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Million Dollar Duck, a live action Walt Disney family comedy with Sandy Duncan and Dean Jones

Million Dollar Duck

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The Million Dollar Duck (1971) starring Dean Jones, Sandy Duncan, Joe Flynn

 In The Million Dollar Duck, a lab worker (Dean Jones) takes home a laboratory animal (Charlie the duck) to prevent it from being destroyed, as a pet for his son. However, the duck’s exposure to radiation has mutated it. And it now literally lays golden eggs when the family dog barks. At first, the scientist, this ditzy wife (Sandy Duncan) think this is a Godsend. Until they begin to get greedy, and their neighbor (Joe Flynn) begins to get suspicious.

Million Dollar Duck
Walt Disney's Chicken Little - Don Knotts' final performance

Walt Disney’s Chicken Little

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Review

Have you ever sat through a children’s movie with a message? A very blunt message? That the movie beats you over the head with, over, and over? And over? That’s Walt Disney’s Chicken Little, unfortunately. It takes a good concept, and ruins it in the execution. It’s the final film of Don Knotts, and it’s a sad farewell to a great talent and very funny man.

Walt Disney’s Chicken Little

No Deposit, No Return [Don Knotts]

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Editorial Review of No Deposit, No Return (1976) starring Don Knotts, Darren McGavin, David Niven —courtesy of Amazon.com

 Tracy and Jay Osborne’s mother is shipping the unwilling children off to their grandfather’s house for Easter vacation while she attends to business in Hong Kong. The children plot a trip to visit their mother and, with the help of Jay’s pet skunk, evade their grandfather and airport security to escape in a taxicab with two safe-cracking vandals. The foursome proceeds to stage a kidnapping – although just who kidnapped whom is up for debate.

No Deposit, No Return [Don Knotts]

How to Frame a Figg

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How to Frame a Figg, starring Don Knotts

How to Frame a Figg is a long-time favorite Don Knotts movie.  Don stars as Hollis Figg, one of the bookkeepers for the small, but corrupt, town of Dalton.  In an attempt to frame someone else for their own shenanigans, the town leaders purchase a second-hand mainframe computer and fire everyone except Figg, who becomes responsible for running the computer, as well as becoming the fall guy for the town’s financial corruption —hence, the title.  As you can likely guess, Don Knotts fights back in his own jittery way, eventually winning the day and the girl.

How to Frame a Figg

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo

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Walt Disney’s Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)

 Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo has three major plots running through it. First is Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) attempting to resuscitate his racing career.  With the help of his mechanic Wheely Applegate (Don Knotts) at a race in Europe.  Hence the ‘Monte Carlo’ of the title. In addition, a pair of thieves (played by Bernard Fox and Roy Kinnear) have stolen a large diamond from a museum, and hide the stolen jewel in Herbie’s gas tank to escape detection …

And providing motivation for them and police inspectors to chase Herbie on the prolonged race route. Complicating these two is Herbie himself falling in love with another car, a Lancia.  It (she?) is owned by a beautiful female race driver (Julie Sommars), whom Jim Douglas begins falling in love with. Is it the highlight of 20th-century cinema? No. Is it an enjoyable family film? Absolutely! The race scenes are fun, as are the interactions between the cast members, with Don Knotts playing his nervous everyman character to the hilt, Dean Jones is as enjoyable as ever, and Herbie actually shows off his personality. It’s an enjoyable movie, and I hope that you and your family enjoy it. I rate it 3 clowns out of 5.

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo

The Apple Dumpling Gang

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Walt Disney’s The Apple Dumpling Gang, starring Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Bill Bixby, Susan Clark – DVD review

Many people who were children during 1975 will remember Walt Disney’s The Apple Dumpling Gang with fondness. The basic plot involves three orphans, who become the responsibility of Russell Donovan (played by Bill Bixby), a bachelor and small-time con artist who wants nothing more than to be free of them. After spending time trying to foist the children upon someone else, it’s found out that they own the deed to a gold mine, formerly thought to be worthless, but that produced a sizable nugget of gold after an earthquake.

The Apple Dumpling Gang

The Strongest Man in the World

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Walt Disney’s The Strongest Man in the World, starring  Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, Eve Arden, Cesar Romero, Phil Silvers, Dick Van Patten

Product Description

In The Strongest Man in the World,  Medfield College science major Dexter Riley (Kurt Russell) and his classmates have been working on a new vitamin compound when a lab accident creates a supercharged mix that ends up in Dexter’s cereal box! After breakfast the next morning, Dexter is transformed, possessing a superhuman strength that levels lampposts and destroys doorknobs. The powerful formula comes to the attention of the college dean and two rival cereal companies, touching off a hilarious chain of events. Ultimate control of the moneymaking formula rides on a weight lifting match between the pitifully small Medfield team and the superior State challengers. It’s a mixture of fun, comedy, and adventure that will have everyone exploding with laughter!

The Strongest Man in the World

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), starring James Mason, Kirk Douglas, Peter Lorre, Paul Lukas

The classic Walt Disney adaptation of Jules Verne’s 20,00 Leagues under the Sea, starring James Mason, Kirk Douglas, Peter Lorre, Paul Lukas

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Babes in Toyland [Annette Funiceello]

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Babes in Toyland (1961) starring Ray Bolger, Annette Funicello, Tommy Sands, Ed Wynn

I am a large fan of Laurel and Hardy’s  March of the Wooden Soldier. It’s a wonderful children’s story for adults. Which, among other things, had a live-action version of Mickey Mouse appear. This was done with Walt Disney’s permission, since he and producer Hal Roach were close friends. In the same way, Walt Disney’s version of the story, Babes in Toyland had a comedy team impersonating Laurel and Hardy. And although I saw it many years ago as a child, I was eager to see it again as an adult.

Babes in Toyland [Annette Funiceello]

Walt Disney’s Aladdin

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Walt Disney’s Aladdin (1992), starring  Scott Weinger,  Linda Larkin,  Robin Williams,  Jonathan Freeman,  Gilbert Gottfried

“A diamond … in the rough“. In short, Walt Disney’s Aladdin can be summarized in that one sentence. It’s the story of a poor young man, Aladdin (Scott Weinger). He’s a street rat, who knows that he can be more. He lives by his wits on the streets. He commits petty larceny to eat. With the help of his only friend, the monkey Abu. But who’s still soft-hearted enough to give away his purloined meal to younger children, even hungrier than he is.

Walt Disney’s Aladdin
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