help but think there’s a wealth of undiscovered animal habitual metaphors within the movie.

Thanks, Ally! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!

Twitter: @AllyShina.

We already have a set of classic 70s movies, 80s Movies and 90s Movies. This month, we’re working on 60s Movies.

For the original post explaining the series, go here.