"Finding friendship is the wildest adventure of all," and "The exciting adventures of a TEEN-AGE MOUNTAIN LION!" read the posters for Walt Disney Productions' Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar (1967). Animal stories had always been popular subjects for Disney and this was another in a long series of live action films involving wild animals in their native habitat.

Directed by Winston Hibler, a longtime Disney veteran who had worked on both animated and live-action films for the company, and with a screenplay by Jack Speirs (based on a story by both Hibler and Speirs), Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar tells the story of Charlie, a cougar rescued and raised as a cub by a lumberjack (Ron Brown), but later reverts to his natural, wild ways, which causes trouble with the other lumberjacks in logging camp. When Charlie becomes too big to manage, and becomes enemies with a terrier named Chainsaw, the result is a melee that wrecks a kitchen and costs the company a lot of money.

In the cast were Gladys Cooper, Brian Russell, Linda Wallace, and Jim Wilson, with narration by Rex Allen, in his last Disney film, having narrated The Legend of Lobo (1962) and The Incredible Journey (1963).

The film was shot on location at Broughton Log Flume, Columbia River Gorge, Washington (which was also used for an episode of TV's Lassie that same year). Although Walt Disney personally greenlit the film, he died before it went into production, and Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar became the first Disney film made after Walt Disney's death from cancer on December 15, 1966.

Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar was released into theaters by Disney's Buena Vista Distribution Company October 18, 1967 as part of a double-bill with the "A" picture The Jungle Book (1967), which was a blockbuster, earning $13 million on its release. While the uncredited reviewer for The New York Times praised the feature, Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar "should have run for half an hour and stretches out for 47 minutes. Furthermore, Born Free (1966) got there first. Wise parents will take the kids in first for Jungle Book, and see at least some of the featurette, if squirming should commence, and it did with us."

By Lorraine LoBianco

SOURCES: "Disney's Jungle Book Arrives Just in Time" The New York Times 23 Dec 67 The Internet Movie Database http://movies.disney.com/charlie-the-lonesome-cougar http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/2013/10/charlie-lonesome-cougar-1967.html