Alameda Slim

"It ain't over 'till the fat man sings!"

- Alameda Slim Alameda Slim is the main antagonist of Disney's 2004 animated feature film, Home on the Range.

Background
Alameda Slim is a cattle rustler said to be capable of stealing 5000 cattle in one night. The secret to his success is in his yodeling skills, which are capable of hypnotizing any cows that hear him. His partners in crime are his steed Junior the Buffalo, his assistant/business partner Mr. Wesley, and his nephews the Willie Brothers. He also has the dreaded bounty hunter Rico as a secret partner.

Development
Alameda Slim was present in the early drafts of the film, when it was to be a supernatural western called Sweatin' Bullets. In this version, he was an undead cattle rustler who plotted to run numerous herds of cattle off cliffs to their deaths in revenge for having been trampled down in life. When this version of the film was canceled and reworked into Home on the Range, Alameda Slim was reworked into the master yodeler, though his original scheme was to storm Washington, D.C. with an army of hypnotized cows in an attempt to become president.

Physical Appearance
Slim is an obese man with long, dark red, mullet-style hair, thick red eyebrows, a short red goatee on his chin, a long angular mustache, and large gray bags under his murky-green eyes.

In his traditional outfit, he wears a large brown coat, orange sparkly shirt, red frills, a blue tie, both tan gloves and chaps, both brown pants and leather belt with gold buckle, gray Stetson hat with black band around on its brim. He's mostly seen stealing cows and selling them to Wesley.

In his disguise as Yancy O'Del, he wears a purple top hat with a blue band around its brim, a purple suit coat with 3 black buttons lined vertically, black spectacles, plum suit pants, a blue bow tie, a black cravat, a white dress shirt with both a collar and cuffs, white gloves, and black shoes with white spats on them, and he carries a black cane with a gold hooked head.

Personality
Slim is an evil, rude, greedy, egotistical and arrogant man. He only cares for money and power, and doesn't care for how much others lose in his revenge plot.

Slim takes pride in his yodeling, which he uses to hypnotize cows for theft, and gets angry if anyone, including his nephews, disrespects his talent, which he considers to be an art form.

He doesn't show much knowledge or intellect. Slim has little patience and a short temper, shown with anger at his plans failing and at his nephews' vast stupidity at failing to recognize him through his Yancy O'Del disguise (even if they watch him putting on the disguise) and interrupting him when he's counting the cows.

Talents
Hypnotic Yodeling: Slim has this special talent to hypnotize cows by yodeling, he uses this to steal and lead them to his prison hold. He effectively uses this power a few times during the movie.

Weaknesses
Tone-deaf Cows: Cows who are tone-deaf are fully immune to his talent, Grace was the only one to be immune and she also doesn't like his yodeling (singing) very well.

Gagged mouth: If Alameda's mouth get blocked, tied or gagged, he can't yodel anymore and he is left powerless and easy to restrain. In the final battle, it turns out that gag is the best way to defeat Alameda: after his hands are bound, he tries to yodel, but a bell is thrown into his mouth. After that, he is easily tied up with a rope and re-gagged with a cloth.

Role in the Film
At the beginning of the film, Alameda Slim targets the Dixon Ranch, home of Maggie. All of the cattle disappear in one night, leaving only Maggie, who had been securely penned up. As a result, Mr. Dixon is forced to sell Maggie to a small farm called Patch of Heaven, and heads out west for a new start. Later, Mr. Dixon's ranch is bought by a Yancy O'Del. As a result of his numerous thefts, it is revealed that a $750 reward is out for the capture of Slim, which Maggie and two other cows, Mrs. Calloway and Grace, decide to claim in order to save their home from foreclosure.

Later, Alameda Slim commits another theft, and his unique technique is revealed: Alameda Slim is able to hypnotize cattle through yodeling. He captures all the cattle, and takes them to his hideout, located in an old mine named "Echo Mine". At the mine, he reveals his plan; Slim had once been a talented farm hand, but had been repeatedly fired. It is hinted that this was because his employers hated his yodeling ("singing"). As revenge, Slim has been using his abilities to steal the cattle of his former employers, and sells them. When the ranches are put up for auction, he uses the money to buy the property, under the name Yancy O'Del. At that moment, one of his henchmen moves from his spot, revealing the location of the Patch of Heaven farm on his map of ranches. (The farm is shown to be the exact shape of the minion's head, and had never been seen before because it was always blocked.) Slim decides to buy the farm under his alter ego's name. When the Willie Brothers finish counting the cows they captured, Wesley tells him that they are supposed to be 5,000. Slim tells him that one of his brothers just miscounted, then he hears Grace's moo and sees her by the entrance and decides to bring her to him. Slims begins to yodel at Grace not knowing that she is tone-deaf and thus immune to his hypnosis.

However, Slim is kidnapped and tied up by Maggie, Grace, and Mrs. Calloway, who plugged their ears to avoid his yodeling. The cows attempt to take Slim to the Sheriff, but Slim escapes thanks to Rico, who had secretly been working for him. Slim attends the auction of Little Patch of Heaven under his O'del identity, and is about to buy the farm. However, after defeating Slim's henchmen, the cows catch up to Slim in a train before he can sign the paperwork ultimately granting him ownership to the farm, and with the help of Pearl's farm animals overpower the fat outlaw and throw him in a chimney of the train, binding his arms. Mrs. Calloway pulls the cord to the train whistle, which blows away Slim's disguise and reveals his identity to the horrified Sheriff Sam Brown and Pearl who both realize that O'Del who is buying the farm is really Alameda Slim. Refusing to accept defeat, he tries to yodel, but Grace throws Maggie's cow bell in his mouth, gagging and silencing him. Sam ties Slim up and re-gags him with a cloth, so his yodeling is muffled. Slim is then put into a police car and taken to jail, still unsuccessfully trying to untie and ungag himself.

Trivia

 * Slim is the seventh villain in the Disney animated canon to have his own song since Ursula in 1989's The Little Mermaid. That is, unless Yzma counts, who sings "Snuff Out The Light" on the The Emperor's New Groove soundtrack.
 * The defeat of Alameda Slim shares some similarities with the defeat of Governor Ratcliffe. They are both (in fact) kidnapped in the moment of achieving their goal, tied up, gagged and transported to law system for punishment.