Andrew Huggett
After a really interesting start with the reading of a will, (and a portrait oil painting which amusingly changes it's countenance during each revealing cut-away) this standard Disney family comedy drags a little before a reasonably amusing boxing match at the end between 'Bullwhip' and 'The Ox', but overall this is very disappointing. There's some nice illustrated animated 'bookends' which divide up segments of the film with music (similar idea to 'Cat Ballou') but it's nowhere near in the same league as that film. It's a shame as I was expecting this film to be a lot better. Bizarrely, one of the main characters disappears a third of the way into the film and then turns up again near the end. Feels slightly disjointed. The acting is quite good and Roddy McDowall was perfectly cast. I like the way in which the 'Ox' character throws people through the air in a ridiculously exaggerated manner – which is reasonably slapstick funny and actually quite cleverly done. There are some nice typical 'Disney-fied' matte painted wide scenes.
rdfarnham
This a Disney film that most people have never heard of and, to me, it is one of the funniest. OK, some of it is a little hokey, but, by and large, it is a film the whole family can enjoy. Roddy McDowall is perfect as the straight-laced butler who tries his best to help his young friend in the gold fields of 1849 California. Suzanne Pleshette (beautiful as ever) plays the love interest that Bullwhip can't bring himself to admit. She can also belt out a pretty good barroom tune. Add a crooked judge who is also a thief, one of the funniest fist fights ever filmed and likable villains and you have an entertaining romp in the old west.
MARIO GAUCI
This is another fondly remembered Walt Disney live-action effort which I'd never watched: it's an episodic Western spoof set at the time of the California gold rush. The protagonists are an impoverished Bostonian family and their resourceful butler (an ideally-cast Roddy McDowall); the young son, obsessed with a legendary rugged cowboy figure called "Bullwhip", is prone to tall tales so that he makes up the mild-mannered Griffin to be as brave and experienced as his hero!This eventually lands them in trouble with both con-man Karl Malden (who has a lot of fun with his role, which also allows him to don plenty of disguises) and saloon owner Harry Guardino or, more precisely, his imposing but dumb henchman (a typecast Mike Mazurki) whom McDowall fells with a lucky punch but which Guardino wants to turn to his advantage by organizing a boxing match between the two! The bout is delayed until the climax: in between, our heroes have several adventures as they make and lose a fortune in gold (following a map possessed by Richard Haydn who's constantly flaunting his theatrical background), with the wily Malden never too far off their trail. Suzanne Pleshette provides feminine interest and eye candy, though she doesn't quite cut it as a saloon chanteuse.The film is a generous 110 minutes long (compounded by those relentless Sherman Brothers songs) but it's never less than enjoyable, with pleasant color photography and a barrage of technical gags (not just the animated titles but such oft-used devices as the subject of a portrait changing his expression, angels sounding their trumpets when someone is knocked-out, etc).
sylmar8
This movie is sweet, fun, entertaining for the whole family. For those who appreciate the more innocent days that are no longer. (The boxing match scene is a bit overdone though.) Roddy and Suzanne are cute together. Can't understand why this is not available on VHS!
AD
