Amos Slade

"TEMPER!? Temper, Woman, you ain't SEEN My temper! If I ever catch that fox in my property again, I'll blast him, and next time I won't miss."

- Amos Slade

Amos Slade (or simply known as Amos) is the secondary antagonist-turned-antihero in Disney's 1981 feature film The Fox and the Hound, and a minor character in its 2006 midquel. He was introduced as the main antagonist (replacing the unseen hunters near the beginning), but was outranked by the Bear, the film's final and true main villain.

Unlike most Disney Villains, even though he's a hunter, he doesn't come across as being evil. Instead, he just hunts for a living and is very professional at it, until he gets motivated by revenge, rather than that "just because" brand of evil that you see in way too many villains.

Amos has been voiced by Jack Albertson in the first film and by Jeff Bennett in the midquel.

Personality
Amos is an old, crabby, grumpy, and bad-tempered man, though we do see somewhat of a softer side in his interaction with his two hunting dogs, Chief and Copper. Later he showed remorse after Tod saves him and Copper from a dangerous bear.

The Fox and the Hound
Amos is an adjoining neighbor to Widow Tweed, and is known to be an avid hunter. At the beginning of the film, he has one hunting dog called Chief, and has just obtained a hound puppy called Copper, who he intends to train as a hunting dog. At first, he often has to search for Copper, who runs off to play with Tod, who lives next door with Widow Tweed. Finally, Amos ties Copper up at his doghouse. When Tod arrives one day, to see what has happened to Copper, Amos is alerted to the young fox's presence by Chief. Amos assumes that the fox is after his chickens, and attempts to kill Tod. Tod is able to escape, but Amos threatens Widow Tweed that he will kill Tod if he is on his property again.

Soon after, Amos takes both Copper and Chief on a long hunting trip. By springtime, Amos is able to collect a large amount of skins and trophies with the help of a now fully grown Copper. The night of their return, Tod comes once again to see Copper, but Amos sees Tod and tries to kill him once more. With the help of Chief, Amos is able to track Tod to a railroad bridge, and Chief traps Tod there. Suddenly, a train comes, and while Tod is able to escape, Chief is badly injured. Amos blames Tod for Chief's near death, and both he and Copper vow to kill Tod.

Amos is an adjoining neighbor to Widow Tweed, and is known to be an avid hunter. At the beginning of the film, he has one hunting dog called Chief, and has just obtained a hound puppy called Copper, who he intends to train as a hunting dog. At first, he often has to search for Copper, who runs off to play with Tod, who lives next door with Widow Tweed. Finally, Amos ties Copper up at his doghouse. When Tod arrives one day, to see what has happened to Copper, Amos is alerted to the young fox's presence by Chief. Amos assumes that the fox is after his chickens, and attempts to kill Tod. Tod is able to escape, but Amos threatens Widow Tweed that he will kill Tod if he is on his property again.

Soon after, Amos takes both Copper and Chief on a long hunting trip. By springtime, Amos is able to collect a large amount of skins and trophies with the help of a now fully grown Copper. The night of their return, Tod comes once again to see Copper, but Amos sees Tod and tries to kill him once more. With the help of Chief, Amos is able to track Tod to a railroad bridge, and Chief traps Tod there. Suddenly, a train comes, and while Tod is able to escape, Chief is badly injured. Amos blames Tod for Chief's near death, and both he and Copper vow to kill Tod.

When they see Widow Tweed drop Tod off at the nearby game preserve, he breaks in in a mad attempt to kill Tod. Amos sets multiple traps along Tod's routes, but Tod is able to escape into his den. Amos then tries to smoke Tod out, setting a fire at one end of the den, while he and Copper wait at the other end. However, Tod shocks the both of them by escaping through the flames. As Amos begins to follow, he irritates a bear. While trying to escape the bear, Amos is caught in one of his own traps. However, he is saved from death thanks to the joint effort of Tod and Copper. Tod is injured as a result, and Amos tries to take advantage and kill Tod. He eventually has a change of heart when he sees Copper proving his loyalty to Tod by standing in the way of the gun, and realizes the friendship that is there between the two animals, even though they are different. Amos eventually decides to return home a slightly better man, while Widow Tweed doctors his injured leg.

It is presumed that he learned his lesson about foxes being different from people.

The Fox and the Hound 2
Amos Slade is a comic relief character here, without the darker side portrayed in the first film. Widow Tweed throws a pie in his face, and threatens to do so again later. Chief appears, but has very few speaking parts and very little screen time. Chief and Slade enter a hunting dog contest, where Chief takes another ribbon (fourth place) for the second time in a row-which he seems to think makes him the champion hunting dog in the county. Slade mostly only shows up in the beginning trying to train Copper, becoming increasingly irate with his failures as a hunting dog, yelling at him after a chain of comedic events while chasing Tod (which were his own fault), looking for Copper later when the pup has gone to join the Singin' Strays, and showing up later after being lead by Tod to the Singin' Strays' performance, where he reveals that Copper is not a stray at all and takes him home.

Trivia

 * Amos is slightly similar to Man. Both are hunters who each have animal sidekicks (for Amos, Chief and Copper; for Man, Hunter Dogs).
 * Most viewers think that Amos was the hunter who killed Tod's mother. However, this is unlikely since he was bringing home Copper at the time.
 * Amos also shares some similarities to The Ringmaster from Dumbo, Aunt Sarah from Lady and the Tramp and Sir Ector from The Sword in the Stone. All four start off as antagonistic towards the protagonists (Amos to Tod, Ringmaster to Dumbo, Sarah to Lady, and Ector to Arthur), but reform at the end of the films.
 * Amos is also similar to Percival McLeach from The Rescuers Down Under and Clayton from Tarzan. All three are hunters, possess guns, and have the same goal of killing one of the film's main characters (Amos: Tod; McLeach: Cody; Clayton: Tarzan). However, Amos reforms and survives, whereas McLeach plummets down a waterfall to his death while trying to escape from the river, and Clayton falls from a high tree to his death while trying to get out of the vines, and neither of them reform.
 * Amos is voiced by Jack Albertson who also played Grandpa Joe from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Facotory, the 1971 musical film adaptation of Ronald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
 * He is named after a Christian rock band.
 * Amos and Chief were two of the Disney Villains to have redemption at the end.
 * Amos' vulgar behavior had caused him to appear as the main antagonist. But, he was never meant to be a true villain.
 * Amos' performance model was Art Stevens.
 * Amos was animated by John Pomeroy.
 * Amos was rumored to be the secondary antagonist of the film, though he is not really evil, just bad-tempered.
 * Amos could be considered an antihero because he cared for Copper, while Chief was sort of an antagonist for being jealous of Copper.