Francis

### Personality

Kind, tough, funny, irritable, friendly, respectful, attentive, noble, knowledgeable, fearless, reasonable, aspiring, nurturing, keen, inspirational, efficient, trusting, unselfish, benevolent, big-hearted, altruistic, and sophisticated

### Description

Fat, beige British Bulldog with a small tail, brown face, ears, and nose

### Goal

To help Fagin make money, to help Oliver find a new home; later, to save Jenny from Sykes

### Friends

Oliver, Fagin, Tito, Dodger, Einstein, Rita, Georgette, Jenny, and Winston

### Fate

Returns home with his boss and buddies while singing.

### Quote

"My public awaits."

**Francis** is one of Fagin's dogs in Disney's *Oliver & Company*. He was voiced by the late Roscoe Lee Browne.

## Description

Francis is a fat, beige British Bulldog with a small tail, brown face, ears, and nose. He often speaks with a British or Old English accent like a Shakespearean actor since he has a passion for theaters, the arts, and acting as evidenced when he is seen watching the grainy T.V. and a theatrical production of *Macbeth*, one of Shakespeare's most famous plays and which he apparently knows by heart and when is seen playing a dog-hit part (which Einstein actually did on purpose) to distract the limo driver, Winston, while Oliver and Tito (mostly), handle the car's radio theft.

However, his love for theater and art can cloud his judgment even in the most dire situations.

He is shown to be kind, tough, funny, irritable, friendly, respectful, attentive, noble, knowledgeable, fearless, reasonable, aspiring, nurturing, keen, inspirational, efficient, trusting, unselfish, benevolent, big-hearted, altruistic, and sophisticated. At one point, he is known to give anyone an uninteresting education about his real name; especially Tito, stating never to be called either "Frank" or "Frankie" ever again; simply "Francis." However, he is also known to show some anger in him, especially when he almost loses his temper while repeating his real name 3 times to Tito after he foolishly calls him "Frankie" again.

## Appearances

### *Oliver & Company*

In a barge, Francis is first seen watching *Macbeth* on T.V., which he apparently knows by heart when seen mouthing the words from it later on, until he suddenly scolds at Tito for making some noise with his Latin music and playing around with his wallet, which he adds to a collection of "loot" in a box for their owner, Fagin. Agitated, Tito proceeds to taunt Francis by annoying him with excessive talking and criticism, which almost provokes the latter to losing his temper and starting a close fight while calling him a "little rodent". After Tito humorously calls him "Frankie" for the umpteenth time, Francis gives him an uninteresting education about his real name; telling him to call him neither "Frank" nor "Frankie" ever again but simply, "Francis". Then, Tito sarcastically asks "Frahn-cees" what kind of food he brought in for the gang today, only for Francis to further state that it's none of his business while referring to him as an "intrusive little pipsqueak."

Then, Einstein comes along and shows them his "loot". Francis sarcastically congratulates Einstein and suggests that all they need now is the court and net, which the latter naively takes seriously before Tito states that what they need is some good quality stuff while showing them the wallet. However, when Francis refers to Tito's "loot" as nothing more than just "shredded leather" and "rubbish", this upsets Tito up to a point where he starts losing his temper and arguing with Francis for having insulted his pride until Rita wakes up and silences them. After Rita checks out the "loot" while deducing that their owner is not going to be too happy about this when he returns and then asks Francis if he got the food, everyone becomes more upset and disappointed when they learn that Francis had actually forgotten the fact that it was his turn to get the food today.

Luckily, their leader, Dodger arrives just in time to cheer them up with his own stolen stash of food for the day: hot dogs. While enjoying their dinner, they ask Dodger to tell them how he did it. At first, Dodger describes every event that occurred during the day until he begins to exaggerate when he mentions a "monster" in his story, which begins to frighten Francis and the others. But then, everyone becomes even more scared, panics, and each one tries to find a place to hide when something covered in cloth suddenly falls and crashes into their home right in front of them; thinking it's the "monster" from Dodger's story. Wondering what it is, Tito approaches to investigate until a mysterious paw tears through the cloth and accidentally scratches him on the nose. Naively thinking it's an "alien", Tito panics and flees in terror until it is revealed to be in fact, a cat named Oliver as pointed out by Rita to everyone when she sees the result for herself.

Having learned half of the truth, the gang except Dodger surrounds and interrogates Oliver. After Rita silences Tito with a kick when the latter naively thinks that Oliver is lying when he explains that he followed Dodger, Francis asks Oliver why would he follow Dodger, to which Einstein wonders the same thing as well. After Oliver answers Francis and Einstein's questions and Tito, thinking that Oliver is a spy, insists that they eat him instead, Oliver further reveals the truth about his involvement in Dodger's sausage theft and with Dodger to respectfully back him up when he fully admits that the former did in fact, help him in his latest scheme, Francis and the others begin to develop respect for the kitten.

Then, Francis and the others except Rita proceed to mock and laugh at Dodger about his "monster" story. However, Tito's persistence in mocking Dodger further eventually provokes the latter to deliberately start a dogpile fight with Tito then a formerly reluctant Francis before an amused Einstein joins in as well. Although considering her friends as overgrown and immature, Rita finally joins in as well when Tito accidentally lands on her. Slightly frightened, Oliver hides inside the "loot" box during the fight.

Later, a voice is heard in the background, telling the dogs to stop the play-fight. It is revealed to be the dogs' owner, Fagin, having returned home with a box of dog biscuits, which he presumably either bought or stole earlier in the day for his pets. When the dogs cease the play-fight and notice the box, Fagin tries to remind them that his evil boss, Sykes will be here any minute for the money he owes him, which he unfortunately doesn't have, only to receive a warm welcome from his dogs instead to make him forget about his worries as they proceed to lick him affectionately despite his protests. However, their happiness is short-lived when they hear a honking noise outside, knowing this means that Sykes has arrived, so, he asks his dogs to bring him the "loot" box. Unfortunately, Fagin is disappointed by the junk his dogs brought for him as "loot" to pay back Sykes and before he can examine Oliver whom he discovers inside the box, Sykes' two Dobermans, Roscoe and DeSoto suddenly barge in and shoo him out to talk to their master while they taunt his dogs as Oliver hides from them.

While Fagin is out talking to Sykes, Francis insults Roscoe when the latter tries in vain to flirt with a repulsed Rita while DeSoto sniffs around the place. Although Tito cheers and congratulates Francis with a high-five to encourage him some more, Francis suddenly finds himself angrily confronted by Roscoe. Tito, not intimidated by the Dobermans, tries to defend his friend by challenging Roscoe to a fight and trying to attack him, only to be restrained by Einstein to avoid any real trouble. When Einstein further insults Roscoe, the latter angrily confronts him until Dodger intervenes in order to calm him down. When Dodger asks him if he's lost his sense of humor, Roscoe replies otherwise and deliberately smashes the T.V. with a kick to prove his point, sadistically stating that he finds that funny as he lets out a cold, sinister chuckle. Later, when it's time for the Dobermans to leave after hearing their master call for them with his car horn, Oliver is unfortunately discovered by DeSoto and when Oliver scratches him on the nose for trying in vain to eat him rather than to heed his master's call, both Dobermans try to attack him, but not before Dodger and later, the rest of the gang intervene in order to protect their new cat friend from their enemies; making them hesitate when they realize they are outnumbered.

When their master calls for them again, Roscoe and DeSoto leave but not before swearing revenge on their enemies, starting with Oliver. Francis high-fives Tito, still not intimidated, for his brave efforts after berating the Dobermans behind their backs as they exit the barge before returning inside.

Then, after accidentally falling off a pier, Fagin walks in all wet and sad, lamenting over the three days he has been given by Sykes as his last chance to pay him back or suffer the consequences that may befall both him and his dogs. Feeling sorry for their master, Francis and the others do everything they can to cheer him up. Francis helps Rita cover Fagin up with a cover Rita fetched from her bed while the others help him relax his feet, put on his slippers, and feed him a dog biscuit. Rejoiced, Fagin thanks his dogs; much to their joy. After meeting and accepting Oliver into the gang, it's time for bed but Einstein insists Fagin read them a bedtime story first. At first, Fagin is reluctant as he is too tired but after hearing Einstein's sad whining, he changes his mind and chooses to read only one chapter for tonight. Francis brings the lamp over to Fagin before Tito fixes it in his direction to help him read better. During the reading, Fagin asks Francis to demonstrate what a real bark sounds like when the latter "criticizes" the former's own barking demonstration with a slight glare. Later, Francis is seen sleeping next to Tito who uses the former's left cheek as a cover.

The next morning, the gang including Oliver is riding through the streets in Fagin's scooter. After crashing in an alley, Fagin instructs his pets to get out and search for food while he tries to find a way to earn or even steal money within the next two days before the deadline. Wanting to help their owner with his financial problems while searching for food at the same time, the dogs as well as Oliver agree on this plan and proceed to execute it, starting on Columbus Avenue. Then, the gang; especially Rita, teaches Oliver a lesson about how the best survive by keeping their dreams alive and working together through singing "Streets of Gold". During the song, the gang saves Oliver from a vicious alley dog by simply growling at him, which makes the alley dog cower and run away in fear. The gang is amused when they notice Oliver "barking" like a dog at his wannabe-attacker before carrying on with their objective.

Noticing a beige limousine in their path, Dodger comes up with a plan on how to steal the car's radio that Fagin can pawn off at a shop and earn money in exchange as minor payment for his debt to Sykes, using Einstein and mainly, Francis as distractions and Tito as the "electrician/electronics technician" with Oliver to help him out while Dodger and Rita handle the crowd. As part of the plan, after Einstein deliberately runs headfirst into the car driven by Winston, leaving him completely dazed, Francis plays the former's role of the hit in order to distract Winston while Oliver and Tito mostly carry out the intended theft. However, when the plan backfires due to Oliver accidentally slipping on the ignition, thus, causing the car to go haywire and sending a barbecued Tito literally flying out the window in a flash, Francis and the rest of the gang retreat somewhere in a nearby alley as the car drives away with Oliver still inside due to being caught in the wires. Worried about Oliver, Dodger and Tito follow the car he was taken in while the others return to Fagin.

A few moments later, Dodger and Tito return to the rest of the gang at a pawn shop, thinking that their friend is in danger when in fact, he has been adopted by a young girl named Jenny Foxworth as his new owner. Stuck to choose between either "rescuing" Oliver or helping Fagin with his financial problems, Francis resorts to speaking in Shakespearean English, which annoys Tito, who demands that the former speak normal English instead. After Tito calls him "Frankie" again, Francis once again corrects him three times before losing his patience and aiming to quarrel with the latter until luckily, Dodger intervenes to break up their dispute, leaving Tito to momentarily blow a raspberry at Francis before turning his head the other way to play the innocent and avoid any possible reprimands from Dodger when the former glares at him. Then, Dodger suggests that first, they'll "rescue" their little cat friend and then, they'll take care of the "old man". Then, Francis and the others gather around to listen to Dodger's plan for the following day.

The next morning, Dodger leads the "rescue mission". After Einstein distracts Winston by ringing the doorbell, Francis distracts the latter again and leaves him locked outside while the dogs enter the mansion inconspicuously. Francis and the others begin to admire the place rather than focusing on "rescuing" Oliver until Dodger reminds them about their true objective.

After Dodger enters and meets Georgette, the family's spoiled pedigree pet poodle and dog show queen, in her room and is given an uninteresting introduction about herself, the rest of the gang enters as Tito begins to develop a sudden crush on the poodle; much to her disgust. After the gang inadvertently causes a mess in her room, Georgette begins to call and bark for Winston countless times, who managed to sneak back inside through an open window in the kitchen. However, when Georgette learns that Dodger and the others are in fact, the friends Oliver keeps talking about who have come to "rescue" him, she becomes more cooperative. But before cooperating, Winston comes in to check up on Georgette. Francis and Einstein hide under Georgette's bed cover with half of Georgette's body sticking out while Dodger and Rita pose as dog statue replicas and Tito hangs on a coat hanger of the door. Though puzzled, Winston leaves nonetheless. Then, Georgette takes the gang to Jenny's room. Noticing Oliver happily sleeping on his pillow, Rita, being the first one convinced that he's okay, proposes they forget the plan, but Georgette, jealous and eager to get rid of him since the day he came into Jenny's life, convinces them that he's so "traumatized" and when Winston's voice is heard again, she quickly hands him to them in a pillow sack held by Francis and Einstein and allows them to flee through the fire escape.

Back at the barge, the gang brings Oliver in. However, the gang appears more confused when Oliver demands to know why they took him away. When Einstein tells him that they simply "rescued" and brought him back home, the gang learns that Oliver actually wanted to stay now that he's happy living in a new home with someone who loves him. Nevertheless, despite an unpleasant conversation between a devastated Oliver and an upset but otherwise, stubborn Dodger, Dodger grudgingly allows Oliver to leave without anyone stopping him. Looking at each other with great sadness and sorrow, Francis and the rest of the gang watch as Oliver leaves until a depressed Fagin returns and brings Oliver back inside. The gang watches as Fagin is about to lose faith and hope after how his previous attempts to earn or steal money have failed until he suddenly rejoices when he notices the address inscribed on Oliver's collar that reads: "5th Avenue", meaning that where he currently comes from, his new owners must be rich, therefore, inspiring Fagin to come up with a plan to hold Oliver for ransom while writing a ransom note to his owners, which just might help him pay his debt to Sykes at last.

Later, at night, after Fagin's unpleasant meeting with Sykes at his warehouse leading to Dodger getting slightly injured from a previous attack by the Dobermans as a slightly unexpected result, Francis and the others wait at the rendezvous spot between Fagin and Oliver's new owner before Dodger joins them. Oblivious to the fact that Sykes and his dogs are watching them from a distance in his car, when Fagin learns that Jenny is in fact, Oliver's new owner but with very little money in a piggy bank she brought as payment to get Oliver back, Jenny begins to cry and Fagin has a hard time deciding whether to give up the ransom and follow his good heart or not while feeling guilty as he watches Jenny and Georgette leave with great sadness in their eyes.

Finally, Fagin does the right thing, pretends to find Oliver in a box, and returns him to Jenny; much to both his and the latter's joy. Unfortunately, their happiness is cut-short when Sykes, having seen the whole thing, drives straight towards Jenny to make his move, kidnaps her, and throws Oliver out the window. Before driving away, Sykes tells Fagin to keep his mouth shut and to consider their account closed. Appalled to see their little friend injured, Dodger and the gang including Georgette rush to Oliver’s aid and at the same time, generously promise to "absitively" help him get Jenny back as well. Without further hesitation and without riding in Fagin’s scooter this time despite the latter’s orders, Oliver and the dogs dash straight to Sykes’ warehouse.

At the warehouse, after Francis and Tito have finished inspecting the place to see if they can find a way in, they inform Dodger that it's all locked up. So, Dodger comes up with another plan on how to get inside. The plan is set with Francis and Oliver (in a football helmet) as the "cannonballs" and Tito as the "maestro". Then, the others call out to Francis to see if he's ready, which he is before launching Oliver on a made-up seesaw and through a window, which somehow alerts Sykes who sends his dogs to investigate. Once Oliver's inside and after avoiding detection from Roscoe and DeSoto, he opens a hatch from the inside. However, Tito insists Georgette goes first; a trait which begins to please Georgette when she sees how one of the gang members has some manners. Francis appears slightly annoyed after Tito refers to Georgette as his "little croissant". Later, while sneaking inside in silence, Georgette suddenly screams in pain after breaking a nail, which somehow alerts Roscoe and DeSoto more than ever. Francis puts down her moan, only to be angrily confronted by Tito who stands up for her until everyone is detected by a security camera facing their direction.

After Tito takes care of the camera as suggested by Dodger, Oliver and the dogs proceed until they reach somewhere above Sykes' office where they find Jenny tied up to a chair but otherwise, okay while Sykes is on the phone with Winston, demanding him to get in touch with Jenny's parents in order to ask about a ransom concerning their daughter since they are away on a business trip around Europe. Then, Dodger comes up with another plan on how to distract Sykes and rescue Jenny at the same time. The plan is set with Francis, Einstein, and Tito posing as a pizza delivery guy to lure Sykes away from his office while the others sneak in to help Jenny. Francis, Einstein, and Tito run until they unfortunately come face-to-face with Roscoe and DeSoto. Luckily, when all seems lost, Georgette suddenly appears and manages to temporarily trap the Dobermans under a tarpaulin net, thus, enabling Francis and the others to safely return and reunite with the rest of the friends back at Sykes' office to save Jenny before locking the door behind them.

Francis is told by Dodger to keep an eye on the monitors while Rita tries to chew the ropes off of Jenny. However, when that attempt proves futile, Dodger asks Francis if the coast is clear, only to find the latter watching old dancing girl shows on one of the screens instead. Luckily, Dodger quickly switches to the regular station, only to find their enemies returning. Dodger, noticing a crane at the top that could help them out, asks Tito to hot-wire it. Confident, convinced otherwise, and less reluctant than before; thanks to Georgette's charm, Tito quickly makes it up to the top where the crane's controls are located in order to operate and send the crane down just as Sykes and his dogs return to find the door locked. Luckily, Francis and the others are carried up to safety once Tito manages to operate the crane to send it down then back up again just in time before Sykes and his dogs break through the locked door. All goes well as they are being carried away in another direction by the crane until Sykes takes out a fire axe and destroys the crane's controls, which causes everyone to fall and land on a long slide, only to find themselves cornered by their enemies at the end of the slide unfortunately.

Luckily, when all hope seems lost as Sykes is about to snap his fingers so as to order his dogs to attack again, Fagin arrives in his scooter breaking through a window just in time to save and drive everyone out to safety until Sykes tries to catch up to them in his car. Thinking Sykes won't bother following them any further, Fagin drives everyone down into a subway station but Sykes, driving like a madman, pursues them nonetheless. Once they drive into a tunnel with Sykes still in hot pursuit, Francis and the other dogs are heard barking fiercely at their enemies until Sykes' car collides with Fagin's scooter, causing Jenny to fall and land on the hood of his car. Francis and the others watch as Oliver jumps in to save Jenny by biting Sykes' hand when the latter tries to pull Jenny back in, only to end up thrown in the backseat and cornered by Roscoe and DeSoto. Then, they watch Dodger jump in to rescue Oliver by fighting off and allowing Roscoe to fall to his death on the electric railway caused by the friction between Sykes' ruined car tires and the railway itself before Oliver comes to Dodger's rescue by scratching and allowing DeSoto to also fall to his death in the same manner when the latter tries to kill Dodger in vain as payback for Roscoe’s death. Then, Dodger saves Oliver again just in time before meeting the same fate as well.

On the Brooklyn Bridge, while Fagin comes to Jenny's aid with Einstein to help make sure he doesn't fall as the latter calls for help, Tito takes command of the scooter. Suddenly, a train is heard and seen heading their way. When it looks like Sykes has got the upper hand by grabbing Jenny's leg and pulling her back in, Oliver and Dodger arrive just in time to save her by jumping on and fighting Sykes off, thus, enabling Jenny to jump back into Fagin's scooter. Luckily, Tito manages to save everyone at the last minute by driving them up to safety on one of the bridge's cables while Oliver and Dodger stay behind to fight Sykes off. After Sykes throws Dodger and Oliver off, the train approaches and finally collides with Sykes still in his car, thus, killing him and sending both him and his car down the Hudson River. Then, Tito drives everyone safely back down before Jenny runs out to search for Oliver, only to find a sad Dodger approaching with a supposedly lifeless Oliver in his mouth. At first, everyone thinks he's dead but when Jenny hears a soft meow coming out of Oliver, everyone minus Georgette, still in shock from the chase, quickly rejoices when they see that their little cat friend is still alive. Then, Francis and the others begin to befriend Jenny.

The next day, back at Jenny's house, everyone including Fagin and his dogs is celebrating Jenny's 8th birthday despite Francis appearing slightly annoyed by Tito's Latin music heard in the next room while teaching some of his dance moves to Georgette. Once the gang has given Jenny birthday presents (garbage actually), to which she is kindly grateful to, it's time for them to go home as Jenny and Fagin bid each other a touching good-bye. While Tito stays behind with Georgette before quickly changing his mind later on when the latter proves to be too much for him, Francis and the others leave to join up with Fagin after bidding Oliver a fond farewell until the next time they meet.

Then, Francis joins up with the rest of his friends as they sing a reprise of "Why Should I Worry" altogether while jumping from car/truck to car/truck before joining up with Fagin in his scooter on their way home.

### *House of Mouse*

Francis has made a few guest appearances in *House of Mouse*. He can be seen along with some of the dog-gang members and Oliver in the intro. In the episode "Pluto Saves the Day", Francis appears with the Pet Shop Dogs band singing "Everybody Wants to Be a Woof": composed of Jock, Napoleon, Lafayette, Tito, DeSoto, and some Dalmatian puppies with Dodger as their leader. Later, he and the band fight off Pete (who's disguised as Snow White) and then chase him out along with Pluto.

## Disney Parks

In the years following the movie's release, Francis made numerous appearances at the parks.

## Trivia

* Francis was based on Winston Churchill, whose appearance was often compared to being like a bulldog.
* Francis is seen watching *Macbeth* on T.V., one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays, which he apparently knows by heart.
* In Jenny's house, when not focusing on "rescuing" Oliver and admiring masterpieces, Francis mentions: Chagall and Matisse; two famous French artists.
* Francis and Mr. Arrow from *Treasure Planet* share the same voice actor, Roscoe Lee Browne.
* Patrick Stewart was considered for the role of Francis.
* Francis was shown eating Georgette's box of bonbons. It should be noted bonbons are small candies coated in chocolate which is poisonous to both dogs and cats. Earlier in the movie, he was shown eating an apple, which is considered a healthy snack and an excellent source of vitamins A and C, as well as fiber for dogs but it shouldn't have been eaten along with the core and the seeds that contain a small amount of cyanide which is released when they're broken or chewed.
* When preparing to jump in order to launch Oliver into Sykes' warehouse, Francis quotes: "Farewell, Dulcinea."; a reference to the novel, *Don Quixote* by Miguel de Cervantes.
* Francis greatly resembles Bull from *Lady and the Tramp* as both are the same breed.