The Rescuers

The Rescuers is a 1977 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Productions and first released on June 22, 1977. The 23rd film in the Disney animated features canon, the film is about the Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization headquartered in New York and shadowing the United Nations, dedicated to helping abduction victims around the world at large. Two of these mice, jittery janitor Bernard (Bob Newhart) and his co-agent, the elegant Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor), set out to rescue Penny (Michelle Stacy), an orphan girl being held prisoner in the Devil's Bayou by treasure huntress Madame Medusa (Geraldine Page).

Dialogue

Medusa: Snoops, you don't have a way with children. You must gain their confidence. Make them like you.

Snoops: Yeah? How do you do that?

Medusa: You force them to like you, idiot! At the next low tide, I'm going to put her down there myself, and keep here there, until she finds it. And it is as simple as that!

Snoops: Oh, as simple as that, is it? Well, you're the boss, boss.

Medusa: Yes.

---

Snoops: All right, you little brat. Now, you are gonna go down in that hole, and you are gonna dig till you find me the diamond. You understand that? And no sassing me.

---

Penny: The water's coming in! Please pull me up!

Medusa: [voice echoes from the cave] Not until you get the diamond!

---

[Orville has skidded face-first on the runway]

Bernard: Are... Are... Are you hurt, sir?

Orville: Nope. One of my better landings, bud.

---

Miss Bianca: [watches Orville fly] Doesn't he fly beautifully? And you wanted to take the train, you fraidy cat.

Bernard: Fraidy cat? No, uh, it's just that-- I like trains. I mean, they serve Roquefort. Uh...

[Orville flies in too low]

Bernard: [gasps] Pull up! Pull up!

---

[Passing through the zoo, Bernard is frightened by a lion's roar]

Miss Bianca: What did you do to make him so mad?

Bernard: Nothing, he's just a... just a grumpy old lion.

Bianca: Well, after all, waking him up in the middle of the night. Wouldn't you be grumpy, too?

---

Orville: Say, bud, read the checklist to me.

Bernard: Uh, oh, yeah. Goggles down.

Orville: [dons his goggles] Check.

Bernard: Wing flaps down.

Orville: Check.

Bernard: Tail feathers.

Orville: Double check.

Bernard: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again". [looks apprehensive]

Orville: [takes off] And here we go!

---

Snoops: Welsher! Swindler! Chiseler!

Medusa: [points her rifle at Penny and Snoops] Shut up, Snoops! And don't move. If either of you try to follow me, you'll get BLASTED!

Penny: [walks towards Medusa] You gimme my teddy bear. You promised.

Medusa: Teddy goes with me, my dear. I've become quite attached to him.

---

Bernard: Can you tell us what happended to a little girl named Penny?

Rufus: Yeah, I sure can. But you ain't gonna find her around here. You see, poor little thing ran away.

---

Orville: (after Medusa runs over him with her swamp mobile) Holy smoke! (coughs) Why don't you watch where you're going?! (continues coughing as he flies away)

---

Ellie Mae: Are you ready to help rescue that little young 'un?

Deadeye: Sure enough, Ellie Mae!

Deacon Owl: Hallelujah!

Ellie Mae: [Notices Luke fast asleep] Luke! On your feet, you lazy critter!

Luke: Oh, uh- Shucks, Ellie Mae. I was just a-waitin' for someone to holler charge!

Gramps: Dag nab it! Let's cut out the jawin' and get it goin'.

Deadeye: [laughs] When old Gramps gets head up his nose gets plum out of joint.

Ellie Mae: Take it easy, Gramps! We gotta stay here till Evinrude brings us word from them mice.

Gramps: If that bug don't get here soon, they'll put that poor little girl down the black hole again!

---

[after evading Medusa and Snoops]

Bernard: Are you all right, dear?

Bianca: Why, she tried to kill us. That terrible woman! Oh, if I was only a 10-foot mouse, I'd show her.

---

Medusa: High tide or not, that little brat is going to find me that diamond tomorrow, or ELSE!

---

Mr. Chairman: [reads Penny's message and clears throat] "To Morningside Orphanage, New York." Hmm. Most difficult to decipher. I can't make it out.

Miss Bianca: [reads the rest of the message] "I am... In a terrible... terrible trouble." Oh. Oh, dear. It's all watered out. "H-h-hurry! Help! Penny."

Mr. Chairman: Penny? Morningside Orphanage? Dash it all! It's not much to go on, is it?

Miss Bianca: Oh, that poor little girl. Oh, Mr. Chairman? Please! Please, may I have this assignment?

Mr. Chairman: You? Miss Bianca? [laughs] Dear lady, this is absolutely without precedent. I mean, It's not like the old days, when it was a man's world. However, I suppose there has to be a first time!

---

Bernard: [buckles up] Miss Bianca, make sure it's fastened good and tight.

Miss Bianca: I can't. It'll wrinkle my dress.

---

Bernard: [looks at the departure time] Flight leaves 6:45. [looks at the clock, which indicates that it's 7:00] Oh, no! We missed the flight! Miss Bianca, if you hadn't...

Miss Bianca: [laughs] You worry too much. You know that flights are always late.

Orville: [through radio] Albatross flight 13 to tower! Albatross 13!

Miss Bianca: Now, what did I tell you? We are lucky, Mr. Bernard!

Bernard: Luck? Flight 13? Maybe we'd better take the train.

Orville: [through radio] Wake up!

[Bernard stops]

Orville: Dad-drat it! Somebody answer down there! Get off the dime! Hello! Hello! Is anybody down there?!

Bernard: [responds through microphone] Uh, say-- Uh, hello.

Orville: Where in tuck have you been, huh, ya lazy knucklehead?

Bernard: Well, we just got here, sir. You see, my co-agent insisted on packing her, uh...

Orville: [whilst the sound of a helicopter is heard] Look, bud. Am I clear to land? Traffic up here's thicker than--!

[the loud sound of the helicopter drowns him out and blares through the radio, blowing Bernard off-balance]

Orville: WOW! WOW! [angrily] Dad-blast, you dirty road-hog! Road hog! Crazy! See, look! What is--! You stupid lunk-headed...

[Bernard turns down the volume of the radio]

Miss Bianca: What did he say, Mr. Bernard?

Bernard: I wouldn't dare repeat it.

Bianca: Well, then give him the permission to land.

Bernard: [to microphone] Uh, Captain? You, uh, you have our permission to land.

Orville: Well, it's about time, bud!

---

Orville: Sufferin' sassafras! My rudder's on fire! Bail out! Bail out!

---

[the office telephone rings]

Medusa: [enters her office in a huff] Who could be ringing at this time of night? [answers; kindly] Madame Medusa's Pawn Shop Boutique.

Snoops: Hello, Boss!

Medusa: [excitedly] Snoops! Don't tell me, Snoops. Let me guess! You've found it! [laughs like crazy] You've found the diamond!

Snoops: [speaks indistinctly through the phone]

Medusa: [in fury] Give you time?! You bungler! You have been down there for three months!

Snoops: [indistinctly continues]

Medusa: [firmly] Bottles? What bottles? [seethes] You caught Penny sending messages... in BOTTLES?! [lividly] You blundering fool! Can't you control a little girl?! SHUT UP! I am taking the next flight down to Devil's Bayou! [slams the phone down onto the receiver and prepares to pack her bags]

---

Penny: [prays] Please bless Rufus, and Teddy... And all the kids at the orphanage: Jennifer, Bobby, Mary, Julie. And please let someone find my bottle. There's a message in it. Because running away isn't working. Amen.

---

Miss Bianca: [tries to awaken Penny] Penny? Penny?

Penny: [awakens in tears] Yes?

Miss Bianca: Penny. Penny, dear, now don't cry. We are here to help you.

Penny: Wait. Hi! Where'd you come from?

Bernard: We found the bottle with your message, and we've come to rescue you.

Penny: [with joy] Did you hear that, Teddy?! Our bottle worked! [to the two mice] Didn't you bring somebody big with you? Like the police?

Bernard: Uh, no. There's just the two of us.

Miss Bianca: But if the three of us work together, and we have a little faith...

Penny: That's what Rufus said! "Faith makes things turn out right".

External links

The Rescuers quotes at the Internet Movie Database