Kurt Russell is engaging in just one of his starring roles for Disney during this period. He plays Steven Post, a lowly mailroom employee at a fictional third-place TV network who always has ideas for programming. Then he hits paydirt: his girlfriend Jennifer (Heather North, the original voice of Daphne Blake in 'Scooby-Doo' cartoons) has newly acquired a pet chimpanzee who has the uncanny ability to know a ratings-winner TV series when he sees it. And so Steven exploits the chimps' talent, rising to a prime position within the network. Of course, there are those who are suspicious and disdainful of Steven who wish to discover his secret.
It's the cast that makes this work to the degree that it does: Russell, North, Joe Flynn, Wally Cox (who wheezes and hiccups when under extreme duress), John Ritter (in his feature debut, as a snooty co-worker at the network), Alan Hewitt, Hayden Rorke, and many other character actors and actresses from film and TV. Harry Morgan delivers the definite loudest performance in the movie: he BELLOWS most of his lines! Most importantly, "Raffles" himself is often hilarious (blowing raspberries when he doesn't like something, for example) and endearing. Flynn and Cox figure in a major set-piece when they're stuck on the ledge of a high-rise apartment building, and the crowd gathered below think they plan to commit suicide!
Granted, the movie does feel a little protracted, and it's fairly funny without ever being really inspired. But it's as likeable and largely harmless as the majority of Disney product. It's the kind of thing one can have some mild chuckles watching, as it kills time in a pleasant enough manner. Subtle it ain't, but that was simply the order of the day with a lot of these 70s Disney movies.
Remade for television in 1995.
Seven out of 10.
It's the cast that makes this work to the degree that it does: Russell, North, Joe Flynn, Wally Cox (who wheezes and hiccups when under extreme duress), John Ritter (in his feature debut, as a snooty co-worker at the network), Alan Hewitt, Hayden Rorke, and many other character actors and actresses from film and TV. Harry Morgan delivers the definite loudest performance in the movie: he BELLOWS most of his lines! Most importantly, "Raffles" himself is often hilarious (blowing raspberries when he doesn't like something, for example) and endearing. Flynn and Cox figure in a major set-piece when they're stuck on the ledge of a high-rise apartment building, and the crowd gathered below think they plan to commit suicide!
Granted, the movie does feel a little protracted, and it's fairly funny without ever being really inspired. But it's as likeable and largely harmless as the majority of Disney product. It's the kind of thing one can have some mild chuckles watching, as it kills time in a pleasant enough manner. Subtle it ain't, but that was simply the order of the day with a lot of these 70s Disney movies.
Remade for television in 1995.
Seven out of 10.