Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird

Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (commonly shortened to Follow That Bird) is a 1985 American musical road comedy film, directed by Ken Kwapis, starring many Sesame Street characters (both puppets and live actors). The film was produced by Sesame Workshop, The Jim Henson Company and Warner Bros., and filmed at the Toronto International Studios, and on location in the Greater Toronto Area.

This is also the final Muppet film to be released before the deaths of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt. It's Big Adventure! It's Big Laughs! It's Big Bird on the Big Screen! (taglines)

Big Bird
( gasps )

Count von Count

 * 4 more keys. 2 more keys. 1 more key.

Dialogue

 * [First lines]
 * Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, would you please rise for the Grouch Anthem.
 * Oscar the Grouch: No, no, no! With the Grouch Anthem, you stay sitting down! Down in front there! Now brace yourself, I'm gonna sing: Grouches of the world unite! Stand up for your grouchly rights! Don't let the sunshine spoil the rain just stand up and complain. Let this be the grouches' cause: Point out everybody's flaws! Something is wrong with everything Except the way I sing!
 * [Cue Grouch Choir humming in the background]
 * Oscar the Grouch: You know what's right with this world? Nutting! You know what gets me hot under the collar? You name it! And the next time some goody-two-shoes smiles and tells you to have a nice day, just remember:
 * Oscar the Grouch and the Grouch Choir: Don't let the sunshine spoil the rain, just stand up and complain! Just stand up and complain!
 * Oscar the Grouch: Well, anyway you've seen the best part of this movie, So sit back, relax, and have a rotten time. Heh Heh Heh.


 * Big Bird: [voiceover] "Sesame Street" is brought to you today by the letters W and B.


 * Madame Chairbird: Now, here today, we have a sad, sad case that needs our urgent attention. He's only six years old, and he lives all alone, with no other birds around.
 * Feathered Friends Turkey: He looks so sad.
 * Feathered Friends Owl: That's funny. He looks happy to me.
 * Madame Chairbird: [surprised] Of course he's not happy! How can you say that?
 * [The board members begin arguing around the table]
 * Miss Finch: Madame Chairbird!
 * Madame Chairbird: Miss Finch?
 * Miss Finch: [clearing throat] We all know he can't be happy. He needs to be with his own kind, with a bird family.
 * Madame Chairbird: True, very true.
 * Miss Finch: And I know just the family. Where does he live?
 * Madame Chairbird: Sesame Street.
 * Miss Finch: Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?


 * Mr. Snuffleupagus: Oh, Bird, this is goodbye. You're leaving Sesame Street.
 * Big Bird: Well, I'm not really leaving. I'm just going away.
 * Mr. Snuffleupagus: Oh.
 * Big Bird: Besides, as soon as I get to Ocean View, you can come and visit.
 * Mr. Snuffleupagus: I can?
 * Big Bird: First thing, ol' pal. I wouldn't go if you couldn't come and visit.


 * Oscar the Grouch: [driving into a junkyard] This is where I wanna be - grouch paradise! Just look it at. It's like a work of art.
 * Telly Monster: It is different, Maria.
 * Maria: Oscar, I want you to turn this car around right now and head for Toadstool!
 * Oscar the Grouch: Ah, an angry face in a beautiful place - heaven.


 * Bert: Whattaya see, Ernie?
 * Ernie: [points his binoculars at Bert's nose] Your nose, Bert.
 * [Ernie laughs]
 * Bert: Ernie! Get serious, will ya? We're supposed to be looking for Big Bird.
 * Ernie: Right!


 * Gordon: Bye bye! Cookie, will you stop eating the hubcaps?
 * Cookie Monster: Oh, me thing they do delicious, me so hungry!
 * Olivia: But Cook, we haven't even started on our trip yet.
 * Cookie Monster: That's okay. Me eat three other hubcaps later.
 * Gordon: Cookie!


 * Grouch patron #1: Hey, waitress! There's no fly in my soup!
 * Don't Drop Inn waitress: It's comin'!
 * Grouch patron #2: Hey, I need a glass!
 * Don't Drop Inn waitress: Broken or dirty?
 * Grouch patron #3: Waitress!
 * Don't Drop Inn waitress: It's about time.
 * Don't Drop Inn chef: [holding out a disgusting cake] This is my masterpiece.
 * Don't Drop Inn waitress: [taking it] Beautiful! Just beautiful. Never looks any better than this.
 * [The waitress takes a bottle of syrup from a nearby table]
 * Grouch patron #4: Hey, gimme that syrup back!
 * Don't Drop Inn waitress: Get lost!


 * Maria: Good! I'll have the tossed salad.
 * Oscar the Grouch: Hey, better make that two.
 * Don't Drop Inn waitress: Two tossed salads!
 * [A bowlful of salad is launched directly at Maria]
 * Don't Drop Inn chef: Number two, comin' right up! [dumps another large spoonful of salad into his catapult. His assistant launches the salad again, but this time, it lands on the waitress]


 * [Maria is at the phone booth talking to Bob]
 * Maria: Hi, Bob. No news about Big Bird, I suppose.
 * Bob: Yeah, we've located him.
 * Maria: [shocked] WHAT?!
 * [Olivia and Linda approach her in response]
 * Bob: Yeah, he's right nearby, locked in a cage.
 * Maria: He's locked in a cage?!
 * Bob: The kids phoned they saw him. He's blue.
 * Maria: He's blue!
 * Olivia: He's blue!
 * Maria: He's blue?
 * Bob: At some sort of a carnival, the kid said.
 * Maria: At a carnival?
 * Bob: Right, Maria--
 * Olivia: That funfair!
 * [Linda points at her watch]
 * Olivia: We passed that hours ago!
 * Telly: Mmm-hmm.
 * Maria: That's what she said.
 * Olivia: Well, come on!
 * Maria: Bye, Bob!
 * [she hangs up, and she and the others head for their cars]
 * Telly: How we gonna get him if he's locked in a cage?
 * Maria: Come on, Telly! [grabs Telly]


 * [Big Bird is rescued by Gordon and Olivia, a police sidecar driven by a State trooper with a kid is shown parked beside the road, The Sleaze Brothers passed them and drives after them turning the police siren on]
 * Sam Sleaze: Hey, what's that noise? [looks behind the truck seeing the state trooper swinging his arm at him signaling him to pull over] It's the cops!
 * [Sid Sleaze looks at the cage seeing Big Bird is already gone and rescued as Sam pulls over]
 * Sid Sleaze: Sam! The bird's gone! [points at the cage and Sam looks at it] The bird's gone! [sobs] The bird's gone.
 * Sam Sleaze: Get a grip on yourself. will ya? Just try to relax. [stops the truck] I'll take care of everything. Whatever you do, don't cry.
 * [The state trooper stops his police sidecar, turning the siren off and gets off, helping the the kid with him climb out, as Sam and Sid begin whistling and the state trooper and the kid approach them by the window]
 * State Trooper: [to the kid] Are these the two men?
 * [The kid nods his head]
 * Sam Sleaze: What's seems to be the problem, officer? What's the charge?
 * State Trooper: [looks through his notebook] What about counterfeiting, extortion, fraud, impersonating a dentist, stealing an apple from a kid?
 * Sam Sleaze: Oh, that apple, officer, I can explain that. We was just holding it for a friend.
 * Sid Sleaze: Yeah, for a friend.
 * State Trooper: You can tell that to the judge.
 * Sid Sleaze: [sobbing] The judge!
 * State Trooper: [annoyed] Be a man.
 * Sid Sleaze: I don't want to be a man. Sam!
 * Sam Sleaze: Shut up, Sid! Shut up!
 * Sid Sleaze: [Sobbing] Judge, Sam! Jail!


 * Big Bird: And then suddenly, I looked up and I saw... [Miss Finch suddenly arrives] MISS FINCH!
 * Miss Finch: Hello, Big. Perhaps the Dodos weren't perfect for you, but I have managed to find you another lovely bird family.
 * Maria: But he doesn't need another family.


 * Luis: [To Susan] Well, I hope there nothing seriously wrong with your car.
 * Susan: Oh, I hope not, either, but you know I can fix it.
 * [A clanking sound is heard and Barkley barks in fright and backs away. It was the Volkswagen pushed by Gordon, Olivia and Linda, while Grover is driving it and Cookie Monster is in the hood eating the remaining hood]
 * Susan: Oh, Gordon!
 * [Susan, Maria, Bob and Luis rushes to them and help them push it]
 * Bob: Oh, Gordon, what is this?
 * Susan: Gordon, what-what's going on?
 * Maria: What happened to the car?
 * Susan: Gordon! What happened to the car?
 * Gordon: Don't ask me. [points at Cookie Monster] Ask him.
 * Cookie Monster: Hi [Belches] Excuse me.
 * Susan: Our insurance man is never gonna believe this.
 * [Oscar the Grouch is been carried along with his thrash can by Bruno]
 * Oscar The Grouch: Once more around the block, Bruno
 * Bruno The Thrashman: Sure. boss.
 * Oscar The Grouch: Yeah. I gotta walk off some of this happy stuff. [Bruno stops to look at the consume Volkswagen] Bruno, come on. [Bruno then walks off]


 * [Last line]
 * Count Von Count: [at the end of the closing credits] That is 278 incredible, colossal credits! [laughs] I love motion pictures! Wonderful! [continues laughter as a thunderclap is heard]

Taglines

 * It's Big Adventure! It's Big Laughs! It's Big Bird on the Big Screen!
 * The First Sesame Street Movie Ever.

Muppet performers

 * Caroll Spinney as Big Bird, Oscar, Bruno the Trashman
 * Jim Henson as Kermit, Ernie
 * Frank Oz as Bert, Grover, Cookie Monster
 * Jerry Nelson as The Count, Herry, Biff
 * Richard Hunt as Gladys, Feathered Friends Member
 * Martin P. Robinson as Snuffy, Telly, Grouch Diner Patron, Poco Loco
 * Cheryl Wagner as Miss Finch (performer)
 * Tim Gosley as Homer Honker
 * Fred Garver as Barkley, Feathered Friends Parrot, Owl
 * Trish Leeper as Mommy Dodo (performer)
 * Gord Robertson as Daddy Dodo (performer)
 * Shari Weiser as Marie Dodo (performer)
 * Jeff Weiser as Donnie Dodo (performer)
 * Noel MacNeal as Madame Chairbird
 * Pam Arciero as Grundgetta
 * Kathryn Mullen as Feathered Friends Magistrate, Grouch Diner Patron, Anything Muppet Girl
 * Bryant Young as Mr. Snuffleupagus (rear end performance)

Special Muppet performers by: Kevin Clash, David Rudman, Caroly Wilcox, Cheryl Blaylock, Camille Bonora, Fran Brill, Ed Christie, Michael Huston, Jim Kroupa, Brian Muehl

Board of Birds Members are performed by: Terry Angus, Kevin Clash, Tim Gosley, Trish Leeper, Rob Mills, John Pattison, Martin P. Robinson, Bob Stutt, and Nikki Tilroe.

Humans of Sesame Street

 * Bob McGrath as Bob Johnson
 * Northern Calloway as David
 * Roscoe Orman as Gordon Robinson
 * Linda Bove as Linda
 * Emilio Delgado as Luis Rodriguez
 * Sonia Manzano as Maria Figueroa
 * Alaina Reed as Olivia Robinson
 * Loretta Long as Susan Robinson
 * Kermit Love as Willy

Other humans

 * Joe Flaherty as Sid Sleaze
 * Dave Thomas as Sam Sleaze
 * Alyson Court as Ruthie
 * Benjamin Barrett as Floyd

Cameo guest stars

 * Waylon Jennings as Turkey Truck Driver
 * Sandra Bernhard as Grouch Diner Waitress
 * Chevy Chase as Newscaster
 * John Candy as State Trooper
 * Paul Bartel as Grouch Diner Cook

Non-Speaking Characters

 * Elmo
 * Gladys the Cow