- “No, Katherine! I think it is you who is mistaken. I realize this adolescent infatuation you have with this savage has addled your brain, but I can't allow you to make a fool of me and I will not lose you to some puerile jungle boy!"”
- ―Boone to Kitty
Captain William Boone is the main antagonist of Disney's 1994 live-action film, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
Role in the film
Boone was one of Colonel Brydon's most loyal soldiers in the British Army and a skilled hunter who was doing an expedition with the rest of the troops in India.
He is first seen talking to Kitty (Colonel Brydon's daughter), trying to advance himself on her and giving a tiger growl. Suddenly, Mowgli (a missing boy who was raised by wolves) appears, thinking that he is attacking Kitty and knocks him aside. Boone is furious and challenges him to a fist fight, but is amazed by the jungle man's agility and ends up being pushed into the river.
He calls his three fellow soldiers that have Lt. Wilkins amongst them, only for the first two to get tossed into the river as well. Boone orders Wilkins to shoot him, but the soldier hesitates with Kitty assuring him that Mowgli is harmless. Suddenly, Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther appear while roaring, and all the other soldiers flee for their lives with Wilkins accidentally shooting Mowgli on the right arm and Boone still in the river looking with hatred at his new enemy.
Later, he bursts in with Wilkins after seeing Mowgli in the Indian village speaking to Kitty. He refuses to listen to Kitty that Mowgli is harmless and goes with his men to capture him. Mowgli tries to elude the soldiers by having a merchant drop beads for them to slip on, making them walk on hot coals, and finally, climbs up a rope through an Indian rope trick to safety but ends up being knocked out with a rifle by another one of Boone's cronies named Buldeo, (Colonel Brydon's former companion) who gives Boone a jeweled dagger that he found on Mowgli's person.
Boone has Mowgli arrested for "attempting to kill" Kitty plus (as Boone believes) stealing a dagger from "some rich Maharaja", and with Wilkins and Sergeant Harley, they deduce that the dagger may be the key to more riches, so they torture Mowgli, but the Jungle man fights back, so they place him in the palace dungeon.
Colonel Brydon suddenly appears and demands to know what is going on. Boone explains that they have caught the trespasser, but his Colonel strongly disagrees with his brutality. After Brydon tries to talk to him in English and Hindi, Boone says that he has not said a word since he was brought in here, but intends to deal with this situation himself so Brydon leaves his captive in Boone's charge, who inconspicuously allows Harley to torture him again.
Later, Kitty comes down to the dungeon and tells him that they will try to make Mowgli speak and understand the ways of man again, Boone disagrees stating that he is a vicious and uncivilized savage. Kitty shows her disapproval to the way he treated Mowgli, but the rogue tells her that he did it to himself. He watches Kitty hold onto Mowgli's hand as sign of telling him that she is here to help him. Wilkins tells Boone that if he can learn to talk, then he can be forced to give them the information they need. As Kitty spends more time with Mowgli, Boone becomes more jealous and impatient to ask Mowgli about his dagger's location.
Later at a tavern, he and Wilkins meet with Buldeo and Tabaqui, who tell him that the dagger comes from a lost mythical city called Hanuman filled with piles of treasure and says that many have found the city and never returned. Boone is convinced that if Mowgli is there to show them the way, the riches would be theirs for the taking.
Next morning, Boone goes to see Kitty who is looking over a portrait of King Louis of France with Mowgli. He asks how the lessons are going and is annoyed by the way Mowgli keeps copying the way he crosses his legs.
After going for a stroll outside with Kitty, Boone proposes to her and she accepts. He then tells her that he will give Mowgli a tour of the palace. He shows Mowgli his weapons for killing animals and asks him where he got the dagger. Mowgli tells him that he retrieved it from Monkey City where there are mountains of treasure. Boone's greedy eyes light up and asks the Jungle boy to take him to this city, but Mowgli refuses after seeing the mounted heads, skins and stuffed corpses of animals Boone had previously killed and says that he does not keep the jungle law that states you can only kill for eating or survival, whilst Boone himself kills for the sake of sport, enjoyment and hatred. Boone mocks this lecture and swears one day that he will hunt down Mowgli for his refusal.
That night, at a dinner party, Boone continues to show his dislike of Mowgli by making fun of him and after Brydon announces his engagement to Kitty, his men cruelly push him and knock him into one of the food tables. After this display of ill treatment and Boone calling Mowgli a "savage" and a "puerile Jungle Boy", Kitty breaks off her engagement to him and decides to return to England.
Boone decides to take matters into his own hands and use force to get to the treasure. He decides to capture Mowgli so they can get to the treasure but this fails after they are intercepted by Baloo, whom Boone and Wilkins wound with gunshots. Boone then sends some Indian bandits to ambush Kitty and her father.
Boone is waiting with Wilkins and Harley near another area of the jungle and is annoyed that they have captured the Colonel as well. Mowgli comes to rescue them and Boone tells him that unless he takes them to the treasure, Kitty and her father will be killed. Mowgli agrees to take them, but promises that they will not survive.
After Mowgli is captured by the evil British soldiers and the remaining Indian bandits, Boone and everyone else are being watched by Bagheera and the wolf pack as they begin their treasure quest while Bagheera stares at Boone and Wilkins mostly. When Wilkins asks himself why Bagheera is staring at them, Mowgli replies, "Because to him, you are food." A reply is hinted afterwards when Bagheera licks his chops to show his hunger for them.
That night, Boone asks Mowgli for directions to the city, ignoring the fact that Brydon's injuries could kill him and that Shere Khan the tiger is on the loose. Despite Boone saying that he would just kill Shere Khan (much to the objections of Buldeo, who is aware of Shere Khan's power over the jungle), Mowgli tells him to follow the mountains and if he is still alive, he will tell him more.
The next morning, Mowgli escapes with the aid of Bagheera. Harley is the first to wake up as this happens and chases after him, but ends up falling into quicksand. Wilkins comes and tries to save Harley, but is forced to let him go to stop from being pulled in with him, and by the time Boone and the others have caught up, the sergeant has already submerged and drowned. Boone shows no remorse and he and his men continue, ignoring Kitty's pleas not to leave her father. But as they go through the jungle, they see a sign on the ground left by Mowgli that the Colonel is safe, much to Kitty's relief. Tabaqui splits off from the group and finds Mowgli on top of a huge cliff. Boone and his men watch the two fight, which ends with Tabaqui trying to use a huge boulder to crush him, but gets kicked by Mowgli, and sent falling over the edge of the cliff to his death. Shaken over Tabaqui's death, Boone orders his remaining men to shoot him, but Mowgli leaps off the cliff and lands safely in the water.
They finally reach Monkey City and suddenly hear Shere Khan's roaring. Wilkins gets separated from the group and ends up being chased and mauled to death by the dangerous tiger after having accidentally shot Buldeo in the leg when frightened by Shere Khan's growls. Boone hears Wilkins' screams and calls to him, but receives no answer. He hears a silent, mocking chuckle from Kitty over his devastation over Wilkins' demise, and warns her that she could die too, but she assures him that Mowgli would not let her die.
Taking Kitty roughly by the hand, Boone moves on and spots Mowgli telling him to follow King Louie the orangutan and leader of the monkeys. He angrily shoots at him and goes into a corridor that lights up when he lights a match to the liquid candles in the room.
Buldeo tries to kill Mowgli while Boone is still holding Kitty, but while chasing him inside a crypt, he accidentally sets off a booby trap that fills it with sand and buries him alive, while Mowgli escapes.
Boone, after receiving no answer from Buldeo, spots Mowgli and precedes to shoot him again, but Kitty stops him; sending them plummeting down into the treasure cavern. He picks himself up and is amazed by all the treasure, He laughs greedily to himself, suddenly hears Mowgli, and aims his sword at him deciding that he has no further use for him. They engage in a fierce sword fight, but Mowgli wins and severely injures Boone on the right arm with a dagger.
Kitty suddenly wakes up from her fall. Boone tries to make up with her by offering the wealthy life they would live together. However, after seeing his greed and insanity, Kitty refuses and escapes with Mowgli. Angered, Boone shouts after her that he does not need her anymore and starts gathering the treasure himself, only to notice the primates have become silent. Kaa, the deadly python and King Louie's treasure guardian, suddenly appears and scares Boone, causing him to fall into the water below them, where he is dragged down by the weight of the treasure in his backpack. While Boone struggles underwater to remove his backpack, he notices several skeletons of people whom Kaa had killed in the past. Boone joins them while screaming in terror when Kaa unexpectedly appears and strikes, thus killing him once and for all (much to the amusement of the primates).
Gallery
Trivia
- Although Shere Khan is the main antagonist throughout the franchise, Boone takes the role of the main antagonist in this film because he had bigger plans than anyone else. Plus, Boone once stated that he likes to 'bag himself a tiger', meaning that he intends to hunt down Khan for his skin.
- Boone is probably one of the most evil Disney villains, as he killed many innocent animals and has his fellow officers kidnap Kitty and her father to blackmail Mowgli to take him to the treasure. Boone also hardly showed care towards his friends after their deaths and shot Baloo. Boone even planned to kill both Mowgli and Shere Khan for his own pleasure.
- Ironically, Cary Elwes, who portrayed Boone also played the young hero Wesley in "The Princess Bride" (1987).
