FILM · 1986 · USA
An American Tail
63 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (63)
- #001
The scene in which Fievel presses against a window to look into a classroom full of American "schoolmice" is based on a story Steven Spielberg remembered about his grandfather, who said that Jews could only hear school lessons by listening through open windows while sitting outside in the snow.
- #002
Fievel was the name of Steven Spielberg's grandfather.
- #003
"Somewhere Out There" became a major hit, rose to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, won a Grammy, and became one of the most popular songs from an animated film since the 1950s.
- #004
The concept initially consisted of a world made up entirely of animals, like Disney's Robin Hood (1973), but Don Bluth proposed emphasizing an animal world existing as a hidden society within the human world, as in Disney's The Rescuers (1977). After seeing the film, Steven Spielberg agreed. Don also worked on both of these films during his time at The Walt Disney Company.
- #005
Nehemiah Persoff was cast to voice Papa Mousekewitz because he had a similar role as Barbra Streisand's father in Yentl (1983).
- #006
Gussie Mausheimer, a wealthy German socialite with a speech impediment that makes her use a W sound instead of R's and L's, is voiced by Madeline Kahn. The character's heritage, accent and distinctive speech pattern are the same as those of Madeline Kahn's character Lili von Shtupp in the classic Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles (1974).
- #007
Phillip Glasser was discovered by chance when Don Bluth and his team overheard him at an Oscar Mayer commercial audition.
- #008
While designing the look of the film and its characters, Don Bluth worked with Amblin Entertainment and the Sears marketing department (Sears had a major marketing push centered on the main character). He decided to make a stylistic shift away from the more angular "modern style" animation of the time toward a style similar to 1940s Disney animation, in which characters had a softer and more lovable feel. This succeeded, and on release many critics praised the film's "old fashioned style" in terms of its look and feel. This was a time when the nostalgia market was strong, particularly among baby boomers looking for products for their small children, and it came only three years before the start of the Disney Renaissance at the studio where Bluth had once worked.
- #009
During production, director Don Bluth staged a demonstration showing the difference between limited TV animation and the full animation used in the film. He had his team stack animation cels in two piles at his feet, one representing two minutes of limited animation and the other two minutes of full animation. The TV pile reached only to Bluth's shoelaces; the film pile reached eye level.
- #010
The cats' roars during the sweater raid are the same as the roars made by the farm cat Dragon in The Secret of NIMH (1982), also directed by Don Bluth.
- #011
Phillip Glasser, who was seven years old while working on the film, recalled that when his grandmother dropped him off at the studio for work, she reminded him every day to study his lines. "Hey Philly," she would say in a thick Bronx accent, "Time to learn your lines." Don Bluth overheard their conversations one day and liked it so much that he used it in the film — Tony gives him the nickname "Filly."
- #012
There were some cuts of material Steven Spielberg considered too frightening and intense for children, among them a scene Don Bluth had developed in which nightmarish wave monsters circled the family while they were at sea.
- #013
Tony Toponi's surname is derived from the word "topo," which means mouse in Italian.
- #014
John P. Finnegan won the role of Warren T. Rat by reading quotations from Hamlet in the voice of a Brooklyn taxi driver. This idea inspired the writers to make Warren an ambitious, illiterate character who constantly misquotes Shakespeare.
- #015
Dom DeLuise had previously worked with Don Bluth on The Secret of NIMH (1982), and DeLuise had even added material to the script at various points. During the A Duo song, he suggested they stop the music where the lyrics mention a "back scratch" and have Fievel scratch Tiger's back.
- #016
It was the first theatrical animated film produced by Universal Pictures. The Snow Queen (1957) and Pinocchio in Outer Space (1965) were only distributed by them.
- #017
Immediately after they lose Fievel, and immediately after Fievel first meets Warren T. Rat, both Papa and Mama Mousekewitz show a noticeable lack of color in their subsequent scenes. The muted tones suggest their grief and resignation. In the same scene Tanya's color is not faded because she still believes Fievel is alive.
- #018
Henri was initially to be voiced by Sid Caesar and was conceived as worn and weathered, but Christopher Plummer was later cast in the role and Henri was drawn with a more dignified appearance. Don Bluth considered Henri an important character who would serve as the voice of the "welcoming" Fievel statue to the new world.
- #019
Phillip Glasser was only 6 years old when he first began recording his lines as Fievel in 1984.
- #020
An American Tail was Amblin Entertainment's first animated film.
- #021
Fievel became the mascot of Steven Spielberg's animation production company Amblimation and appeared in its production logo until the studio closed in 1997.
- #022
Warren Hays, who voiced the Irish Singer Mouse on the boat, later went to work at Pixar Film Company. He worked as Systems Administrator and Systems Support on A Bug's Life (1998), Information Systems Manager on Toy Story 2 (1999), Information Systems Manager and Lead on Finding Nemo (2003), and Desktop and Infrastructure: Pixar Studio Team on Up (2009).
- #023
The color of the Statue of Liberty is historically accurate, because the film is set in 1885, the statue has just been completed, and it would not turn green from oxidation until 1900.
- #024
Initially Don Bluth and his team were disappointed with the first score recording. After revisions, however, they found that the music worked quite well. The final score became one of the film's strongest points.
- #025
This was Johnny Guarnieri's last film.
- #026
Now-legendary cartoonist Butch Hartman was an animation supervisor on the huge moving scene who was not credited in the titles; it was one of his first jobs in animation and one of the few he did for theatrical releases.
- #027
Jerry Goldsmith, who had previously worked with Don Bluth on The Secret of NIMH (1982), was initially considered to compose the music, but he withdrew due to prior commitments. Goldsmith was replaced by James Horner, whom Bluth already knew; the composer's manager tried to pressure Bluth into hiring Horner for "NIMH" even though, by contract, he had to use Goldsmith's score.
- #028
Before it was decided to hire Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Tom Bähler was approached to write the film's songs.
- #029
During the Cossacks' raid, as Fievel flees the cats, his hat falls from his head and lands at the entrance to a snow tunnel. At the last moment, just before one of the cats reaches it, Fievel snatches it back in a moment reminiscent of producer Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones.
- #030
This was the first Amblin Entertainment film to be rated G by the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
- #031
When Tony and Bridget emerge from the wreckage after the cat attack in the market, a bottle labeled "Pomeroy Hair Tonic," named after co-producer John Pomeroy, can be seen in the background.
- #032
Because immigrant experiences reflect the adventures and triumphs of all cultures and their children, Fievel was declared a UNICEF spokesperson in 2000.
- #033
In the first draft of the screenplay, the young hero's name was "Mousy Mouskewitz."
- #034
The front cover of the DVD and Blu-ray jacket shows Fievel's sister Tanya from the sequel.
- #035
According to story drafts, the bullying orphans are named Roc (the fat one with black hair), Pee Wee (the gray one with the orange hat) and Noodles (the bald one with glasses). Roc is voiced by Steve Blum, Noodles by Diane Michelle and Pee Wee by Barbara Goodson. None of them appear in the final title sequence.
- #036
The songwriting team of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann were given four weeks to write four songs for the film together with James Horner. They did not think they had written a hit, but after listening, Steven Spielberg was convinced that "Somewhere Out There" could make the Top 40. He was right: the duet by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram rose to No. 2 on the charts and won two Grammy Awards. It was also nominated for an Oscar, but lost to "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun (1986).
- #037
At the time of its release, it was the highest-grossing non-Disney animated feature. It was also one of the first films to beat a Disney film, surpassing The Great Mouse Detective (1986), which had been released four months earlier and whose budget had been cut because of the expensive failure of The Black Cauldron (1985).
- #038
The terrifying Neptune-like ocean phantom that terrorizes Fievel during the storm at sea was inspired, at least in part, by the demon Chernobog in Fantasia (1940).
- #039
An American Tail was produced jointly by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film's success, along with that of The Land Before Time (1988), encouraged Steven Spielberg to open an animation subsidiary called Amblimation.
- #040
The song "Somewhere Out There" was included on the American Film Institute's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest American Movie Songs, which was chosen from a pool of 400 nominated films.
- #041
When Fievel first arrives in New York, the French pigeon Henri tells him that the Statue of Liberty is being constructed. The statue was famously a gift from France to America, which explains why Henri says the tower is "his."
- #042
While Gussie gives her speech at the rally, she stands on a box of "Dorse Hair Restorer," named after crew member Dorse A. Lanpher.
- #043
This was James Horner's first score for an animated film.
- #044
At 81 minutes, it is the longest film in the series.
- #045
As of 2024, Phillip Glasser (Fievel Mousekewitz), Amy Green (Tanya Mousekewitz) and Pat Musick (Tony Toponi) are the last surviving members of the cast.
- #046
After his and Gary Goldman's first film, The Secret of NIMH (1982), achieved critical success, Steven Spielberg approached them about making this film.
- #047
When the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray, there were several re-releases that provoked fan backlash. However, the British DVD version has the original dub.
- #048
Fievel lives apart from his family for most of the film, and there are also several orphans in New York.
- #049
Digit's German voice is Wolfgang Ziffer. Appropriately, "Ziffer" means "digit" in German.
- #050
The Mousekewitz family is forced to move from Russia to America.
- #051
Erica Yohn's portrayal of a Russian gypsy in a television series caught the attention of Don Bluth and John Pomeroy.
- #052
Despite its serious subject matter, there is probably a reason the film resonated with children: having worked on Sesame Street (1969) for decades, the screenwriters knew how to talk to children. Screenwriter Judy Freudberg was a longtime Sesame Street resident of 35 years. Freudberg joined the series as an assistant in the music department and eventually became a writer. Fellow screenwriter Tony Geiss also wrote for Sesame Street, including Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street (1983) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- #053
This was the first animated film set in New York and starring Dom DeLuise. The second would be Oliver & Company (1988). Interestingly, the two films are set roughly 100 years apart. An American Tail is set in 1885, while Oliver & Company is set in 1988.
- #054
Christopher Plummer would go on to voice the Grand Duke of Owls in Rock-A-Doodle (1991), Charles Muntz in Up (2009), [a role] in 1 in 9 (2009), and Herod in The Star (2017).
- #055
The artist Art Spiegelman developed a comic book concept called "Maus," a story that depicts Jewish people as mice and Germans as cats. You might think Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg stole the idea for this film from him, but instead of suing, Spiegelman rushed to publish the first half of his book before the film came out in order to prove he was not the plagiarist.
- #056
This was the fifth film released in the 1980s in which James Horner replaced an original composer. The other four films are Wolfen (1981), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) and The Journey of Natty Gann (1985).
- #057
An American Tail is the only film in the series whose copyright notice in the end credits carries the release year in Roman numerals.
- #058
It is the first Amblin Entertainment animated film to be rated G by the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
- #059
The film was co-produced by Don Bluth and Amblin Entertainment, while Amblin's flagship E. T. Extra-Terrestrial (1982) has an attraction called "E. T. Adventure" at Universal Studios Florida, the same location as "Fievel's Playland."
- #060
It is the only An American Tail film to carry the Universal Pictures logo between 1963 and 1990.
- #061
After Yellow Submarine (1968), it was the second animated film nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. Neither film won.
- #062
Michelle Nicastro was considered for the voice of Bridget.
- #063
It is the first An American Tail film to carry the MCA signature.
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