ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Kurt Russell stars in this Disney-imitating-Disney rehash of "The World's Greatest Athlete" (1973).

Russell discovers a formula which does wonders for their school's athletes when they mix it with breakfast food.

Starring everybody you'd expect to see in one of these post-Walt productions from Disney studios: Eve Arden, Joe Flynn, Harold Gould, James Gregory, Dick Van Patten, Cesar Romero, and Phil Silvers. Directed by Vincent McEveety.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bogmeister]

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____________ The Strongest Man in the World


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The 3rd and final Disney film revolving around Medfield College and Dexter Reilly (Kurt Russell), the student who continually finds himself in the middle of some new scientific phenomenon and the associated troubles. The previous films were Now You See Him, Now You Don't (72) and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (69).

In this latest one, Medfield continues to have financial problems, to the extent that Dean Higgins (Joe Flynn) may find himself without a job.

When he inspects the science lab, he is incensed about the costs to rent a cow for some kind of vitamin/weight increase experiment, and he fires Professor Quigley (William Schallert, returning from the first film).

This time, the accident is not caused by lightning (as in the previous films), it's much simpler. Higgins slams the door, causing the solutions of two experiments (Dexter's and Schuyler's) to mix. The result — when Dexter eats Schuyler's breakfast cereal the next morning, he gains super strength. He demonstrates this to Higgins, who immediately hatches plans to get Medfield out of their finance jam.

___ Phil Silvers in The Strongest Man in The World


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Despite mostly the same cast and a similar premise, this 3rd entry is weaker than the previous two, and there's a sense of staleness about it. Part of the problem may also be a focus on scenes which have nothing to do with the concept of people and animals getting super strong.

For example, Dexter's buddy Schuyler (Michael McGreevey) is kidnapped by the returning fancy crook Arno (Cesar Romero), now acting on orders from others. And there's a long sequence of Schuyler getting hypnotized (by Benson Fong), and then other scenes of Schuyler acting weird after the hypnosis.

The new characters are played by Eve Arden and Dick Van Patten, as CEO and VP respectively of a cereal company which Higgins contacts to make a deal. They set into motion the prospect of a contest. The VP, however, is two-faced.

Phil Silvers plays the head of another cereal company. James Gregory plays the police captain in one scene, another example of a useless role.

____ The Strongest man in the world (1100 lb lift)


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The recurring absurdity with all these films is that the particular invention of each film is not used for any constructive or pragmatic purpose — it's always utilized for silly, trivial things. In this case, it's a weightlifting contest.

You'd think such inventions as invisibility and super strength would change the world, but that is never addressed in the universe of these Disney films.

It's taken to new levels of silliness when Higgins himself takes the formula (eating it with cereal) and shows off his new strength in a boardroom to spellbound members. The sequence, extending past the point of humorous, also shows him to be a super-gymnast for some reason.

There is no discussion about the formula's potential, just on how it can benefit a cereal company — a commentary on capitalism, I guess.

The final act of this film is when things pick up, with Dexter taking on a gang of Arno's henchmen, souping up the Dean's ancient roadster, and finally coming through in the contest. But, much of the film's earlier acts are mostly disposable. Still, it may be good fun for those seeking old-fashioned entertainment.

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10

The Strongest Trivia: For those keeping track of such numbers, Dexter had to lift 1111 lbs. to win the weightlifting contest.

This was Joe Flynn's last role — he died abruptly of a heart attack shortly after filming completed, at the age of 49.


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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I must admit, the stunt-filled fight scene in the clip below tempts me to give this Disney comedy a try. Scenes like this have certainly been done less effectively than it was here.
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________ The Strongest Man In The World - clip


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

I always enjoyed the lightweight Dexter films from Disney. BoG's review is a fair one; the franchise will never be lauded among the truly wonderful films from Disney. They are entertaining on a superficial level, and they have a marvelous collection of Hollywood actors to enjoy.

IMDB trivia: Even though he receives top credit, Kurt Russell has the least amount of screen time in this movie than his two previous films.

Robert Urich was considered for an extra in the film as a weightlifting student. He was considered as looking too young to play a college student.

Final film of Raymond Bailey who had gained fame as playing the greedy banker Mr. Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies.

Medfield College that Dexter attends is also the name of the college in The Absent-Minder Professor (1961), & Son of Flubber (1962).

Joe Flynn (1924 ~ 1974) was found dead on the bottom of his swimming pool, weighed down by a cast on his broken leg. The autopsy determined the cause of death to be a heart attack. However, rumors of murder have circulated around Hollywood for years. The oddity of the situation being why would anyone go for a swim with a cast on their leg?

In the 1956 SF movie Indestructible Man, Joe Flynn played a serious role but noticed that the audience laughed at his scenes. He determined then and there that his true forte was playing comedy and played comedic parts from then on.

[Bud Brewster]

[Pow]

More memories from Michael McGreevy (Schuyler).

"By the time we did our third of the Medfield College trilogy, Strongest Man in the World, indeed we were a little too old to be playing college students again."

"Our director was Vincent McEveety, who was the brother of Joe McEveety, the writer of the Medfield Trilogy whose talent I greatly admired and who was a good friend. Vincent was a good director, with a lot of credits in T.V. dramas, Vince was not really experienced doing comedy, especially the very specialized kind of comedy required for these movies. He also didn't feel comfortable criticizing our performances because we had all been playing these characters for so long. The result was a formulaic movie that didn't have any of the sparks or magic the previous two films possessed. Even though we were familiar with our characters, we could have used direction and suggestions to embellish and improve our performances. Vince was a great guy with a lot of talent, but he was not the right director for this project."

Walt Disney &, Recollections of the Disney Studios: 1955 ~ 1980.