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| “ | Absitively posolutely. | „ |
| ~ Dodger's catchphrase |
Dodger is the deuteragonist of the 1988 Disney film Oliver & Company, based on The Artful Dodger from Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist". In Disney's re-imagining of the story, he is a street-smart Jack Russell Terrier. He is voiced by Billy Joel. While he doesn't like to eat cats because of "too much fur", he is still Oliver's best friend.
Contents
Personality
Dodger is the appointed leader of Fagin's gang. His first scene in the film appears when his paws are seen underneath a car. He is calm, sly, and cool.
Biography
Dodger is first seen walking on the sidewalk with only his paws showing but when he sees a female dog passing by with her mistress, he is seen completely on top of a Taxi car, flirting with the female dog, who in return rejects him, while a cat named Oliver tries to get a string of sausages twice from Louie, the vendor's cart, which he later observes. Dodger offers to help Oliver. Oliver refuses at first, until he is assured that Dodger will not try to make a meal out of him and after teaching him a few lessons and a few things he knows about Louie, the hot dog vendor. Dodger asks Oliver if he "feels that rhythm." After a jackhammer does its job, Oliver does "feel it" and accepts Dodger's help. He pretends to chase Oliver in order to create a diversion, allowing them to steal the sausages together. He then reveals that he conned Oliver by running off with the entire string while singing "Why Should I Worry." After a long chase through the city, Oliver catches up to Dodger at Fagin's home and meets four other stray dogs.
Before Oliver meets the gang, Dodger is asked by his dog friends; Francis, Einstein, Tito, and Rita, how he managed to get those sausages. He tells the story with every event that occurred during the day and later, with a big exaggeration on Oliver as a "greedy, ugly, psychotic monster with razor sharp claws, dripping fangs, and burning eyes." Just as he's about to get to the "scary best" part of the story, Oliver falls down and crashes in front of the gang with a piece of cloth covering him thus, spooking everyone, including Dodger. At first, they don't know what it is; Tito thinks it's an "alien" when a mysterious paw, coming out of the cloth, grabs and scratches him on the nose but then when the result is out, it turns out to be Oliver; referred as a cat by Rita after seeing the result and telling everyone to calm down and what it is. Just as the gang (except Dodger) is surrounding Oliver and asking him questions about how and why he came to their place, Oliver reveals to them the truth about his involvement with Dodger's scheme and Dodger admits to his friends that Oliver assisted in stealing the sausages and he begins to develop respect for the kitten and later, the gang.
Then, the gang starts mocking Dodger about his "monster" story while Dodger is watching, with his sunglasses, the baseball game but, just as he tells them to "keep it down", he is interrupted by Tito, who refuses to stop talking and mocking him while taking off Dodger's sunglasses and turning off the T.V. Dodger tells Tito to "cool it, man" but now, Tito insists on "seeing this big bad kitty fight in action" so Dodger tricks him into telling him to look at "something Dodger saw" and as Tito's head is in another direction, Dodger jumps on him and a dogpile fight is on.
The game continues until their master, Fagin arrives, yelling and telling them to stop. When the dogs notice the box full of dogbiscuits Fagin brought for them, Dodger and the gang jump on him; giving him a warm welcome. Things are turning out well for Fagin until his evil boss, Sykes and his two evil Dobermans, Roscoe and DeSotoarrive for their unfortunate financial rendez-vouz business.
While Fagin is out talking to Sykes, the Dobermans, mostly Roscoe, are taunting Dodger and the gang while DeSoto is seen sniffing around the place. After Roscoe tries to hit on Rita, threatens Francis after having insulted him, mocks Tito, and threatens Einstein after having been told by him, Dodger tries to calm Roscoe down with a question of either having lost his sense of humor or not, to which Roscoe replies with a "no," a kick on the TV, and a sinister chuckle. After DeSoto's attempt on eating Oliver, whose scent he caught and whom he found in the end, fails with a scratch on the nose and before leaving the barge after hearing the call of their master, the two Dobermans intend to harm Oliver until Dodger intervenes and protects him. Roscoe tells him to get out of his way but Dodger refuses and the rest of the gang come to their aid.
After the Dobermans leave while swearing revenge on them; mostly Roscoe; starting with Oliver, Dodger assures Oliver he can "really pick 'em" and pulls a high-five paw trick on him. When Fagin enters home with great sadness after his meeting with Sykes, all wet (after falling off a pier) and with three days given to him to pay back Sykes, Dodger and the dogs do everything they can to cheer him up and finally, it works. When Fagin asks his dogs who scratched DeSoto's nose, Dodger reveals Oliver to him, meaning he's the little rascal who did it. After having been read a bedtime story, Dodger turns off the light and turns to his bed, not before Oliver rushes over to him and sleeps with him. At first, Dodger can't understand but after watching Rita, who is half asleep and who witnessed Oliver rushing over to him, and Oliver smile, he quickly understands that the kitten loves him then falls asleep; Rita as well.
The next morning, Dodger is left responsible for everything concerning Oliver by Fagin. As soon as Fagin tells his dogs and cat to go out and search for food while he leaves, along with his scooter, to search for a way to earn or even steal money for his troubles, Dodger decides to help Fagin get some cash and the gang agrees, starting with Columbus Avenue. While Rita sings "Streets of Gold," a vicious alley dog begins to chase Oliver, not before Dodger and the rest of the gang growl at the alley dog and shoo him away. Oliver even tries to "bark" like a dog to shoo the alley dog and the gang find it amusing a bit. After singing along with his friends, he notices a beige limopassing by. Where there's a limo, there's money and where there's money, there's an idea in Dodger's head. The plan is to steal the limo's radio, give it to Fagin so as to sell it, and earn some money in return as partial payment to Mr. Sykes but it backfires when Oliver slips on the ignition of the car; causing electrocution to Tito. When Dodger notices Oliver is still in the car driving away, he scolds at Tito for not watching over him. Then, he decides to follow the limo with Tito while the rest of the gang return to Fagin. Finally, they find their friend taken to a big mansion by a little girl and an old man; mistaken for a "torture place." Tito attempts to rescue him on his own, not before being stopped by Dodger.
A few moments later, Dodger and Tito return to the gang and inform them everything, thinking their friend is in trouble when actually he has been adopted by a young girl named Jenny Foxworth, who found him in the car, and taken to her upscale house. When they are stuck between the decision of whether to help Fagin or Oliver, it results into Francis speaking Old English, which Tito finds annoying, resulting into Francis losing his temper while repeating his real name three times after having been insulted and called "Frankie" "again," not before Dodger intervenes and breaks up their argument. Dodger then discusses the "rescue mission" with the gang.
Dodger leads the "rescue mission" to recover Oliver the next day while Jenny's at school. The gang notice Winston, Jenny's family butler, banging on something with a rolling pin, thinking he's "torturing" Oliver. In the house, the gang's admiring the place more than focusing on their friend. Luckily, Dodger helps them snap out of it right away. As soon as Dodger meets Georgette, the Foxworth family's spoiled pedigree poodle, while entering her room, she panics; causing her mirror to break. At first, Georgette thinks Dodger's after her but Dodger replies otherwise. Nevertheless, Georgette feels insulted over Dodger's reply, thus, causing her to give him an uninteresting education about herself. After the uninteresting education, Dodger replies sarcastically that "we're all very impressed." Then, the rest of the gang enter; including Tito, who has fallen in love with Georgette, to which she replies with disgust and insults. Georgette tries to call countless times for Winston, who manages to sneak back in the house after having been distracted by the gang earlier, mostly Francis, and left out, but, when Dodger mentions that they only came here for their cat, she's cooperative. Before cooperating with the "rescue," Winston manages to get back inside and checks to see if Georgette is alright. Einstein along with Francis are seen hiding under Georgette's bed cover with half of Georgette's body sticking out, Dodger and Rita posing as dog statue replicas, and Tito hanging on a coat hanger of the door. Winston finds it a bit weird nevertheless, he leaves. When Georgette takes the gang to Jenny's room, they notice Oliver sleeping happily and calmly on his pillow. Rita's the first one convinced he's okay and proposes they "forget the whole thing" but Georgette, eager to get rid of him, convinces them that "he's so traumatized" and then hands him to them in a pillow sack held by Einstein and Francis and allows them to escape through the fire escape.
The dogs bring a sleeping Oliver back to Fagin, but the cat becomes upset upon waking when he realizes he has been taken away from Jenny. This angers Dodger, who accuses Oliver of looking down on him and the other dogs as "the riffraff." Dodger's wrong because to tell the truth, Oliver admits he really loves his friends but when it comes to having a new home, things get a bit complicated; especially when being taken away from it. Despite still being upset, he allows Oliver to leave, not before Fagin arrives back and takes him back in. After noticing Oliver's gold collar and its address, Fagin has an idea for ransoming him.
At night, at Sykes' warehouse, Fagin goes over his plan with Dodger acting as Sykes before entering his warehouse. When Fagin goes over his plan, only this time awkwardly, with Sykes, he grows impatient with him and snaps his fingers, thus, giving the order for his two Dobermans to attack him, not before Dodger fights them off; receiving lots of painful but invisible injuries while Fagin discusses his plan to Sykes properly and loudly this time. Once he's convinced, he snaps his fingers again to his Dobermans to cease the attack. Unfortunately, due to the attack, Dodger lays injured and unconscious on the floor as Fagin and Oliver go to his aid.
On the same night, before the rendez-vous between Fagin and the unknown rich cat owner: Jenny, Rita's worried about Dodger but, he assures her that "they never laid a paw on me." After Fagin and Jenny have a small conversation with Sykes and his dogs unnoticeably watching them in his car, Jenny turns out to be Oliver's owner with only a piggy bank as payment to get Oliver back and starts crying. Fagin at first has a hard decision about whether to follow his good heart or not then, he gives up, pretends to find Oliver in a box, and hands him to Jenny. Unfortunately, Sykes bursts into the scene, kidnaps Jenny, throws Oliver out of the window, and tells Fagin to keep his mouth shut and to consider their account closed.
Then, Dodger and the gang come to Oliver's aid. Dodger assures Oliver that they'll "absitively" get Jenny back. The dogs run to Sykes' warehouse without riding in Fagin's scooter this time. After an inspection of the warehouse has been made by Francis and Tito, it turns out everything is locked up so now, Dodger comes up with a plan on how to get inside, unlock a hatch from the inside, and enter the warehouse. As the plan is set with Francis as the first "cannonball," Oliver as the second "cannonball," and Tito as the "maestro," Dodger and the gang call for Francis to see if he's ready and he is. After Oliver is sent all the way up by Francis and the "seesaw" they were on, he breaks through the window; alerting Sykes and his Dobermans, and once he lands safely inside; avoids getting caught by the Dobermans searching the place, he's able to open the hatch from the inside and let everyone in. Dodger reminds everyone to stay quiet, not before Georgette screams painfully because of a broken nail; alerting the Dobermans again.
Nevertheless, Dodger and the gang are still able to penetrate inside until a security camera turns to their direction. Dodger tells Tito to handle the problem; problem resolved with Tito biting off the wires. The dogs observe what is going on in Sykes' office from the top, only to find that Jenny's okay but tied up and Sykes on the phone with Winston; demanding ransom. Dodger comes up with another plan to distract Sykes while they try to rescue Jenny. The Dobermans are alerted again, only this time by their enemies' smell. The plan involves Tito, Francis, and Einstein disguised as a Pizza delivery guy as the diversion while the rest of the gang take care of Jenny.
Despite the diversion working, they unfortunately run into Roscoe and DeSoto. All seems lost until Georgette manages to trap the evil dogs inside a net. Then, they come back to help the others. Dodger tells Francis to keep an eye on the monitors and locks the office door while they figure out another way of escaping since chewing the ropes off Jenny failed. Dodger checks the monitors again and asks Francis if the coast is clear, only to find Francis watching old girl dancing shows on one of them. Dodger quickly switches the monitors from the shows to what is going on outside, only to notice Sykes and his dogs heading back their way. Dodger notices a crane on top, thus, another idea comes to his head; again involving Tito with electronics despite having been electrocuted too many times. At first, Tito's reluctant but, with a little love persuasion from Georgette, he's cooperative.
Tito finally manages to get everyone out before Sykes and his dogs come back; breaking through the locked door. They are able to escape with the crane until Sykes brings out an emergency axe and destroys the controls of the crane, thus, causing everyone to fall and land on a slide. They slide until Dodger and everyone else end up in front of their enemies.
Before he can snap his fingers again, a strange honking noise is heard and breaking through the windows, it is revealed to be Fagin with his scooter. Jenny and the dogs climb aboard and Fagin gets them out of here. Things turn out okay until Sykes comes after them with his car. Fagin has no other alternative but to go into a subway station. Nevertheless, Sykes; driving like a madman, is able to drive in the station as well. Going through a tunnel, Sykes is still in pursuit. When his car collides with Fagin's scooter, Jenny falls and ends up on Sykes' hood; breaking his hand through the door window and trying to grab her, not before Oliver comes to Jenny's rescue by biting Sykes on the hand. Unfortunately, Sykes, with Oliver still biting his hand, throws him in the back seat where Roscoe and DeSoto are. Then, Dodger comes to Oliver's rescue; jumping on Roscoe and throwing him off the back car window. Roscoe is close into falling on the electric railway, caused by the friction between the railway and Sykes' ruined car tires, but he manages to grab Dodger's scarf. Still the scarf slips off and Roscoe falls to his death on the electric railway. But then, Dodger is confronted by DeSoto. DeSoto pushes Dodger's head into the railway; intending to kill him but then, Oliver comes to his rescue; jumping on DeSoto and scratching him on the nose "again"; causing DeSoto to yelp in pain, jump, and fall to his death as well. Oliver, having been pushed by DeSoto before dying, is close into falling to his death too, not before Dodger rescues him again.
On the Brooklyn Bridge, Fagin tries to help Jenny while Tito takes the wheel. Sykes comes out of his car and grabs Jenny again but then, Dodger and Oliver jump on him; allowing Jenny to jump back to Fagin on the scooter. A train is coming towards their direction, all seems lost for everyone until Tito manages to climb the gang up to safety on one of the cables of the bridge while Sykes' car still stays on the railway. Dodger and Oliver, still fighting Sykes off, are thrown out of his car but luckily, the train runs Sykes and his car over, thus, killing him and sending him and his car to the bottom of the Hudson River. When everyone comes back down from the cable, Jenny runs to Oliver, only to find Dodger, with great sadness, holding him, thinking he's dead. But when a small meow comes out of Oliver, everyone including Dodger is glad to know this means he's still alive, except Georgette, who is still in great shock from the chase. Then, Dodger and the rest of the gang are accepted as Jenny's new best friends.
The next day, at Jenny's home, Dodger, the gang, and Fagin are celebrating Jenny's 8th birthday and giving her birthday gifts; mostly Einstein. When it's time to go, the gang (except Tito) and then Dodger say their good-byes to Oliver and vice versa. Before leaving, Dodger asks Oliver if he just wants "to hang out or anything." Before finishing, Tito runs away from Georgette after having been given a bath and dressed into something classy by her and he says his good-bye to Oliver. After that, Dodger asks Oliver if he can "handle the champ." Oliver replies, "Sure," and pulls the same high-five paw trick on him as Dodger did before. Dodger says he's "okay... for a cat" and that he and the gang will "keep a spot open for [Oliver] in the gang... vice president, uptown chapter" and then says his good-bye to Oliver. And then, Dodger sings "Why Should I Worry" reprise, only this time with the gang singing along with him. Then, Dodger and the gang join Fagin in his scooter while still singing on their way back home.
Trivia
- Dodger is voiced by singer and composer Billy Joel.
- His inspiration comes from the Artful Dodger from "Oliver Twist", and from Tramp from Lady and the Tramp.
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