Napoleon and Samantha (1972)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

"Napoleon and Samantha" is a kind of family movie that Disney company doesn't make any more - or any other movie studio, come to think about it. To a certain degree that is kind of a shame, because for the most part it doesn't have the strident and loud tone found in modern family day movies. Some of the low key scenes are nice and effective, like when Napoleon's sick grandfather has his last conversation with his grandson. But ultimately, the movie is a little TOO low key for its own good. For the most part, it chugs along not only at a very slow pace, but lacking bite; the movie could have used a bit more tension and conflict. Near the end, the tone really changes with the action-packed climax, but it seems to come from a different movie altogether. There is additionally some interest in seeing the pre-fame Michael Douglas (who is pretty good) and Jodie Foster (who is unexceptional, though this was her first movie). However, in the end the movie is pretty forgettable, being hard to differentiate from other cookie-cutter efforts from the Disney company during the 1970s.

Napoleon gets into mischief with his friend Samantha (Jodie Foster). They steal empty bottles and resell them to the store owner for candy. He lives with his grandpa. Her parents are away and she lives with Gertrude. Napoleon and grandpa encounter Dimetri the Clown with Major the Lion. Dimetri is going home to Europe and has to leave Major behind. The lion is old with bad teeth and can only drink milk. Napoleon and grandpa adopt Major putting him in with the chickens. Grandpa passes away. Danny (Michael Douglas) is a student traveling through the area looking for work. Napoleon hires him to bury grandpa. Napoleon claims to be waiting for his uncle while Danny sets off for a goat herding job. Fearing the orphanage, Napoleon sets off with Major to find and stay with Danny. Samantha joins him with her prized rooster. When the kids get there, Danny goes back to tell Gertrude and she promptly has him arrested. At the police station, he sees that he left the kids with Mark Pierson who is actually a wanted criminal.I checked this out for Jodie Foster and Michael Douglas. Damn, Jodie was just a kid and it's sad to read that she was mauled by one of the lions. The kids are cute and charming. There are a lot of darker elements in this kids movie. The locals are a little too much of bumpkins. The most compelling aspect is the two kids on the journey with the lion. That's a small part of the movie. It's an odd little Disney adventure.

Michael is extraordinary in this film as he guides two children to coping with their grandad's death and teaches them the meaning of life. Too bad Kirk didn't play the grandpa, that would have been awesome. Look for Michael Clarke Duncan in his first starring role as the lion!

Disney family offering that was(if I am correct)Jodie Foster's first feature film appearance. Plot concerns Napoleon(Johnny Whittaker)who flees to the hills with his pet lion Major and friend Samantha(Foster)after his grandfather dies, assisted by college-dropout-turned-shepherd Michael Douglas. The drama comes from Napoleon and Samantha encountering various dangers in the hills of the Rockies, including the expected wild animals and a run-in with a dangerous pedophile(euphemistically referred to as a "psycho" in the film). A little unusual, for the film's dealings with death(the only human death I can recall in a Disney live-action film)and the above-mentioned child molestor, and not a little moving.