Watership Down is a 1978 British animated adventure drama film, written, produced, and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the 1972 novel by Richard Adams. It features the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne, Roy Kinnear, and Zero Mostel in his final film role.
This feature length animation was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions and distributed by Cinema International Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was released on 19 October 1978 and was an immediate success, becoming the sixth-most popular film of 1979 at the UK box office.
Plot In Lapine language mythology, the world was created by the god Frith. All animals were similar, living harmoniously as grass-eaters. The rabbits multiplied though, and their appetite led to a food shortage. Frith ordered the rabbit prince, El-Ahrairah, to control his people, but was scoffed at. In retaliation, the angered Frith gave special gifts to every animal, making some into predators to hunt the rabbits, humbling El-Ahrairah which caused him to play it safe and try to head underground. Satisfied that El-Ahrairah had learned his lesson, Frith gave rabbits the gifts of speed and cunning.
In the present, in a warren near Sandleford, a young rabbit seer named Fiver has an apocalyptic vision when he and his older brother Hazel come across a signboard; it says a residential development is coming but they cannot read it. The two beg the chief rabbit to order an evacuation; the chief dismisses them, and orders Captain Holly, the head of the warren's Owsla "police force", to attempt to stop those trying to leave. Hazel and Fiver manage to escape with six other rabbits named Bigwig, Blackberry, Pipkin, Dandelion, Silver, and Violet.
They journey through the woods, avoiding several dangerous situations, until Violet – the group's only doe – is killed by a hawk. During the journey, they meet a rabbit named Cowslip, who invites them to his warren, where a farmer leaves Cowslip's group ample vegetables. They are grateful, but Fiver leaves when he senses something unsettling in the atmosphere. Bigwig follows, berating Fiver for causing tension. When Bigwig is caught in a snare, his friends free him, and Fiver realises the farmer is protecting and feeding Cowslip's warren so that he can snare rabbits for his own meals.
The rabbits discover Nuthanger Farm, which contains a hutch of domesticated does. Before they can free the females, the farm cat and dog chase them away. Later, they are found by Holly, who recounts the destruction of Sandleford warren by humans as well as an encounter with vicious rabbits called the "Efrafans". Fiver finally finds the hill he envisioned, Watership Down, where the group settles with Hazel as their new chief.
The rabbits soon befriend a black-headed gull named Kehaar, injured by the farm cat, who flies out in search of does. That night, the rabbits return to Nuthanger Farm to attempt to free the does there, but as they escape, the farmers respond to the disturbance by trying to block them in, and Hazel is shot in the leg and collapses into a storm drain. Fiver follows a vision of the mythical Black Rabbit of Inlé to his injured brother. Kehaar returns and, while removing the lead shotgun pellets from Hazel's leg, reports of the many does at the overcrowded Efrafa warren. Holly describes it as a dangerous totalitarian state ruled by its tyrannical chief, General Woundwort, but Hazel feels they must go there. Bigwig infiltrates the warren and is made an Owsla officer by Woundwort. Bigwig recruits several potential escapees to his cause, including Blackavar and Hyzenthlay. With Kehaar's help, the escapees use a boat to float down the river. That night, Kehaar leaves for his homeland, but promises to return in the future.
Efrafan trackers eventually find Watership Down. Woundwort rejects Hazel's offer of peace, and demands that all deserters must be turned over or Watership Down will be wiped out. While the Watership rabbits barricade their warren, Fiver slips into a trance, in which he envisions a dog running loose in the woods. This gives Hazel an idea: he chews through the leash of Bob, the Nuthanger Farm watchdog, and Blackberry, Dandelion, and Hyzenthlay bait him into following them back to the warren. When the Efrafans break through the warren's defences, Woundwort goes in alone. Blackavar attacks him but is easily killed. Bigwig ambushes Woundwort and they fight to a standstill. When Bob arrives, Woundwort abandons Bigwig and emerges from the warren, refuses to flee and fearlessly stands his ground until Bob notices him, and the two lunge at each other. No trace of Woundwort is ever found, and his fate is left a mystery.
Several years later, an elderly Hazel is visited by the Black Rabbit, who invites him to join his own Owsla, assuring him of Watership Down's perpetual safety. Reassured, Hazel accepts and dies peacefully. His spirit follows the Black Rabbit through the woodland and trees towards the Sun, which metamorphoses into Frith, and the afterlife, as Frith's parting advice to El-Ahrairah is heard once more.
Cast
John Hurt as Hazel Richard Briers as Fiver Michael Graham Cox as Bigwig John Bennett as Captain Holly Ralph Richardson as the Chief Rabbit of Sandleford Simon Cadell as Blackberry Terence Rigby as Silver Roy Kinnear as Pipkin Richard O'Callaghan as Dandelion Denholm Elliott as Cowslip Lynn Farleigh as Tab the cat Mary Maddox as Clover Zero Mostel as Kehaar Harry Andrews as General Woundwort Hannah Gordon as Hyzenthlay Nigel Hawthorne as Campion Clifton Jones as Blackavar Derek Griffiths as Vervain and Chervil Michael Hordern as Frith Joss Ackland as the Black Rabbit Michelle Price as Lucy
Production Producer Martin Rosen purchased film rights for the story. He was assisted by merchant banker Jake Eberts, who enjoyed the experience so much it launched Eberts's career in the film industry. The option for the film rights was £50,000.Eberts pp. 11–12 Rosen estimated the budget at $2.4 million. Eberts was rejected by Rank and EMI Films but raised $1 million from the Pearson company and clients of the merchant bank Lazard.Eberts p 14
Production of the film began in 1975. It was originally going to be directed by John Hubley, who left after disagreements with the film's producer Martin Rosen. His work can still be found in the film, most notably in the opening "fable" scene.Chicago Reader He was replaced by Rosen who thereby made his directorial debut.video bonus feature — The senior animator on the project was Arthur Humberstone, whose signature art style defined the look of the key characters. The backgrounds and locations, including Watership Down itself, the farm, the Efrafa warren, and the nearby railway, are based on the diagrams and maps in Richard Adams's original novel. Most of the locations in the film either exist or were based on real spots in Hampshire and surrounding downlands.video bonus feature —
Music The score was written by Angela Morley, who developed the initial theme drafted by Malcolm Williamson. Morley replaced Williamson after he had fallen behind and only composed the prelude and main title theme in sketch form. A list of the musical cues for the film can be found on the composer's website, which also gives information about the different composers working on the project.
The soundtrack includes Art Garfunkel's British No. 1 hit, "Bright Eyes", which was written by the British singer and songwriter Mike Batt. The composer recorded three songs with vocals by Garfunkel, but only "Bright Eyes" made it to the film. The song "Losing Your Way in the Rain" has a very similar feeling and arrangement, and was recorded by the former Zombies vocalist Colin Blunstone in 1979. Garfunkel's version of the second song was heard years later, on the Watership Down TV series soundtrack released in 2000. The song, like many others which appeared on the TV soundtrack, was never used in the series.
Release and reception Watership Down was first released to the UK on 19 October 1978, initially running in just five London cinemas—paid for by the producers—as the producers struggled to find distributors because the marketing departments could not work out if it was an adult or children's film. This enabled strong bargaining to secure a high percentage of the ticket sales.video bonus feature — In British cinemas, the film was preceded by the 1974 live-action short film Tahere Tikitiki: The Making of a Māori Canoe.
Box office The film was very successful at the box office. According to financier Jake Eberts, the investors who put up the $50,000 development finance "got their money back with interest, plus an additional $450,000, making a total of ten times their investment".Eberts pp. 17–18 Other investors in the film reportedly received a return of 5,000% on their investment.Alexander Walker, Icons in the Fire: The Rise and Fall of Practically Everyone in the British Film Industry 1984–2000, Orion Books, 2005 p6
Awards The film was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1979.
Reception and legacy On US review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 81% approval rating based on 37 reviews. Its critical consensus reads, "Aimed at adults perhaps more than children, this is a respectful, beautifully animated adaptation of Richard Adams's beloved book." Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were divided on their opinions of Watership Down on their show Sneak Previews. Siskel thought that the film was too long, but that otherwise he found "most of it very effective" due to the film's success at situating the audience in the rabbits' point of view which put him "in touch with the delicate and brutal balance of nature". He also called the film "more mature than what we usually expect or get from an animated feature film". However, Ebert felt that the realism of the story, which he liked, did not match with the style of animation which he described as "soft-edged, cuddly and like a cartoon"."Paradise Alley, Magic, Midnight Express, Watership Down, Comes a Horseman", 1978, Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews
Some critics commented on the film's success as an adaptation, such as Philip French for The Observer, who wrote that "the novel's texture isn't there and the characters never take on strong pictorial identities". Later in the review he elaborated that the rabbit characters are "blandly drawn" and concluded that the film as a whole is "difficult to enthuse over". In The Times, David Robinson also criticised the film's translation to the screen as inaccessible for "People who come to the film without the assistance of the book", as they "may well have a little difficulty with the special lore and language of Richard Adams's rabbit civilisation" and with the fictional Lapine language spoken by the rabbits. Robinson nevertheless complimented the voice acting and the "fresh and pleasant" animation design. On the other hand, Jay Scott for The Globe and Mail described the animation backgrounds of the film as "second-rate shopping mall watercolor landscapes", but praised the film's allegorical aspects (drawing comparisons between the villain General Woundwort and Adolf Hitler), the realistic and compassionate approach to its rabbit characters, and the voice cast.