''Buddy'' is a 1997 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

family film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that generally relates to children in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are made ...

written and directed by

Caroline Thompson Caroline Thompson (born April 23, 1956) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer. She wrote the screenplays for the Tim Burton-directed films '' Edward Scissorhands'' and '' Corpse Bride'' and the Burton-produced '' Th ...

, produced by Jim Henson Pictures and

American Zoetrope American Zoetrope (also known as Omni Zoetrope from 1977 to 1980 and Zoetrope Studios from 1980 until 1991) is a privately run American film production company, centered in San Francisco, California and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and Georg ...

, and released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

on June 6, 1997. It starred

Rene Russo Rene Marie Russo (born February 17, 1954) is an American actress and model. She began her career as a fashion model in the 1970s, appearing on magazine covers such as '' Vogue'' and ''Cosmopolitan''. She made her film debut in the 1989 comedy '' ...

as Mrs. Gertrude "Trudy" Lintz and

Robbie Coltrane Anthony Robert McMillan (30 March 195014 October 2022), known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He was appointe ...

as her husband. The film was based loosely on the life of a gorilla called

Massa Massa may refer to: Places Italy *Province of Massa and Carrara, province in the Tuscany region of Italy * Duchy of Massa and Carrara, controlled the towns of Massa di Carrara and Carrara * Roman Catholic Diocese of Massa Marittima-Piombi ...

with elements of Gertrude Lintz's other gorilla

Gargantua ''La vie tres horrifique du grand Gargantua, père de Pantagruel jadis composée par M. Alcofribas abstracteur de quinte essence. Livre plein de Pantagruelisme'' according to 's 1542 edition, or simply Gargantua, is the second novel by François ...

(who was called "Buddy" at the time). In real life, Massa was sold to the

Philadelphia Zoo The Philadelphia Zoo is a zoo located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia on the west bank of the Schuylkill River. It was the first true zoo in the United States; it was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1859 ...

after he attacked Lintz, while Buddy/Gargantua died young as a circus attraction and his remains are now on display in a museum. The gorilla suit used for Buddy was created by

Jim Henson's Creature Shop Jim Henson's Creature Shop is an American animation and special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based in Hollywood, California, United States. History Jim Henson's Creature Shop was ...

Plot

Set in the 1930s, eccentric millionaire Trudy is an unapologetic animal lover. Trudy takes her two newly arrived chimpanzees Joe and Maggie to the movies, causing lots of stares. Returning home to her grand estate, she greets her varied animals: kittens, horses, a cheeky talking green parrot, her prize-winning champion pack of briards, a

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

, a

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp Spine (zoology), spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two Family (biology), families of animals: the Old World porcupines of the family Hystricidae, and the New ...

, a tortoise and a flock of geese. Dr. Bill Lindz, Trudy's amiable husband, calls her to the phone. After the call she explains to Dick, their animal handler, he is solely in charge of the animals until the evening, and she drives off to Philadelphia. There, finding a sickly baby gorilla, Trudy whisks him home, adding to their family. Bill determines that Buddy, as she names him, has severe pneumonia. Life resumes in the Lintz household, while Trudy plies him to take a bottle. The chimpanzees cause a mischievous ruckus in the kitchen, which she ends using a type of rattle that scares them. Not having luck finding information about gorillas, Trudy travels to see Professor Spatz, who claims knowledge of them from travel to Congo, but can give her no true insight. She marches home, determined to raise Buddy similarly to the chimpanzees, as her own son. Buddy finds life in the city very difficult to deal with. Trudy discovers that he, unlike the chimpanzees, dislikes baths. He does not like sharing Trudy either. As he grows he gets stronger, making him hard to control. The chimpanzees often get up to mischief, thanks to Maggie's skill at getting the key, unlocking their cages. A couple come to visit the mansion, the man convincing Trudy to bring the apes to show in the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

World's fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...

. Bill tries to get her to leave Buddy at home, foreseeing problems. The chimpanzees, now there are a few more, are a great hit. However, naughty Maggie unlocks Buddy's cage. He has a particularly bad experience, as he gets disoriented. The noises, plethora of people and unfamiliar things unsettle him. The fair empties from fear of him. Buddy has constant flashbacks of the incident, leaving him traumatised and making things even harder for him at home. After he goes on an aggressive rampage, causing a lot of damage to their home, Trudy finally takes Buddy to an

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found global ...

sanctuary to live among his own kind in peace.

Cast

as Gertrude "Trudy" Lintz *

as Dr. Bill Lintz *

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish actor, writer and presenter. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and an Olivier Award. He re ...

as Dick Croner * Irma P. Hall as Emma *

Paul Reubens Paul Reubens (; ; August 27, 1952 – July 30, 2023) was an American actor and comedian, widely known for creating and portraying the character Pee-wee Herman. Born in Peekskill, New York and raised in both Oneonta, New York and Sarasota, Flo ...

as Professor Spatz * John Aylward as Mr. Bowman

Dane Cook Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He is known for his use of observational comedy, observational, often blue comedy, vulgar, and sometimes black comedy, dark comedy. He released six comedy ...

cameos as a cop at the Chicago World's fair. Buddy operated by Peter Elliott (adult Buddy), Lynn Robertson Bruce (juvenile Buddy), Peter Hurst, Mark Sealey (toddler Buddy), Michelan Sisti,

Leif Tilden David Leif Tilden, known as Leif Tilden, is an American actor, puppeteer, director and writer. He was the costume actor for Donatello in ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' and its sequel as well as playing Robbie Sinclair and Richfield in the sitc ...

, Star Townsend, Robert Tygner, and

Mak Wilson Mak Wilson (born 3 September 1957) is a retired English puppeteer, writer, animation director, and motion capture artist. He is also known as Mac Wilson and Malcolm Wilson. Early life and career Wilson was born in Consett, England, but grew up i ...

(facial controls). Buddy's vocal effects provided by Hector C. Gika, Gary A. Hecker, and

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor who specializes in voice acting. He began his career in the 1960s, and held around 850 film, television, and video game credits as of 2020, making him one of the most prolific v ...

Production notes

began rehearsals with the chimpanzees a month before principal photography even started. The story is loosely based on a real life socialite, Gertrude Lintz, who bred dogs and collected apes in her Brooklyn mansion in the 1920. The "real" Buddy owned by Lintz was sold to Ringling Brothers Circus at age 7 and was displayed as

the Great.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has an approval rating of 22% based on reviews from 18 critics, with an average rating of 5.5/10.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film two out of four stars, and wrote: "One of the peculiarities of the film is the vast distance between the movie they've made and the movie they think they've made." ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave it a grade C+. The film was criticized for its unrealistic animatronics, especially when compared to the real ape performers. In spite of the film's message, animal rights activists objected to the depiction of chimpanzees as docile pets, happily carrying on wearing human clothes. Among their concerns, was the perpetuation of the idea of chimps as acceptable pets.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buddy (film) 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 1997 children's films 1997 comedy-drama films 1997 films American biographical films American children's comedy films American comedy-drama films American docudrama films American Zoetrope films Columbia Pictures films English-language comedy-drama films Fictional gorillas Films about animal rights Films about gorillas Films about orphans Films directed by Caroline Thompson Films scored by Elmer Bernstein Films set in the 1930s Films with screenplays by Caroline Thompson The Jim Henson Company films