Lady and the Tramp

***Lady and the Tramp*** is a 1989 American animated musical romance comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and Amblin Entertainment, and directed by Richard Rich and Dan Kuenster. The TBD Disney animated film and the 7th film in the Disney Renaissance era, *Lady and the Tramp* tells the story of a female American Cocker Spaniel named Lady who lives with a refined, upper-middle-class family and a male stray mutt called Tramp. When the two dogs meet, they embark on many romantic adventures and fall in love.

*Lady and the Tramp* entered development in 1934, but was shelved in the 1940s due to Walt Disney's dislike of the project's darkest overtones. During the early 1980s, the film was revived as a project for the younger animators following the release of *Heidi* (1982). TBD

*Lady and the Tramp* was released to theaters on June 22, 1989 to box office success and mixed reviews from critics. While it did not repeat the critical success of Disney's previous feature films at the time, it was successful on home video, becoming one of the biggest-selling VHS releases ever, its critical reception has been generally positive in modern times, and the film is now seen as one of the best animated films from Disney.

A direct-to-video sequel, *Lady and the Tramp II: A Pup's Adventure*, was released on February 27, 2001. A live-action remake premiered on November 12, 2019 on Disney+. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"

## Plot

On Christmas evening in the year 1939, in a quaint Midwestern town (visually inspired by Walt Disney's hometown Marceline, Missouri), Jim Dear gives his wife Darling a cocker spaniel puppy they named Lady. Lady enjoys a joyful life with the couple and befriends two local neighborhood dogs, a Scottish terrier named Jock, and a bloodhound named Trusty. Meanwhile, a homeless mutt, who goes by the name Tramp, spends his days wandering the streets, dining on scraps from Tony's Italian restaurant and causing trouble for the dog catcher Elliot who owns a vendetta against him.

After freeing his friends Bull and Peg from Elliot's carriage, he makes a run for it and ends up in the Dears' backyard. Lady is upset after her owners begin treating her rather coldly. Jock and Trusty visit her and determine that their change in behavior is due to Darling expecting a baby. While Jock and Trusty try to explain what a baby is, Tramp interrupts the conversation and offers his own thoughts on the matter, making Jock and Trusty take an immediate dislike to the stray and order him out of the yard. As Tramp leaves, he reminds Lady that "when a baby moves in, a dog moves out".

Eventually, the baby arrives and the couple introduces Lady to the infant, of whom Lady becomes very fond and protective. When Jim leaves for some days, he calls his dog-hating Aunt Sarah to help Darling to take care the baby. Aunt Sarah's two trouble-making Siamese cats, Nip and Tuck, deliberately mess up the house, knowing Lady will get in trouble for it, and then get her in even more trouble by tricking Aunt Sarah and Darling into thinking that Lady attacked them. Aunt Sarah then takes Lady to a pet shop to get a muzzle. Lady runs away, but gets trapped in an alley and confronted by Isaac, a brutal street dog. Luckily, Tramp arrives and saves her by tricking Isaac. He then decides to take her to the local zoo, where they find a beaver who is able to remove the muzzle with his teeth, before opting to take her home by taking the "scenic route" so as to avoid Elliot. Later, Tramp shows Lady how he lives "footloose and collar-free", eventually leading into a candlelit dinner at Tony's.

Afterwards, Tramp shows Lady the view of the town and reveals that he too had owners, but they abandoned him once they had a baby. Despite that, Lady chooses to return home in order to watch over the baby. Tramp offers to escort Lady back home, but they get found by Elliot and are chased to the train station where Tramp lives. Though Tramp convinces Lady to run, she returns to help him and gets caught instead. The heartbroken Tramp decides there is nothing he can do. Lady meets with Peg, Bull and other pound dogs who all talk about Tramp and his exploits, while revealing to Lady that Tramp has had multiple girlfriends in the past, and they feel it is unlikely that he will ever settle down. Lady is eventually claimed by Aunt Sarah, who chains her in the backyard as punishment for running away.

Some time later, Tramp finds that Peg and Bull have both been adopted, causing him to further regret leaving Lady behind. He goes to her house to apologize, but she berates him for having other girlfriends in the past and his failure to rescue her from the pound. Tramp sadly leaves, but immediately thereafter a rat sneaks into the house. Lady sees the rat and barks frantically at it, just as Elliot arrives to tell Aunt Sarah and Darling about Tramp. She manages to call Tramp, who sneaks into the house and fights the rat in the baby's room.

In the process, Tramp is injured but manages to kill the rat. Although he had knocked over the crib by accident in the fight, he is caught by Aunt Sarah, Darling, and Elliot, who believe he was attacking the baby instead of the rat.

Jim returns home just as Elliot takes Tramp away to be euthanized, and when he and Darling release Lady from the chains, she leads them to the dead rat before proceeding to chase down the carriage with Trusty and Jock's help. The dogs catch up to the carriage and scare the horses, causing the carriage to collapse. Lady finds Tramp seemingly dead from the crash and they mourn him but he eventually awakes and they reunite. The Dears arrive and, having realized that Tramp was actually protecting the baby, decide to adopt him, saving him from Elliot.

That Christmas, Tramp has been adopted into the family, and he and Lady have started their own family, with Lady having given birth to a litter of four puppies (two dauhgters and one son who look identical to Lady and one son who looks identical to Tramp). Jock comes to see the family along with Trusty, who merely suffered a broken leg, and are formally welcomed as guests by the humans.