The Aristocats

"Meet the cats who know where it's at... for fun, music and adventure!"

1970 1h 18m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

🍅

64%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.1

IMDB

★7.3TMDB · 5,469🍅64%Rotten Tomatoes●66Metacritic★7.1IMDB · 123,770

AnimationComedyFamilyAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When Madame Adelaide Bonfamille leaves her fortune to Duchess and her children—Bonfamille’s beloved family of cats—the butler plots to steal the money and kidnaps the legatees, leaving them out on a country road. All seems lost until the wily Thomas O’Malley Cat and his jazz-playing alley cats come to the aristocats’ rescue.

“Meet the cats who know where it's at... for fun, music and adventure!”

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Cast

Phil Harris
O'Malley (voice)
Eva Gabor
Duchess (voice)
Sterling Holloway
Roquefort (voice)
Scatman Crothers
Scat Cat (voice)
Paul Winchell
Chinese Cat (voice)
Lord Tim Hudson
English Cat (voice)
Vito Scotti
Italian Cat (voice)
Thurl Ravenscroft
Russian Cat (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Writers: Ken Anderson, Frank Thomas, Vance Gerry
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 78-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $191M — a 47.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

56 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, shot by Ken Anderson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by George Bruns. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tom Acosta shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Phil Harris and Eva Gabor and Sterling Holloway carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Wolfgang Reitherman directs. Ken Anderson behind the camera. George Bruns scores. Tom Acosta cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 78-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Grossed $191M — a 47.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
456 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
5Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, shot by Ken Anderson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by George Bruns. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Tom Acosta shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Phil Harris and Eva Gabor and Sterling Holloway carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Meet the cats who know where it's at... for fun, music and adventure!".
10IMDB entry: tt0065421 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 13 themes, including "paris, france", "return", "butler", "cartoon".
12Released under 19 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Ken Anderson
Original score: George Bruns
Editing: Tom Acosta
Production design: Ken Anderson
Runtime: 78 min · 1h 18m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,000,000
Box office: $191,000,000
Return: 4775% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: The Aristocats (1970)
Rotten Tomatoes: 64% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 66/100
IMDB rating: 7.1/10 · 123,770 votes
MPAA: G

Awards

3 wins total

Also by

Wolfgang Reitherman

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-12-22
★ 7/10
When a wealthy Parisian lady summons her lawyer to amend her will, her faithful butler "Edgar" assumes it will all be his. Well, he discovers: maybe it will, but only after her cats have had their day first! Infuriated, he concocts a plan to be rid of the pesky felines once and for all. An overdose of a sleeping draught, a nice long drive and a nice big sack. A bridge over a fast moving river and the job ought to be done? That was the plan, but of course there'd be no film so something had to go wrong and soon "Duchess" is trying to get her youngsters back to their mansion. Luckily, along the way, they encounter the street-smart "Thomas O'Malley" who promises to help them get home. Some fun escapades ensue, the slightest hint of a love story develops and we meet some of the best scat cats this side of the Mississippi. The style of the animation used for this story reminded me a lot of "101 Dalmatians" (1961) with some similarly engaging characterisations. It's at it's best in ensemble mode - the "Ev'rybody Wants to be a Cat" number getting the toes tapping and the denouement with the cats, an horse, a large trunk and a trip to Timbuktu for the loser a fine finale for all (except, perhaps, their next door neighbours). It's good fun, moves along nicely and is perhaps the last of the original style of hand-animated Disney films that I can say I truly enjoyed.

Production companies