Napoleon and Samantha 1972

Napoleon and Samantha
Jodie Foster made her feature film debut in 1972's


Directed by Bernard McEveety
Produced by Winston Hibler
Written by Stewart Raffill
Starring Michael Douglas,Jodie Foster,Johnny Whitaker
Music by Buddy Baker
Cinematography Monroe P. Askins
Editing by Robert Stafford
Distributed by Buena Vista
Release date(s) July 5, 1972


A heartwarming children's story about a boy and his pet lion. The latter is a former circus cat adopted by the young hero, Napoleon. After the death of his grandfather, the boy is headed straight for an orphanage. In order to avoid loosing his freedom -- and his beloved lion -- Napoleon hits the road. On the run he hooks up with a sassy young girl named Samantha and the three of them -- boy, girl and big cat -- make their through the mountains to safety

Mauling incident
Foster was mauled by one of the lions used in the movie, named Zambo, on the set and still has scars on her back and stomach. "I was walking ahead of him. He was on an invisible leash, some piano wire. He got sick of me being slow, picked me up and held me sideways and shook me like a doll. I was in shock and thought it was an earthquake. I turned around and saw the entire crew running off in the other direction. The trainer then said, “Drop it” and he opened his mouth and dropped me. The incident left her with a lifelong fear of cats

I don't know. She does well with kittens.