User reviews

I must have been eight years old with nothing else to do one Saturday in 1974 when this screened at the local cinema. I went along knowing nothing about it but assumed it would involve a dad who is secretly a superhero. I can't remember at what point I resigned myself to Dad never getting into costume but I spent most of the film rather confused and alienated by what turned out to be a rather gentle generation-gap comedy about a father trying to manipulate his daughter's love life. 45 years later, having hardly thought about it in the meantime, I thought I'd see how it looks from this distance. Well, it's not great. It's a mildly interesting glimpse at 70s culture seen through a Disney lens. For the first 20 minutes of rather forced humour I wondered if I should have bothered but I warmed to it a little as it went on. Probably the only reason it stuck in my mind was a mildly scary confrontation between the dad and an unhinged hippie artist called Klutch on his bizzarely decked-out houseboat/studio. It's hard to guess who Disney was aiming at with this. Young kids would have been bored and confused, as I was. Adults would find it juvenile, and teenagers would probably rather just find it a bit lame. The best you can say is that it's not that bad. You might relate to it if you have a teenage daughter, or if they will sit still long enough you could watch it with your kids (or grandkids) and tell them about the bad old days before Star Wars when, if there wasn't a Doug McClure film out that week, something like this was quite often the best a kid could hope for from a trip to the cinema.

Southern California lawyer Bob Crane (as Charlie McCready) doesn't like the potentially sexual relationship between beautiful blonde daughter Kathleen Cody (as Wendy) and beach bum boyfriend Kurt Russell (as Bart). First, Mr. Crane decides keep an eye on the kissing couple by joining the youngsters' beach partying gang. This results in some misadventures in water. Later, Crane conspires to send Ms. Cody to a faraway college. Not too smart. With her face and figure, Cody has no trouble attracting collegian attention, and becomes inadvertently engaged in a hippie gang protesting Crane's golfing business partners Joe Flynn (as Cyrus Hershberger) and Dick Van Patten (as Ira Kershaw)...

"Superdad" is the generation gap seen through the rose-colored Disney lens, which results in a sharp focus on fluff.

Canceled television series stars populate the cast. Most notably, Crane had escaped "Hogan's Heroes" and Cody emerged from "Dark Shadows" (both in 1971). Extending his teen years, Mr. Russell plays a secondary role, as does motherly Barbara Rush (as Sue), late of "Peyton Place" (1969). There is a quick pace, along with dependable amusements from all-purpose driver Bruno Kirby (as Stanley Schlimmer), hip octogenarian Judith Lowery (as Mother Barlow), and the Disney regulars. The studio held the film up in favor of "Charley and the Angel" (1973). Bobby Goldsboro's "These Are the Best Times" failed to chart. Nothing could help "Superdad" bridge the box office gap.

***** Superdad (12/14/73) Vincent McEveety ~ Bob Crane, Kathleen Cody, Kurt Russell, Barbara Rush

It's truly sad to see a good cast wasted in this painfully awful alleged "comedy" from the Disney people, but there's an academic interest in "Superdad" as well, to wit: If you want 90 minute capsule definition of everything that was wrong with Disney during the years when Ron Miller was running the studio (1967-81), just watch, or more accurately, endure this film.

I'll expand on this. Miller, who was Disney's son-in-law and an associate producer at the studio, took over the production reigns at Walt Disney's death in late 1966 (Brother Roy Disney still held the purse strings and ran the financial end of things, as his son Roy, Jr., does today). Miller had the technical know-how, but not the genius of picking the right properties and targeting his audience that Walt Disney did, and it's interesting that many of the most successful films made during the Miller years ("The Love Bug," "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," "The Rescuers," "Freaky Friday," and a few others) were films that were still in the planning stage at Walt's death. Instead of real creativity, Miller adopted a "What would Walt do?" policy, and the result was mostly negative. Disney films made during Walt's lifetime, even the occasional box-office failure, were always marked by distinctiveness and creativity, whereas most of Miller's films for Disney were marked by blandness and derivitiveness. Thus, for every "Love Bug," you got at least two films like "Million Dollar Duck," "Gus," "Candleshoe," innumerable "Love Bug" sequels that got worse with each picture, and the film we're ostensibly discussing here, "Superdad."

To see genuinely talented people such as Kurt Russell, Bruno Kirby, and the late Joe Flynn wasting their time with this drek is painful enough to watch as it is, but to see Bob Crane in the truly thankless title role is almost beyond the power of words to express. After the cancellation of "Hogan's Heroes" three years earlier, Crane tried to expand into movies, like his idol, Jack Lemmon. Unlike Lemmon, though, who always came off as likable, even in an unsympathetic role, there was always something vaguely unpleasent, even a little sleazy, about Crane's personality. It was that quality, undoubtedly, that kept him trapped in terms of the roles he played up until his sudden, mysterious, and still unsolved murder in 1978. Crane would certainly appreciate the irony that he's become a bigger celebrity in death than he ever was in life. At the time this film was made, he seemed like just another washed-up ex-TV star trying to make a go of it in films.

Bob Crane, Kurt Russell and a host of overaged stable-players from the Disney studios struggle to inject some life into flaccid farce about a middle-aged California businessman who schemes to separate his college-age daughter from her beach-bum friends. A continuation of the generation-gap ideas introduced earlier in films such as "Take Her, She's Mine" and "The Impossible Years"--this time, however, without the political activism. Director Vincent McEveety, working from a script by his uncle, Joseph L. McEveety (also from Disney's stable), eschews any meaningful underpinnings for the sake of yahoo laughs, such as Crane attempting to water-ski (the gang records Dad's antics with a home-movie camera for posterity, managing to capture his clumsy moves from an array of different angles!). What can you say about a Disney picture the company itself didn't want to release? Crane, at this point in his career, had developed a permanent bitter scowl on his face. His concerns about his daughter are understandable at first (and rather trenchant), but the McEveetys are too interested in maintaining the comic chaos, to which Crane's unflappable persona isn't well-suited. *1/2 from ****

I wanted to like this film. Really.

After all, any Disney film with Russell, Flynn and even a young Kirby has to have something good, doesn't it?

Well, usually.

As a father who can't stand the thought of letting go of his little girl, Crane is kind of irritating as the "Superdad" of the title.

Did I say "kind of"? Scratch that: VERY irritating.

The main picture in my mind is of Crane screaming like a girl while taking a high water ski jump. After that, I'd just stay home and tell my daughter to go and have a good time.

At least Flynn's around for laughs. Why couldn't he have been the dad? Now that would have been really super.

Two stars, plus a half star extra for Flynn. Way to go, Joe.

This film is every bit as entertaining as any of the other Disney films of the 1959-1979 period. What do you want?

You got your high jinx. You got your love story. You got your Kurt Russell. You got classic Bruno Kirby. You got your Bob Crane (Colonel Hogan, and unfairly slammed as an actor). You got your mad cap caper. You got your teenage conflict with authority. You got little kids laughing.

Why are we looking for dramatic depth in a Disney kids movie?

I watched this movie several times as a Disney movie of the week in the 70's. We even rented the 16mm version for display at youth conferences. All I have are fond memories and a wish for the video to be added to the other Disney Classics.

Lighten up and go with the flow, man!

A bit of a mishmash of a film.

'Superdad' practically has three storylines rearing a head. You've got a father trying to get involved with his daughter's life, alongside the father having a big work event and the daughter having a sizeable life decision which conflicts with her friends. It's messy, the first one is definitely the film's intended focus but they don't really develop all of them too well.

The middle one involves Joe Flynn (Hershberger), who is shoehorned into another Disney live-action flick - he is fairly good in 'The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes' trilogy, but since the original film of that series in 1969 they really tried to force him into a load of their other releases.

Somewhat likewise to Kurt Russell (Bart), but at least his role is actually integral here. Bob Crane is solid enough in the main role as Charlie, as is Kathleen Cody as daughter Wendy.

Not one I'd recommend, despite some pleasing on the eye shots at the very beginning and very end.

Charlie (Bob Crane) is a harried human resources manager for a shipping company. His boss (Joe Flynn) is on his back constantly, for they are having union negotiation troubles. At home, Charlie is experiencing some problems, too, as his soon-to-be-an-adult daughter, Wendy, is spending the summer with her beach friends, including Bart (Kurt Russell). One day, a television psychologist recommends that parents become more involved in their children's lives. Taking this to heart, Charlie first joins the beach crowd, where he discovers beach volleyball and water skiing may be near-lethal activities. Then, Charlie decides that a college farther away from this group of kids would be a good idea for Wendy. He pulls strings and Wendy is admitted, although she would prefer to stay near Bart and the gang. Will Charlie never stop interfering in Wendy's life? This is a fun movie with some good messages, too. The scenes where Charlie sets out to mingle with the beach group are hysterical, as he tries to compete physically with the younger set. In that role, Crane is a stitch and should be commended for his work, despite the dark side we now know he was hiding, in real life. Russell is, as always, a "hunk with charisma" and as sunny natured as they come. The rest of the cast, including Flynn, Dick Van Patten, Barbara Rush, and especially, Bruno Kirby, are top notch. Do you long for the good old days, when movies were cleaner but still humorous and heart-warming? Try hard to locate this film or catch it on the Disney Channel. It has charms and lessons for just about everyone.

Tightly wound and traditional lawyer and family man Charlie McCready takes a lot of pride in his daughter Wendy (Kathleen Cody) but disapproves of her group of friends collectively known as "the Gang" whom she has known since childhood and especially Wendy's boyfriend Bart (Kurt Russell) because he believes them to have no ambition and are a drag on Wendy. As Charlie tries to wrest Windy from her carefree friends towards more eligible persons, complications arise.

Superdad's origins begin in 1966 when the film was under the working title A Son-in-Law for Charlie McCready. Originally intended for Gig Young in the lead role, Gig dropped from the film due to "creative differences" and was replaced by Bob Crane who had found himself less in demand following the cancellation of Hogan's Heroes. Superdad was yet another entry in the formula comedies that served as Disney's primary output during the 70s and comes to us from writer Joseph L. McEveety who gave us the mediocre Dexter Riley films and the surprisingly decent Barefoot Exectuvie, and is directed by Vincent McEveety who's film The Million Dollar Duck stands as one of the dumbest of this era of Disney comedies. Superdad doesn't feel like a movie and instead feels like three episodes of a not particularly good pre-Rural Purge sitcom daisy chained together and presented to you as a movie.

Like many Disney comedies from around this time, Superdad's approach to culture clash and generation gap humor feel about 10 to 15 years out of date. Much like the Dexter Riley films or Million Dollar Duck, despite a teenage cast they spout hokey dialogue that hasn't evolved much beyond the approach taken from The Absent Minded Professor in 1961. The Scooby-Gang from the original run of Scooby-Doo in 1969 had more believable attempts at character and that was a cartoon with a talking dog, but it also helps that Scooby-Doo didn't treat 60% of its cast as a singular hive-mind character spread across a dozen actors. Bob Crane is massively unlikable as Charlie McCready and while the movie does try to address the generation gap by saying there's no fundamental difference between the teenagers of "today" versus 20 years ago, the movie wants to have its cake and eat it to because despite a message of tolerance and understanding throughout the film the movie also takes potshots at the counterculture movement in what amounts to pretty pandering and toothless commentary.

Superdad is what it is: A bad Disney comedy that feels like a sitcom projected on a bigger screen with no laugh track. There's a reason most people know of this movie from its mention in the heavily fictionalized Bob Crane biopic Auto-Focus or its appearance in the subway scene of the first Charles Bronson Death Wish, because the movie itself is only interesting as a curiosity or background novelty in relation to other more interesting topics. It's not as bad as Million Dollar Duck by virtue of not being as brazenly annoying and stupid, but it's also much lazier.

I was nine years old when I saw this movie and liked it then as I still do to this day.I was at that great age when I wanted to be 18 like the characters in the movie and it didn't hurt that Kathleen Cody was a knock out lady to boot as well as the other ladies in the film.It's a harmless movie of a Father and Mother seeing their Daughter maturing in the real world as well as a lot of laughs in the storyline.Bob Crane was very funny with his portrayal.A lot of great California footage of Newport Beach and San Francisco.It's a great summertime movie that brings me back to 1973.Fisherman's Wharf gets some great exposure as well.

I really liked this movie!! And why not, it is a combination of Disney and Kurt Russell, pure magic if you ask me. This really was a great story though. It was a love story of teens going off to college, and not being able to be with each other. And with all the kids going off to college these days, and different ones at that, trying to have a long distance relationship is hard. This movie reminded me of the hardships people overcome to be with the one they love. And the father in this film, is very overwhelming of his daughter, who loves Russell's character, but wants her to marry a man that he likes. In the end, like all good love stories, it had a great ending, which I think everyone will be delighted with. The story was great, and the actors as younger "kids" were good too. Most notably the acting of Kurt Russell and Bruno Kirby (billed as B. Kirby Jr.). Overall, this film deserved a 10 out of 10.

I am giving this Disney film a ten. I've seen this film at least three times before. I saw it during it's original release almost forty years ago, then again in 1978 when it was aired on network TV, and then another time a few years later. I recently saw it again after at least 25 years and I remember how much my family laughed their heads off as Bob Crane screamed his head off while water skiing. I am much older now, a dad myself and a responsible adult just like the parents in the film. The gang Wendy hangs out with -- all from the beginning of her childhood -- are all good kids despite the comments a lot of the adults make. My perspective on the film has changed since I first saw it as a child. That's why it now receives a "ten" from me. It was one of the best movies I've got engrossed in the past year and I didn't want it to end.

The wedding at the end of the film is still the most beautiful wedding ceremony ever filmed in a movie. It's easy to brush off a Disney film like this. I do it often with so many of the others that came out during my time. But this movie has a lot going on in it including the main song "These Are The Best Times."

I don't know if this has been remade yet but it could be remade again. Maybe they could make a new version with Kurt Russell in the father role looking after let's say his granddaughter. What a great starring vehicle for Kurt and Goldie.

This is definitely a new favorite for me.

this is one of my favorite movies.Its not that funny as a comedy,but i don't think it supposed to be a wild comedy,its clearly a feel-good family movie about a father,worried about his daughter who has reached college age and is about to leave the household.

There's comedy element,mainly from Joe Flynn as the tyrannical main client of McCready,and Jody Baker as a egomaniac artist,but the main value of this movie is the extremely likable McCready family itself and the daughter's gang of friends who are as seventies as you can get.

Bob Crane and Barbara Rush are the parents and Kurt Russell and Kathleen Cody are the young people in love. There really isn't a false note in this Disney movie,if one wants to paint everything that was great about America,and is nearly lost, its pretty much all in this movie.People are kind,they have feelings,kids respect their parents,they are all good-hearted and the kids are faithful to their friends.Its a Disney movie,so one expects something like that,but its all well done and natural,and the cast is really likable.

Like other poster said the wedding at the end is probably the most beautiful wedding ever filmed.I watched this when i was a teen myself ,and now i'm middle-aged and besides this film holding well through the years ,i can remember as a kid i wished i had a girlfriend as pretty and kind as the daughter Wendy is in this movie,and a life similar to the McCreadys.

Hollywood has gone down the drain,they think that ,all Americans are as sick as they are over there,and that there are no more nice people in this world.The world is not just sex and violence fest. I just wish movies like this one could still be made.

Leonard Maltin thought this was a bomb. I on the other hand disagree. Superdad is just an underrated 1973 Disney film which I thoroughly enjoy. I relieved Superdad (the DVD) as a Christmas gift and I thought it was pretty funny considering it was the first time I had ever seen it. Light-hearted Disney romp weird but funny at the same time about the generation gap. Charlie McReady (Bob Crane) is an overprotective dad worrying about his daughter Wendy (Kathleen Cody) about a bunch of beatnik type friends she hangs out with. He thinks they are not wanting to do anything with their life. Wendy is planning on marrying one of her friends Bart (Kurt Russell) But once more Charlie disagrees,and he tries to take part in their activities on the beach like volleyball, football, body surfing and water-skiing. Wendy is going to City College but when Charlie forges scholarships for her to go to Huntington Wendy finds out and she is really upset and so she goes out with a roughneck hippie painter named Klutch. Charlie goes ballistic when he finds out, and so he has a big paint fight with Klutch and takes Wendy away from him. In the end Wendy And Bart get married.

The mid 60s to the mid 70s was a great decade for Disney movies and "Superdad" was one of the standouts of the period. Although not my favorite at the time (I saw it when I was 9 at the Bellerose movie theater, now a karate supply store, on Long Island.)because who wanted to see a Disney movie that was about the father not the kids. However, when I got a little older I began to really enjoy this movie. It has a very appealing cast, big laughs, an evil hippie and an ending that doesn't leave a dry eye in the living room. What more could anyone want? Besides, I have to like this movie because it stars Dick Van Patten and years earlier he also lived in Bellerose.