The World's Greatest Athlete

Bang average.

'The World's Greatest Athlete' feels like a mixture of stuff we've seen before in this era of Disney. It doesn't do enough to make an impact on me, not helped by silliness of the story and meh casting.

John Amos is the best part of this, I enjoyed what he brings to the table here. Away from him I'm struggling to remember any others already, Roscoe Lee Browne - who is in one of my favourite films, 'Treasure Planet' - is alright but I found his character boring.

I think there's actually potential there with the overall premise, but as usual with this studio's early decades they choose to make it dumb and silly rather than meaningful - it would take a load of tweaking, but I reckon this would make a better coming-of-age/underdog story with a more proper tone. That would make it a completely different film, admittedly.

Lastly, the score is surprisingly solid while the end scene is its most amusing moment. Those two things and Amos aside, this is a bland one.

While not mentioned in the IMDb credit page, "locations" used in production, most (if not all) of the track and field filming was done at Cal State L.A., in the heat of the summer. I had the privilege of working in the film as an extra, and found the cast and crew to be friendly and professional. Tim Conway was funny on/off camera, and he had co-stars in tears during most of the shooting. The one question I asked one of the directors was how they chose a tiger for a young Tarzan-like character who came from Kenya? No tigers in Africa! This tiger (a huge female Bengal tiger) was well-trained,and most of us were allowed to pet her with her trainer's approval. No trained lion could be located in time for filming, according to my source. They should have had JMV come from India or south-east Asia. Nonetheless, the film was entertaining to watch, and a joy to be a small part of.

Having noted the recent death of Jan Michael Vincent and never having seen a single episode of his most famous vehicle, the hit TV show "Airwolf", I remembered watching as a boy this Disney movie in which he starred and I which believe got him his start in pictures.

The studio I seem to recall was putting out a lot of real-action family entertainment features at this time of which this is one and watching it again, obviously myself now much older, I still enjoyed the gentle, innocent fun put on the screen. Vincent plays Nanu the running, jumping jungle boy who is tricked by an on-holiday failed U.S. sports coach played by the very Cosby-esque John Amos and his hapless sidekick Milo played by Tim Conway, into coming to America to represent Merrivale college at the national track and field event where he is entered in every possible discipline as their sole participant. Along for the ride too is his pet tiger Harry, which certainly earns its stripes with an excellent supporting actor performance. I understand thankfully that no humans were injured during the making of this movie in their scenes with the tiger.

With his limber physique and mop of blonde hair, Vincent makes for a handsome lead even if most of the time he only requires to speak in sub-Tarzan style mono-syllables in between all of his running and jumping exploits. His only stops along the way are for a little romance with his pretty female tutor and contending with his geeky rival for her affections, the latter of whom is aided in his nefarious plan to scupper Nanu's shot at glory by flying in the boy's African witchdoctor to dispense some voodoo magic against him.

Of course it all ends happily in an entertaining conclusion where Nanu wins every event, literally on the run, even finding time to sportingly help up a fellow competitor who's fallen during their race. Unsurprisingly, he wins the girl too! Some today might carp at the depiction of third world stereotypes plus I found the slapstick antics centring on Conway a bit wearing after a time, but with reasonable special effects and some nice touches of humour, especially at the witch-doctor's introduction to the college hierarchy, this was a pleasantly amusing if slightly dated film I was pleased to re-watch after so long.

R.I.P. Mr Vincent.

This is one of the funniest film's of Disney's live action library. Taking another spin on the tale of Tarzan, The World's Greatest Athlete is the story of how college coach Sam Archer, tired of losing, tries to get away from it all by taking a trip to Africa. While there, he encounters Nanu, a superhuman by any standards measured!!! Seeing a gold mine and wins with Nanu as his athlete on campus, Coach Archer lures him to their university, where Nanu indeed excels in sports, but also feels homesick. Good jokes and tasteful humor make this a must-see. Jon Amos and Tim Conway are great as the bumbling coaches, and Jan-Michael Vincent shows that he could act wonderfully within a comedic setting. Also, this is one of the movies that displays Vincent's prowess, and makes people wonder what could have been. While younger viewers may not know of Vincent, or wonder why anyone cares about a "second rate actor", there was a time when many movie fans felt that Vincent could have been a major box office draw. While Nanu ultimately proves that he is a champion, Vincent will always make people ponder if he could have been a real Hollywood contender.

If you are a fan of Jan Michael Vincent and would like to see him with very little threads on, this is the film for you! Yes, there's also a cute plot about a black football/baseball/basketball coach (John Amos) who travels to Africa on safari with his hopelessly stupid assistant (Tim Conway). While in Africa, they discover Nanu (Jan Michael Vincent)a young white African boy who possesses amazing athletic abilities. Nanu travels to the USA with the coach to excel in sports. Of course his witch-doctor adoptive father disapproves, and all sorts of goofy 70's effects ensue. JMV wouldn't be remembered for his acting in this movie, but his physique certainly got attention! He's slim and muscular, with long blond hair, and he looks perfect in the skimpy Tarzan outfits. But really, the star of this film is the TIGER! You never see this in movies today - a real, live, full-size tiger wrestling with the leading actor! With his teeth around JMV's neck, no less!! Can you imagine? One false move, and CRUNCH! Dead actor! Wow. I was amazed. JMV cuddles and rolls around with this Tiger throughout the movie. It's awesome. Move on over Russell Crowe - Jan Michael Vincent takes on real tigers, not CGI ones!!!