Mceveety, Vincent

The Apple Dumpling Gang / The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again

THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG: Head for cover! Don Knotts and Tim Conway are Wild West outlaws who can't hit the broad side of a barn -- but never miss when it comes to rounding up laughs! The hilarity begins when a roving bachelor (Bill Bixby) inherits three young orphans and a wealth of problems. When the youngsters stumble upon a huge golden nugget they must fend off the greedy townspeople. So the kids join forces with the bumbling outlaws to stage a robbery of the gold. Little do they know a surly gang of sharpshooters plans to beat them to the draw! If you're aiming for fun saddle up and head out with THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG HE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAIN:There's more trouble afoot as The Apple Dumpling Gang (Don Knotts and Tim Conway) can't stop causing trouble -- and laughs -- even when they give up their life of crime! First the ditsy duo is accused of bank robbery as they try to deposit a check. Then they join the U.S. Cavalry and wind up in the stockade for inadvertently blowing up their fort. Although they escape this mess the witless team who could never shoot straight still can't seem to succeed in going straight. It's riotous raucous fun as THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAINFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/FAMILY GATHERINGS UPC: 786936758429 Manufacturer No: 05674500

Herbie the Love Bug Collection (The Love Bug/Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo/Herbie Goes Bananas/Herbie Rides Again)

This savvy Disney hit from 1969 made a star of a Volkswagen precisely when the car was becoming more popular than ever. Dean Jones and Michele Lee head the cast in a story about a VW bug with a mind of its own. Disney point man Robert Stevenson, director of The Absent-Minded Professor, Mary Poppins, and lots of other Disney live-action hits, makes the slapstick work perfectly and keeps the laughs coming. Buddy Hackett is very funny in a supporting role.

The first sequel, Herbie Rides Again (1974), is similar enough to the first film's charm and raucous comedy that it works on its own. Neither Dean Jones nor Michelle Lee are back, but a nice cast of familiar pros (including Disney vet Ken Berry) keeps things moving along slickly. The story finds Herbie helping Helen Hayes--yes, the First Lady of the American Theater--keep out of the clutches of Keenan Wynn's villain.

Dean Jones came back to the fold for this third lap around the block, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977), which finds him racing in the famed city while thieves plant a stolen diamond in Herbie's gas tank. The plot is forced and conventional, but the cast is the thing: the excitable Don Knotts (The Apple Dumpling Gang) and the tormentable Roy Kinnear (Mr. Salt from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) are good men to have in a potboiler such as this.

The fourth movie, Herbie Goes Bananas (1980), is a wooden story about Herbie's funny adventures heading toward a race in Brazil. Charles Martin Smith and Steven W. Burns try hard to bring some life into this project, but it just doesn't happen. There is one good laugh in the whole thing, in a scene where Herbie becomes a matador. Otherwise, even the picturesque, south-of-the-border stuff doesn't help. Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman star. --Tom Keogh

Collection of films about the Volkswagon \""bug\"" Herbie, with a mind of its own.
Genre: Feature Film Family
Rating: NR
Release Date: 3-MAY-2005
Media Type: DVD

The Cheyenne Social Club / Firecreek

They can be tough as leather. Or as down-home as any pair of good ol' boys. Either way there's a sense of warm respect between the two stars. The off-camera friendship of James Stewart and Henry Fonda goes back to their days as struggling actors and roommates. The Cheyenne Social Club [Side A] casts them as saddle-weary Texans who surprised to find they've inherited a Wyoming bawdy house feel honor-bound to defend it against a gun-wielding gang. Gene Kelly produces and directs this mix of fun and Western action. Next comes a firestorm of character-driven excitement in Firecreek [Side B]. Fonda plays an outlaw preying on small towns and Stewart is the jittery $2-a-month part-time lawman who must find the courage to stop him. This will be some showdown!Running Time: 228 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC UPC: 012569816121 Manufacturer No: 81612

The teaming of James Stewart and Henry Fonda was a natural: not only were the two men veteran stars of their generation, but they'd actually been friends and even roommates since early in their careers. These two Westerns offer the stars in their relaxed end-of-career mode, with Stewart in the hero roles and Fonda as either villain or burr-under-the-saddle sidekick.

Firecreek is a grim 1968 Western that carries a strong residual aroma of High Noon. Stewart plays a farmer who happens to be the nominal (but rarely needed) sheriff of Firecreek, which means he must go into service when Fonda and his scurvy bunch of desperados (among them Gary Lockwood and Jack Elam) come to town looking for trouble. This slow, stripped-down picture has a philosophical undertone, with Fonda's weary, wounded outlaw trading bitter wisdom with local girl Inger Stevens. It goes on too long and Stewart is in the phase of coasting on his familiar persona, but overall it's a decent little Western fable.

The Cheyenne Social Club, from 1970, gets off to a marvelous start, with a sequence of saddle tramps Stewart and Fonda riding across half the West as Fonda maintains a fractured monologue throughout. Screenwriter James Lee Barrett was a veteran who worked frequently with Stewart (Shenandoah) and John Wayne, and some of the Western flavor is fine, but... things turn crass as soon as the pals realize Stewart has inherited a bordello in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Everybody except Fonda overacts mercilessly, and director Gene Kelly--yes, that Gene Kelly--indulges a leering style that undercuts some of the authentic laughs. Shirley Jones is around to provide comfort at the club; some predictable gunplay is mixed in with the jokes. However middling these two films might be in the filmographies of their formidable stars, it must be said that the widescreen transfer of both films to DVD is very good. --Robert Horton

The Watcher in the Woods

Ghost story meets paranormal mystery in Disney's PG family spookfest, a rare kid-friendly scary movie that still manages to frighten. American girls Lynn-Holly Johnson (Ice Castles) and little sister Kyle Richards move into a secluded British manor cradled in a mist-shrouded forest, home to a ghostly guardian angel and a decades-old mystery that still haunts the place. Director John Hough (whose Legend of Hell House is a classic of supernatural suspense) delivers all the right shiver-inducing ingredients: flashes of light, whispers in the wind, eerie visions of a blindfolded little girl lost (the long-lost daughter of withered widow Bette Davis) reaching out from mirrors, as if trapped behind them. Though tame by today's bloody standards and a flop on its original release in 1981, this handsome little gothic ghost story has become something of a cult film for its suggestive direction, impressionistic imagery, and spooky sense of the unknown. Ages 9 and up, although more sophisticated younger kids should enjoy this. --Sean Axmaker

Legendary actress and two-time Oscar(R)-winner Bette Davis (DANGEROUS, 1935; JEZEBEL, 1938) stars in this frightening and atmospheric thriller. When an American teenager joins her family in an English country house, she experiences strange and supernatural occurrences. Mrs. Alywood (Davis), the kindly caretaker, knows the dark secret behind the happenings ... and prepares for the return of a young girl who died mysteriously some 30 years earlier! THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS weaves a haunting, riveting tale that stays with you long after the explosive ending!

The Strongest Man in the World

Once again Dexter Riley (a young Kurt Russell) and his science lab pals astound and confound Medfield College's head dean when their latest concoction might either save the struggling institution from bankruptcy or get the top-level staff fired. In this third of the four Medfield films, Riley accidentally ingests a vitamin compound that gives him superhuman strength, leading to sponsorship by a cereal company and possible defeat of a rival university in a weightlifting contest. Although today Medfield's team would be disqualified for drug use, in this pre-steroid scandal picture it's the scheming adults who are the bad guys. Thanks to a Medfield Board of Directors traitor (an amusingly villainous Dick Van Patten), the competing sponsor sends a couple of bungling burglars (one played by Cesar Romero) to steal the formula. Kidnapping, hypnosis, and a down-to-the-wire weightlifting finale mark this 92-minute, G-rated film, which is short on subtlety but long on wholesomeness. Kids as young as 4 will enjoy the weightlifting and burglary antics, but the school politics and corporate warfare subplots will lose them temporarily. --Kimberly Heinrichs

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 Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again

The 1979 sequel to The Apple Dumpling Gang reunites Tim Conway and Don Knotts as thieves with hearts of gold, this time helping out a soldier (Tim Matheson) whose commander (Harry Morgan) is being undermined by a villainous lieutenant. The film is for kids, but the adult-heavy plot takes this movie in a different direction than its predecessor, which focused on three adorable orphans. The slapstick comedy is good, and supporting cast, Morgan, Matheson, Ruth Buzzi and Jack Elam, are enjoyable, but the freshness of the first film is missing. --Tom Keogh

There's more trouble afoot as The Apple Dumpling Gang (Don Knotts and Tim Conway) can't stop causing trouble -- and laughs -- even when they give up their life of crime! First the ditsy duo is accused of bank robbery as they try to deposit a check. Then they join the U.S. Cavalry and wind up in the stockade for inadvertently blowing up their fort. Although they escape this mess, the witless team who could never shoot straight still can't seem to succeed in going straight. It's riotous, raucous fun as THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAIN!

Herbie Goes Bananas

This fourth Love Bug movie is a wooden story about Herbie's funny adventures heading toward a race in Brazil. Charles Martin Smith and Steven W. Burns try hard to bring some life into this project, but it just doesn't happen. There is one good laugh in the whole thing, in a scene where Herbie becomes a matador. Otherwise, even the picturesque, south-of-the-border stuff doesn't help. --Tom Keogh

Set in exotic locations in Central America, the internationally renowned Herbie, everyone's favorite "love bug," demonstrates his special brand of "car-isma" and high-octane humor in this action-packed, stunt-filled comedy outing. The fun begins when Herbie sets sail for Rio de Janeiro's Grande Premio racing competition with his two new owners. En route, they get sidetracked by a smuggling syndicate, pestered by a pint-sized pickpocket, and bullied by a raging bull. Laughter shifts into high gear in this zany Disney comedy!

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo

Dean Jones, star of The Love Bug, came back to the fold for this third lap around the block, which finds him racing in Monte Carlo while thieves plant a stolen diamond in Herbie's gas tank. The plot is forced and conventional, but the cast is the thing: the excitable Don Knotts (The Apple Dumpling Gang) and the tormentable Roy Kinnear (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) are good men to have in a potboiler such as this. --Tom Keogh

Million Dollar Duck

Disney's classic 1971 comedy about the goose that lay the golden eggs returns in digital format, retaining its old-style family-friendliness, slapstick silliness, and good-natured predictability. Dean Jones plays professor Albert Dooley, a lab worker down on his luck, who lives in suburbia with his earnest yet scatterbrained wife Katie (played deliciously by Sandy Duncan). When an under-performing lab duck's life is in jeopardy, Dooley rescues him to become a family pet and soon discovers that some earlier exposure to radiation has turned the duck's eggs into gold. The Dooley's newfound wealth brings its share of pandemonium as they try to keep their proverbial "nest egg" under wraps, especially from nosy neighbor Finley Hooper (Joe Flynn), a government Treasury man. Such low-tech fare is not without touches of brilliance: Duncan gets to deliver the best lines and does so with great panache. If Million Dollar Duck falls short in inventiveness, this small serving of comfort food satisfies with ample amounts of warmhearted cheer. (Ages 4 and older) --Lynn Gibson

Bring home surefire Disney fun starring classic comedians Dean Jones, Sandy Duncan, and Joe Flynn. Research professor Albert Dooley (Jones) is stuck with past-due bills and one downy, dense lab duck. But an ordinary bird turns extraordinary when he is accidentally zapped with radiation and casually starts laying the proverbial "golden eggs." Cashing in on newfound riches becomes a sidesplitting scramble as the secret gets out and friends, neighbors, and government T-men mount an all-out quack attack to capture the rare bird. It's heartwarming hilarity that will keep the whole family in stitches!

Gus

When Andy, brother of a Yugoslavian soccer hero, brings Gus, a field goal-kicking mule, to the United States as halftime entertainment for a losing Atoms football team, laughs and lasting fame follow. Gus's intelligent, almost human interactions with his Yugoslavian ball holder and the devious duo intent on stifling Andy and Gus's success are amusing and entertaining. An extended mule chase through a busy supermarket and Gus's drunken acceptance of an award on "Gus Day" are only two examples of the slapstick comedy that pervades this 97-minute film. Talents Edward Asner, Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Gary Grimes, Dick Enberg, and Tom Bosley enliven the somewhat predictable plot of this 1976 Disney film. Other notable appearances include real-life football players Dick Butkus and Johnny Unitas. This is fun, wholesome entertainment for children ages 3 and older. --Tami Horiuchi

A cast of comedy pros, including the hilarious Don Knotts and Tim Conway, make this Disney classic a sure winner! Low-ranking football team The California Atoms are at a constant loss until they recruit a new player -- a mule named Gus. It turns out that Gus is an amazing placekicker with a 100-yard field goal ability! Just as the Atoms begin to leave their losing streak in the dust, crooks attempt to kidnap their new star. Whether it's a surefooted race to the goalposts or a riotous chase down supermarket aisles, action in this Disney favorite is sure to make your family cheer!