the audience applauded

Just perfect...

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I could never give a truly bad review to a film with as talented a cast as this one. One of the things I liked about the Walt Disney Studios is that they gave employment to a lot of familiar faces from the big studio era when they were finding it hard to get work. But this was not one of the better efforts from the Magic Kingdom.Disney's All American hero in films at this time was Kurt Russell who plays a kid who is a mail delivery clerk at the UBC network by day and a night school student looking to better himself. By accident he discovers that the chimpanzee his girlfriend Heather North has can pick winning television shows. His taste mirrors that of the American public which is a proposition a lot might agree with.Russell is promoted to a Vice Presidency in charge of programming keeping the chimp's participation a closely guarded secret. But a whole lot of vested interests want to find out. They stop at nothing as you will see.Some might call this film cute and innocuous as most of the Russell Disney flicks were, but I think The Barefoot Executive is the worst of what he did for that studio. To me the whole thing was so dopey and even a cast that has Harry Morgan, Wally Cox, Alan Hewitt, Joe Flynn, and Iris Adrian in it can't sell this one. I will say that Adrian has only a small bit, but it is memorable.John Ritter is also in The Barefoot Executive playing a role that might have led him to be cast as Jack Tripper in Three's Company. Maybe the film did his career some good.I'd see The Barefoot Executive should be seen for the marvelous cast, but I think you'll agree with me when you see how silly it is.

Although not part of the Dexter Riley series (in fact made just after the first one), it carries Russell where Dexter might have gone after college. The same type of humor skims the surface of this movie but, it is the biting satire that is it's heart. Playing to the pretentious attitudes of people who cater to each other more than their clients, in this case the TV audience, they are completely stumped when an outsider successfully predicts the new favorite shows. But Russell holds a secret that would completely demoralize everyone in charge. Never mind a young mail clerk seems smarter than seasoned pros, but what about a monkey! This movie showed a maturity the Riley series never did, although the concept of a bunch of college slackers was ahead of it's time, and stood out from the rest of the Disney fare at that time. Well worth viewing as it shows Russell at the beginning of his adult career. His comedic timing and relaxed, natural acting talent are quite evident here.

I'm not usually turned on by animal comedies, and I read the synopsis for this one and decided to give it a miss. Then I was flicking channels and came across a late film on the Disney channel, started watching it, became engrossed and thought it was nice, just funny enough without going overboard for laughs. Kurt Russell is certainly a long way from "action hero" status; the story works well enough, and it's classic Disney fodder that parents can enjoy with their kids. Rating: 6/10.

One of the funniest comedies I've seen yet. What made this so was the interplay between Wally Cox and Joe Flynn [one of my favorite comics]. The bit on the building ledge was too much and had me rolling. The bellowing company prez was well played by Harry Morgan, a man I well remember from the early 60's sitcom "Pete & Gladys" where he played the put upon hubby, Pete Porter. John Ritter performed the snobbish, suck-up nephew to the hilt who, of course, gets his just payment in the end. 4 stars.