Goodtime Charlie

Goodtime Charlie is the main protagonist of the 1967 film Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar.

Role
While harvesting in the Pacific Northwest pine country, lumberman Jess Bradley finds an orphaned cougar kitten and adopts it as a pet. Nicknamed Goodtime Charlie, the little animal quickly makes friends with the lumbermill workers and is more or less permitted to run free. But during a huge lumber drive downriver Charlie upsets a kitchen wanigan and thus irritates the cook and the crew foreman. As a result, Jess is forced to keep his pet locked in a cage. The confinement proves too much for Charlie, and one night he escapes after hearing the call of a female cougar. Unaccustomed to fending and hunting for himself, Charlie heads for the nearest farm, but he is driven away by a blast of buckshot. He spends a long and lonely winter in the forest until he finally makes his way back to Jess's camp. Upon being discovered, the terrified animal panics and races through the mill until he is cornered in an elevator shaft. Just as the manager is about to shoot Charlie, Jess arrives to rescue his former pet. Realizing that Charlie is no longer compatible with civilization, Jess takes him to a wildlife refuge. There Charlie finds a female cougar with whom to share his new home.