The Biggest Laff-Lifter of the Year!

The Strongest Man In The World
1975 | G | 1HR 32 Min | Family | Disney

Director:

Vincent McEveety

Writers:

Joseph L. McEveety

Herman Groves

Stars: 

Kurt Russell

Joe Flynn

Eve Arden

Synopsis:

A school laboratory accident mixes one student's vitamin cereal mix with Dexter Riley's chemical experiment. When the kids decide to dispose of the mess to their neighbor's cow, they learn that the cereal gave the cow the super-strength to give a massively vast supply of milk. When they try it out on themselves, they discover that the stuff gives any human superhuman strength for a few minutes. The school sees this as the thing needed to save their school from closure, as the Dean makes a deal with his relative who owns the company that makes the cereal for financial support, unaware that it was Dexter's chemical which was solely responsible for the strength. When her competitor learns of this deal, he hires two criminals to stop it.

One of the first things I could not wait to do when signing up for Disney+ was watching childhood classics again. All of us that grew up on those classic's remember how heartwarming they were and in many ways simplistic fun. Now for me, many of those Disney movies would include stars Jodie Foster, Kurt Russell and of course Fess Parker. I would say I'm pretty passionate about this project and have spent a bulk of my time watching many of the short cartoons first so today was time to jump into the real fantasy world. Not ready to dive into the Jodie Foster end of things yet I grabbed a Kurt Russell vehicle instead. First to note I forgot that this was part of the Dexter series so lucky me I went out of order. Strongest Man is part three of this collage-based trilogy. 

The Worlds Strongest Man will sadly be the last film for a few legends. Raymond Bailey yep (Milburn Drysdale) and Roy Roberts (John Cushing) both of  Beverly Hillbillies fame give us one last performance before retirement. After an impressive 194 tiles under his belt, William Bakewell hung up his SAG card. Sadly this will be the last on-screen appearance for the beloved Joe Flynn. Best known as the co-star of many Disney films in the 1960s and '70s he was found dead lying at the bottom of his swimming pool, weighted down by the cast on his broken leg, having suffered a heart attack while in the pool. Sadly he was only 49. His last picture would be the 1977 animation hit The Rescuers.

Wow, that took a dip sorry! Let's talk about one more cast member, shall we? When Eve Arden come on my kids perked up strolling into the living room knowing her voice. It may have taken a few minutes but they got it the famous (in our house) voice of Principal McGee in the 1978 masterpiece Grease (the most-watched movie in this house) her husky voice is legendary. Dick Van Patten another Disney staple plays the bad guy and plays him well. So with such a great cast why would Kurt Russell still get top billing? Even if the whole 2nd act and most of the 3rd act is lined with the cast mentioned above. 

The first act fly's by rather quickly with Russell and his gang in a very clean looking collage. In fact, their house is immaculate. Not the kind of college hangout you would see in say Animal House. And the cast is starting to look a little old for their parts yet there looks do not take you out of the movie. In the second act, the meat that goes with those potatoes comes with comedic relief as Flynn comes up with a plan to save his job and the school by selling this newfound experiment to a cereal company. Unffortanty this is when the movie starts to drag us down and almost crashes to a complete halt. Thankfully we head to the finish line of the big contest of what team can lift more weight the state champs or our dweeby scientists. 

With the dweebs losing badly, thank goodness for Dexter (Russell) as he uses the last of his super-strength serum to lift the 1,111-pound weight to win it for Crumply Crunch Cereal Company and Medfield Collage. Hurray Higgins and Quigley get to keep their jobs! And that my friends would be the final chapter on the Dexter trilogy

Even tho I watched The Strongest Man In The World for purely nostalgic reasons it falls just a tad short of worthwhile. Maybe I'm wrong and just being a little harsh but I feel like the dip from the second half brings the mood way down. I was so close to fast-forwarding just to find Kurt once again. It's a cute 70s Disney story that does not veer far from the Magic Formula of most Disney Classic's but falls just short of memorable. 

2 Stars out of 5