MovieChat Forums > An American Tail (1986) Discussion > Most disturbing Disney scene ever.

Most disturbing Disney scene ever.


Yes! I finaly found out the title of that movie. I remember seeing this in theaters well over twenty years ago. I find it hard to believe that it is actually 20+ years, but that's another story I guess.

I remember being scared of mainly two scenes in this as a kid, the obvious would of course be 'The Giant mouse from Minsk'. But there's a far more frightening scene in this, at least to my hen seven/eight year old mind, that goes far beyond the fear of a monster. To this day, this has to be the most disturbing and downright nasty scene I've ever seen in a Disney movie:

When Warren T nonchalantly drops the lit match on that pile of cotton (is it?). It's not what happens, if that wouldn't be disturbing enough, it's the /way/ he does it. With that smile, and that "adios!" thing. And then the friggin thing steps back, muttering in a pure-evil voice something about: "So, we can't do business, huh?"

That made me have nightmares for a while I remember. Do you think that Warren T was a pyromaniac? He doesn't have to be in order to do that, but the (again) way he does it. The way he enjoys made me sick to my child stomach.

Twenty years later, a week ago when I sat through this, he still doesn't come across exactly a nice cat. And that scene still sends shivers down my spine, even if I didn't exactly get nightmares out of it.

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What's your view on this scene?

/ Daniel (Sweden)

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This movie was NOT produced by the Disney Company. It was directed by Don Bluth and distributed by Universal Pictures. Yes, they are disturbing scenes.

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Your'e right. My bad. Sorry about that.

/ Daniel (Sweden)

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I found the 'attack of the Cossack cats' bit the most disturbing as a child (cats with moustaches wearing Cossack winter clothes with devilish smiles on their faces, really?). I'd always cover my face and not look at the TV as a kid when that scene came on.

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Yes, the family would be having a quiet dinner, and have large ravenous monsters descend on them, destroying their homes, and devouring their friends and neighbors. Pretty intense stuff for a children's movie.

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Don's movies were all like this if you've seen them....All Dogs Go To Heaven, tales of nimh, I think even Troll in Central Park, Land Before Time... They all have a dark edge to them.

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