Banjo The Woodpile Cat - Plot

Plot

Taking place in Utah, the film begins with chickens being chased by Banjo. His sisters, Emily and Jean, tell their parents and Banjo's father tries to stop Banjo as the sisters and Mother look on. Banjo stops when he runs headlong into his father. He apologizes and says he won't do it again.

As the song rises again, a montage of still and semi-animated scenes shows Banjo still full of mischief including smoking the pipe from a snowman while sitting on its head and standing among broken decorations while looking at his reflection in a Christmas ornament. This ends with him and his sisters walking along the roof of the chicken coop. Banjo tells the girls that he has heard that a cat will always land on its feet and that they can prove it by jumping off the roof. The girls refuse but Banjo grabs their tails and all three go sliding off the roof into the snow.

Furious at his actions and Banjo disobeying Banjo's family, Papa demands that Banjo get a switch from the field for an obvious spanking. While looking for a switch, Banjo becomes angry himself and decides to run away from home. At that moment, he overhears the driver of the feed truck talking about the good times in Salt Lake City. Banjo makes up his mind to leave and by grabbing a rope on the truck hitches a ride to Salt Lake City. A small musical sting follows Banjo as he watches his home get farther away.

In the city, Banjo finds plenty of excitement, once again largely through a series of stills and vignettes. He sees magazines, tries beer, plays around at a pool hall and other vices. Eventually he runs into trouble in traffic and causes a major collision. This begins a series of vignettes showing Banjo wearying of the city's lights and excitement.

When it begins to rain he looks for shelter. The first location is filled with rats so he leaves, finally ending up huddled up in a small can in an alley. He looks at a puddle and sees his family reflected in the pond. Banjo breaks down and cries.

Suddenly a gravelly voice is heard singing in the distance. It is Crazy Legs who discovers the lost kitten in the can. They strike up a friendship when Crazy tells Banjo the kitten can go back home by finding the truck he originally rode out on. As they begin to search, Crazy suggests they can look for some of the "good times" that Banjo wanted to see along the way

Crazy and Banjo come to a night club that Crazy recognizes so they go inside to look. Inside three cats (Zazu, Melina and Cleo) are singing a Boogie-Woogie style number on stage. After the song, the leader of the trio, Zazu comes over to Crazy and meets Banjo. She scolds Banjo for running away and the kitten becomes depressed again. To cheer him up, Crazy and the girls break into a musical number ("I'll Stick With You Kid") and Banjo ends up joining in. Afterwards, Crazy asks all the cats to look for the feed truck.

Later that night Crazy and Banjo are going through a dark alley when they encounter some mean dogs. A chase begins and the pair only escape by climbing up a series of boxes. The pair arrives at the singing cats' home and Banjo goes to sleep. Before Crazy goes to sleep, he prays that he will be able to find the truck so that Banjo can go home.

The next morning, when Banjo wakes up, he hears the driver of the truck out in the street. All parties rejoice as Banjo, Crazy, Zazu, Melina and Cleo all go to the truck to say goodbyes. Suddenly, Banjo is sad again, because he has to leave his new friends. Crazy and Banjo take so long to say goodbye that the truck leaves. However, Crazy manages to get Banjo on board and the kitten waves goodbye to his new friend.

When the truck arrives home, Banjo leaps off it and into the middle of his family. He's home now, and probably never plans to leave again.