Short Subject

1969 WarAnimation 1 minute Directed by Lee Savage

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About Short Subject

Mickey Mouse sees a sign reading Join the Army and See the World, returns with a helmet and a gun, and boats to Vietnam. Walking in the grass, he is shot in the head. The short ends on his body as the smile turns down and blood runs from the wound.

Cast & crew

More about Short Subject

Whitney Lee Savage directed the one-minute 16mm short. Milton Glaser designed and produced it and is the writer on Wikidata; it was made for the Angry Arts Festival under Max Cats and Whittesey Sledge Studios, and Disney did not endorse it. Wikidata lists 1 minute and 1969.

Themes

  • enlistment
  • a one-minute death
  • an unauthorized Mickey
  • Mickey Mouse
  • Vietnam
  • recruiting sign

Preservation

Copies surfaced through ISKRA after years in which the short was thought lost. A silent version is on Wikimedia Commons.

Notes

  • It is commonly called Mickey Mouse in Vietnam.
  • Glaser said Mickey was chosen as a symbol of innocence.
  • The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen gave it an award in 1970.
  • It was thought lost, then shown as Mickey au Vietnam at the Festival Côté court de Pantin in 1998 and 2003 from a print supplied by the French distributor ISKRA.

Awards

  • International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, 1970

Scenes

  • Mickey is shot in the grass moments after he lands.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (Short Subject⧸Mickey Mouse in Vietnam (1969, silent version).webm)