Coachman

The Coachman
Home	Pleasure Island
Occupation	Pleasure Island owner
Story appearances
Feature films	Pinocchio
TV shows	House of Mouse
Voice actor	Charles Judels Ray Templin

The Coachman is the main antagonist of Disney's 1940 film, Pinocchio.

The Coachman is an elderly man and chubby owner of "Pleasure Island," where he takes bad-mannered children and allows them to misbehave worse than before, resulting in them transforming into donkeys. The Coachman and his mysterious, hooded minions then sell the boys (now donkeys) to places like the salt mines and the circus for profit. Like Stromboli, the Coachman's fate is never revealed.

He was voiced by the late Charles Judels.

History

The Coachman's nightmarish grin

The Coachman is first seen at the Red Lobster where he is talking to Honest John and Gideon there he tells them that he is collecting stupid little boys and that if they could round up a few, he will give them lots of money. At midnight, the Coachman gets all the boys and brings them to Pleasure Island and lets them do what they want. When the boys all turn into donkeys, he rounded them up. All the donkeys that cannot talk are shipped to salt mines and the circus while those who can are possibly kept in a pen.

The Coachman appears in the SNES version of Pinocchio - as a Boss. He was only seen in a level called Escape from Pleasure Island where Pinocchio battled against him on the top of a Cliff. when the boss battle ends - one of the donkeys saved Pinocchio by kicking the Coachman and send him falling off the edge - until Pinocchio escapes.

Trivia

• The Coachman is sometimes thought to be the main antagonist of the film. This is not true as he did not drive the entire plot and is not an adversary to Pinocchio, like Stromboli did.
• The Coachman is the only Pinocchio villain and one of the few Disney villains to actually win.
• In the original Italian story of Pinocchio, he was usually referred to as "The Little Butter Man" ("L'Omino di Burro"), and he was described as a fat little man as round as a butterball, with a sweetly smiling mouth. He seemed rather effeminate in manner, yet was more depraved and sadistic than his Disney counterpart in the way he abused and even mutilated the poor donkeys who pulled his wagon. Also Pleasure Island in the original story was called Toyland ("Il Paese del Balocchi").
• The Coachman's real name is Barker (which wasn't heard in the movie).
• The Coachman might be a magical creature like the Blue Fairy, and he teaches them morals about not going to school and listening to parents, but does it in a dark way.
• The Coachman has been described as one of Disney's most evil, nefarious and sadistic villains without any redeeming features.
• The Coachman's inspiration is Mr. Bumble from Oliver Twist.
• Another inspiration for the Coachman is Mephistopheles, the demon prince from Marlowe's play The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus, as the Coachman's boy victims, like Faustus, in effect sell their souls to him in exchange for a night of pleasure (in the original tale it was five months), and like the devil he is there at the end to foreclose the deal.
• He is an English villain to have a Cockney accent.
• There is something unusual about the Coachman & Pleasure Island. If the Coachman is selling donkeys, who were once boys, & the boys become donkeys for bad behavior such as vandalism, how is the Coachman able to get rich? Sure, he gets rich from the sales, but doesn't he have to still repair Pleasure Island? The damage seems significant as in the beginning, it looked brand new, but when Jiminy comes, it looks like everything became irreparable & abandoned. However, it is possible that the Coachman, like Honest John & Gideon, steals money from others.
• Despite never actually being defeated in the film itself, he was defeated in the 1996 video game.