The Willie Brothers (a.k.a. The Willies) are supporting antagonists in Disney's 2004 animated feature film Home on the Range. They are Alameda Slim's innocent, albeit dim-witted triplet nephews and henchmen. Their names are Phil, Gil, and Bill.
Personality[]
The Willies are extremely slow and dumb. Phil wears red, Gill wears yellow, and Bill wears blue. They don't seem to be very evil in the slightest; just dim-witted and not very intelligent. They are not malicious like their uncle and don't possess any evil intention to be like him. However, the brothers do have some level of endurance, such as withstanding multiple slaps and hits from Slim and seemingly recovering from being kicked by Slim's boot.
They are loyal to their uncle and willingly aid him in his crimes, indicating they don't respect the law or care about the people they've helped their uncle rob. They care for their uncle though their stupidity aggravates him such that he doesn't seem to truly appreciate it, particularly when they can't tell their uncle from his disguised alias Yancy O'Dell and demand where their uncle is and even after Slim reveals it's him in disguise they don't get it and quickly forget.
However, despite their stupidity, they can, in a sense, judge the quality of stolen cattle.
Role in the film[]
The Willie Brothers are first seen when Maggie, Mrs. Calloway, and Grace arrive at a cattle drive. When their uncle arrives, they greet him by saying, "Howdy, Slim!" Slim, however, silences his nephews and slaps them across the face before explaining that they have work to do. The Willies then manage to steal many herds of cattle during the "Yodel-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo" sequence, thanks to Slim's yodeling, as it subdues any bovine that hears it save Grace (due to her being tone-deaf).
The Willies are later seen at Echo Mine, their uncle's hideout. One of them is seen playing with a cootie catcher. When Slim arrives, he shouts at them to get their attention and reveals his plan to buy Little Patch of Heaven after he auctions off all the other farms in the vicinity. When Slim dons his Yancy O'Del disguise, the Willies all exclaim in fear. One asks, "Who are you?" and another asks, "What did you do with Uncle Slim?" The first Willie tells the disguised Slim to put up his dukes, only for Slim to painfully squeeze his nephew's hand and slap him across the face before telling him it's Uncle Slim, and that he uses this disguise to sneak in the auctions and buy all the land. One of the Willies is later seen trying on Slim's disguise, causing his brothers to react in the same manner as before.
Later, Mr. Wesley arrives to buy the herds of cattle that Slim and the Willies had stolen earlier. At one point, they manage to rope Pearl's farm cows, who had journeyed to Echo Mine to try to capture Slim and use the reward money to save their farm from bankruptcy. However, the Willies are soon thwarted by Buck and Lucky Jack, who also manage to free all of the stolen cattle that were harbored by Slim and the Willies. During the ensuing battle, Lucky Jack defeats one of the Willie Brothers by throwing a horseshoe from Buck at him. Another Willie comes after Buck with a shovel, but the latter manages to defeat him by using martial art skills. The three cows also join in the fray and battle the Willies together.
The defeated Willie Brothers are eventually locked in a train cart along with Rico and Mr. Wesley, who were also beaten up by Buck, Lucky Jack, and Pearl's cows.
It is unknown what happened to the Willies afterwards, but it is presumed that they, along with Rico and Wesley, end up being arrested (following Slim's arrest) for their crimes by the same ranchers they had knocked out prior; however, in case they were never found, they possibly starved to death locked in the train cart.
Trivia[]
- During the echo mine chase, Phil (the red one) was nicknamed Casey Jones by Mr. Wesley, which just happens to be the name of the titular character of his namesake (From The 1950 Disney animated short The Brave Engineer; Segment #4 of American Legends).
Gallery[]
*BONK!* "Ohhh..."
Bill: "What did you do with Uncle Slim?"
External link[]
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