2 posts tagged “walt disney pictures”

Just dug out my DVD copy of Walt Disney’s Seventies Teen Comedy THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES the other day…MAN, how I love this movie!

You know, the first movie I ever saw at a Drive In Theater (the long-gone Waialae Drive In, for those keeping track) was THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD, a movie I was to later find out was the THIRD in a series starring a VERY young Kurt Russell, or the FIFTH in a  series if you count Fred MacMurray’s two movies “Absent Minded Professor” and “Flubber”, as they all happened at the same college.

We kids of the Seventies were blessed with not only great live action Disney flicks like ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, FREAKY FRIDAY and all those HERBIE movies, but also a television program called “The Wonderful World Of Disney” on Sunday nights that would show older Disney flicks as well!

 I religiously watched this show (and it still hold a dear place in my heart, as many of you may have guessed by the NAME of my blog!) and as it happened, a few months after I had seen “The Strongest Man In The World”  at the Drive In, they aired “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” on television!

I was like ‘HEY! It’s that same kid from Strongest Man In The World…at the SAME College! And he’s involved in ANOTHER kooky experiment! COOL!”

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes(1968) was the adventures of a student named Dexter Riley (Russell) who attended Medfield College, a kid who always seemed to be in the middle of some zany scientific experiment that would give him and his school fame and fortune. It was followed by “Now You See Him, Now You Don’t”(1972), and then the aforementioned “Strongest Man In The World”(1975). In each movie, Dexter is involved in some experiment that gives him out of the ordinary abilities like super-strength or invisibility- well, in this one, he gets electrocuted by the school computer and absorbs all the knowledge, becoming a walking memory bank!

  Yes, the movies all had a similar theme, but something about Computer Wore Tennis Shoes always seemed to ring a little bit truer...It seemed to have more heart. There was actual attempt to flesh out his friends and teachers, and you always felt like his friends really loved him, and his teachers (especially Mr. Quigley, played by super TV Dad William Shallert) really had his best interests in mind. Throw in Joe Flynn as the insufferable Dean Higgins and the extremely over-the-top Cesar Romero (he of Joker fame) as the dastardly A.J. Arnau, and you had a top notch comedic cast of well-thought out characters, each who made the show even better in their own way!

There were a couple of scenes that come immediately to mind which really show that “heart” I mentioned in them:

After Dexter becomes the walking computer, he becomes a media sensation, and the fame attached to it find him beginning to ignore his colleagues, but when he is involved in a casino bust, his friends raise the money to bale him out, and a humbled Dexter realizes what true friends his pals are.

The College has sent Dexter to compete in a College knowledge/trivia debate, and since they need 4 students to enter, Dexter brings along his not-too-bright buddies to round out the team. But towards the ending of the debate, Dexter’s powers are starting to wear off, and he is having a difficult time answering. Finally, it is down to the last question, but Dexter just cannot get the answer out. His knowledge is gone!  But his pal Schuyler  pressures Dexter- “But Dex, You KNOW this one! Remember?” then they all realize that it doesn’t matter if Dexter knows it- SCHUYLER knows it! Schuyler answers the question and wins the tournament, a sweet victory for the kid who never had confidence in himself!

Of course, it wouldn’t be me it I didn’t mention the attractive young ladies in the movie as well, and there were a couple that really caught my eye- first up was Dexter’s infinitely patient girlfriend Annie, played by cutie Debbie Paine:

And the stoic leader of Medfield’s challengers the Springfiled Rockets, Ms. “J”  Reedy (what did the J stand for? I’m betting it was Jane) played by pretty actress Hillyard Anderson:

Nothing much has been reported on either of these fine actresses after The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes…whatever happened to them? I’d be really interested in knowing what they’re up to nowadays!

Over the years, although the allure of THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD and NOW YOU SEE HIM NOW YOU DON’T have diminished and they really seem like zany kiddie fare to the 40 year old me, THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES just keeps getting better and better! The characters and the good-natured theme just shine brighter with each viewing,  and that’s why I’m proud to say that even to this day this movie remains an all-time favorite!

As I’ve mentioned a number of times on this blog,  I was a HUGE Disney fan as a kid, from live action movies like ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, HERBIE THE LOVE BUG and THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES to the classic animated features like ALICE IN WONDERLAND, THE JUNGLE BOOK and THE RESCUERS. But it wasn’t until around 1988 (About the time OLIVER AND COMPANY came out) that I dove head-on into the wonderful world of Disney Collecting, or Disneyana, as they call it.

  The format of choice for me at the time was the LASERDISC, a doomed format, to be sure, but my, did the Disc Jackets looked nice! I wanted to get every one of them! Unfortunately, as any collector of Disney Movies knows, I was to be rudely awakened  from my dream of owning all the movies, When I would find out that most of the films were OUT OF PRINT, or MORATORIUM, as they called it! Gasp!

Even worse was the fact that one of the titles that was out of print was SLEEPING BEAUTY, one of the MAIN motivators for me STARTING  my collecting dream!
Oh well, although there were a lot out of print, there were more than enough still available to keep me (nad my checkbook) busy for awhile!

   Strangely enough, even though I was struggling in earnest to collect the Disney movies of my childhood, I didn’t have all that much interest in seeing the latest film THE LITTLE MERMAID, my friends had to practically DRAG me to see that one…I think at the time I was collecting from a “nostalgic” angle, and the “newer” didn’t really do anything for me. But of course, I ended up loving The Little Mermaid, and by the time I’d seen THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, I was a rabid fan, collecting anything and EVERYTHING associated with my beloved animated films!

  We made a trip to Disneyland that summer,, and I blew almost all my money in the Disneyana stores on Main Street more than anything else!  I didn’t have time for rides- there were official Alice In Wonderland Teacup Sets  and Collectible Sleeping Beauty Plates to be purchased! Took a lotta pics inside Sleeping Beauty’s castle, though!

  Now that I’ve set the stage, you can understand just how excited and worked up I was when Disney announced it was beginning work on its 30th animated feature, a movie called BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!

  Disney was beginning this routine of always giving a “Sneak Preview” of the upcoming Theatrical release at the beginning of the latest Home Video release, and though I’m not sure, I believe it was on the release of Rescuers Down Under that we first got a glimpse of Beauty and The Beast, or more specifically, Belle, the “Beauty” of the film, in a partially done scene of the girl singing and walking through town.

I was…CAPTIVATED! I remember watching that sneak peek clip over and over…Couldn’t wait for it!

  Soon Disney released the Soundtrack to Beauty and the Beast, and I thought it would be great to get to hear some of the songs BEFORE we saw it, so I ran out and bought it! Now at this time I had just moved from a cramped little apartment into a big empty house, and didn’t really have much in the way of furniture. So all we did was sit around on  the bare (though carpeted) floor and play cards. I used this as a great opportunity to really get to know the tunes, and I have great memories of "Belle's Theme" echoing throughout that empty house as we dealt each other cards! Before you knew it, all of us had memorized all the songs and even had kind of worked out he whole story, through
the songs and snatches of dialog scattered within the score.

  It’s pretty interesting to learn songs without knowing the context.  I remember, when listening to “Belle’s Theme”, a lady cries “I Need…Six Eggs!” in a strangled voice, and my friend said, “What the heck is wrong with Belle?” I said I didn’t THINK it was Belle, but we just had to wait to be sure! (Turned out to be some anonymous haggard mother!)

Well, finally the day came around when Beauty and The Beast arrived in theaters (over here was at the WAIKIKI 3 Theater, long gone now…) and even with my high expectations of the film,, I was still completely and utterly overwhelmed! I don’t know how much of it was due to the fact that I already knew all the songs, but it was like seeing pictures of a place for years and then finally getting to visit the place for real- everything seemed so familiar, yet so vibrant and ALIVE!

All the songs came alive for me watching the movie, but there WERE a few songs from the soundtrack that were slightly different in the movie, For example, Gaston’s’ Song had it’s ending (where Lefou tries to cheer the letters of Gaston’s name and realizes he can’t spell) cut off when Belle’s father bursts into the bar, and I was especially annoyed at the ending of “Something There”(probably my favorite track in the movie), where the sweet ending is talked over by a whining Chip! Ahahahaha!

One of the greatest things about this movie was the CHARACTERS- every one seemed so well thought out and realized- especially the three main ones- Belle, Beast and Gaston.
Beast had to show you he was a raging monster who was gentle inside, and Gaston showed you a boor who went from a conceited buffoon to an all-out murderer!

 And Belle.

GEEZ, I have to say, Disney really created a masterpiece with her! One of the most perfectly developed (take that how you want) heroines ever, and the animation team really hit a home run here- her facial expressions and gestures were so realistic- my fave “quirks” of hers were the arching of her eyebrows when she was suspicious, and oh, that strand of hair that just wouldn’t stay in place! And I have to say, there couldn’t have picked a better voice for Belle than Paige O’Hara!

  Oh yeah, I fell in love! Yep. With a cartoon character! One of about five animated characters I fell in love with, actually. (And who were the other four? That’s for future entries!) After Alice (Of Wonderland fame) and Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), Belle became one of my favorite Disneyana things to collect, I was that far gone!

I went individually with each friend who was part of that card- playing group, and they all agreed it was great! Then I went with fellow co-workers who hadn’t seen it, All in all, I went about 9 times, and you know what, I actually started feeling possessive of the movie! It got to the point where I was excitedly waiting for people to laugh at certain places (Like Gaston’s “Every last inch of me’s covered in HAIR!” line, for one) and Ooh at others (Belle appearing at the top of the stairs in her yellow ballroom gown) and even now, when I watch my home videos, I miss those reactions!

Disney had tied-in Beauty and The Beast to Burger King, and they were going to have Happy Meals (or whatever the Burger King equivalent of it was) featuring a different  BATB action figure each week. I have to comment that these were pretty quality dolls. Heavy plastic, DEFINITELY collectible. First week was Beast, so I picked up that one, then when week two featuring Belle rolled around, my friend Gerg (one of the card-playing gang), who was as infatuated with Belle as I was, decided to accompany me down to Burger King to get one too. When we GOT there though, he chickened out, mortified to be seen getting a Belle figure. So I rolled my eyes and said I would order for both of us.

  So I get to the counter, with Gerg sheepishly behind me, and we ordered two Happy Meals (Or whatever it was called), and were shocked when we were handed two trays with small drink cups, small fries, small cheeseburgers, and…no figures!

  Gerg’s face turned to a face of concern, and I went back to the counter, saying, “Uh, didn’t these come with toys?” The old Filipino lady looked at us from above her glasses, and, holding up a Belle doll in her hand, said, “But the toy is THIS, you know!” And me and Gerg said “Yes Please!” to which the confused lady handed over the two dolls to the two weird dudes. But it was totally worth it! The dolls hands were even molded so they could fit together, and as you can see, I still have these cherished figures on my shelf of Disneyana, see below:

Along with the figures, there were books and other collectibles to be found, and when Disney released trading cards featuring stills from the movie, I had to get those, too! My dilemma was how to get the whole set without buying pack after pack, and every friend I knew that collected cards said that if I just bought a whole box, I was pretty much guaranteed to get at LEAST a whole set, maybe even more If I was lucky! So I invested the money and bought a sealed box of packs, and though at this moment I can’t recall just how many individual packs were in that box, after opening every one of them, I was still ONE CARD SHORT of making the complete 95 card set!  Well, I wasn’t gonna go and buy any more individual packs, and I sure as hell wasn’t gonna buy another BOX!

 Luckily for me, a Comic and Card store up the street sold recent trading cards individually, and for 75¢ I was able to pick up that last card! Offhand, I can’t remember which one it was- funny, you’d think I’d have that card burned into my brain! But BOY was I satisfied when I completed that set! Oh, and I even bought one of those snazzy plastic boxes to  store/display the set, too!

 Disney decided to release the “Working-In-Progress” version of the film that was shown to audiences before the actual film came out on laserdisc months before the “real” movie was set to be released (I suppose as a sort of teaser), and I have to say I was the first in line to get my copy! First off and most importantly, since the Laserdisc was kind of a avant-garde release, it warranted a more mature cover, and the image, taken from the soundtrack, is probably my favorite of all the one sheets made! I even had a poster of it mounted and framed, and as you can see hangs where it’s hung for over 16 years in my little office corner.

When the Laserdisc finally came out, I bought them both in CAV (Deluxe format) AND CLV (regular Format), though no one knows why! It’s not like I was ever gonna watch the CLV version, but I was THAT excited when it came out! Ahahaha! It was years (and only rather recently) that Disney finally got off their duffs and released a good and proper Deluxe DVD treatment of this Academy Award Nominated (YES!) Animated feature, and when I got it, I made myself put off watching It till I was really in my Disney Mood. So just the other week I finally brought it out and soaked it all in, and folks, it’s real! It’s still as good as I remember- BETTER, even!

 Car found it quite amusing when the movie was over and I mumbled “Man, I FORGOT how much I was in LOVE with Belle!” Ahahahaa! Yes, It's true!