[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/banjo_the_woodpile_cat.jpg]]

An all-but-forgotten but charming Creator/DonBluth television special. It was his very first non-Creator/{{Disney}} production, and was essentially a test run for his newborn studio; though it was made before Bluth finally quit Disney. Originally conceived as a full-length feature film (but was cut short due to budget restraints), and later as a ChristmasSpecial (which also didn't stick), the story tells the tale of a mischievous kitten who runs away from home and has adventures in the big city, but soon begins to get homesick for his family and deeply regret running away. With the help of some colorful locals, he eventually makes his way home again. The film can be considered an UrExample of a typical Don Bluth film, as it employs many of the same tropes that would resurface in his later works.

Details behind the making of the film can be viewed [[http://www.cataroo.com/DBbanjo.html here.]]

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!!Banjo the Woodpile Tropes:

* AngryGuardDog: See "Cats Are Mean" below.
* CatsAreMean: {{Inverted|Trope}}; this is about the only Don Bluth production in which Dogs Are Mean and Cats Are Nice.
* ChorusGirls: Zazu, Melina and Cleo are a G-rated version.
* CoolCat: Crazy Legs.
* CorporalPunishment: Banjo runs away from home after his father tells him to fetch his own switch to be beaten with.
* CuteKitten: This doesn't have a kitten for the main character for nothing.
* DashinglyDapperDerby: Crazy Legs wears one.
* DomesticOnlyCartoon: Ends with the credit "Made in the United States of America."
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: As the film was really only made as a testing ground for Creator/DonBluth and his colleagues to see if they could animate something the way they wanted to, it pales in comparison to pretty much everything he made afterwards with more experience, higher budgets and larger staffs. It doesn't help that many of his faults are also present (over-acting, animals who don't move like normal animals, etc.).
* TheForties: Set in 1944.
* GrayRainOfDepression: The scene where Banjo curls up in an alley and cries as he shelters himself from the rain in a tin can. It's very similar to a scene used in a later Bluth production, ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail''.
* TheHomewardJourney
* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: The DVD cover proudly displays the title as "Don Bluth's Banjo The Woodpile Cat."[[note]]Though considering this is the only project of his that he owns the rights to and, therefore, hasn't been whored out for a zillion sequels, you can't blame him for milking this for all it's worth.[[/note]]
* NoAntagonist: Though the full-length feature would have had one. Bluth later acknowledged that this was one weakness in the film's story, but then again the film was made more its artistry than for its plot.
* NoEnding: Upon his return home, Banjo's parents don't look the least worried or seem at all curious as to where he's been. The movie just stops before we find out anything else. Hilariously {{Lampshaded}} in the DVDCommentary:
-->'''Gary Goldman''': Hey, how come his parents aren't angry?\\
'''Don Bluth''': Shh! Roll the credits! Roll the credits!
* ParentalAbandonment: In this case, it's Banjo's own fault, as he ran away to the city on a whim.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Banjo himself, CuteLittleFangs and all.
* TheRunaway: Banjo.
* UndersideRide: This is how the title character goes to the city.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Bluth based the story on a childhood pet cat of his who lived in a woodpile on the farm he grew up on, got lost one day, and found its way back weeks later.
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