The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes

This was the first movie I saw with Kurt Russell, and have been a fan of him ever since. His acting in this film, as well other Disney films he was in, shows young Kurt firmly grasping what it takes to be a good actor, and he continues to do so to this day.

I saw this again recently, and its such a relief from some of the crap that Disney puts out now. Its a good example of good, clean family fun without the added bathroom jokes, etc., and for that reason I can see this might not appeal to kids today. But still, its a good, light-hearted comedy that'll still get a few laughs even today. Joseph McEveety provides a good story, and director Robert Butler executes it nicely. Joe Flynn and Cesar Romeo delivered some great performances, as did all the supporting cast.

Squeaky-clean cut collegiate Kurt Russell (as Dexter Reilly) downloads data from his campus computer, and becomes a "cause celebre" by demonstrating his improved mental gymnastics. "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" continues the Disney studio's successful run of comedies featuring good-looking youngsters, great character actors, and a plot providing its star with a super-human strength. The first follow-up film had Mr. Russell discovering how to become invisible. Since it's a Disney film, the characters aren't too quick with the obvious (like the invisible hanging out in the girls' locker room), but everything is certainly likable.

The film is chock full of familiar favorites, like veteran Cesar Romero (as A.J. Arno), Joe Flynn (from "McHale's Navy"), and William Schallert (from "The Patty Duke Show"). Getting to play in roommate Russell's top bunk is handsome blond Frank Webb (as Pete Oaks), who also joined Russell and Medfield College co-star Jon Provost (as Bradley) in the pages of "16" and "Tiger Beat". The teen magazines duly noted the presence of three of their own in one film. Mr. Provost had background fame as the second kid to own TV's "Lassie" and Mr. Webb ended his career tragically. Both feature prominently in the film's relatively fun conclusion.

****** The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (12/31/69) Robert Butler ~ Kurt Russell, Frank Webb, Cesar Romero, Jon Provost

When this film came out the clip that was always shown on TV was Cesar Romero and his henchmen chasing the kids in a beach buggy and they spray red paint on him as he points a gun at them so that it goes over the windshield as well as Mr Romero and his henchman loses control and crashes into a haystack. A cow moos at Mr Romero after the crash and he says "Ah, shaddap". I wonder how many bottles of paint remover he used in cleaning himself up.

When compared with modern movies, yes, it *does* fall short. However, it must be viewed with the genre and era it was made in. It's simply another of those "60's feel good movies" types. In a time when the country was in a turmoil and college campuses were a hotbed of controversy, this movie (and it's 2 sequels) chose to portray the college scene somewhat rosier than reality. So what? Disney did that a lot with his movies.Disney movie versions of many classic stories always were white-washed,sanitized versions of themselves. Remember the Jungle Book? It was a far cry from the original Kipling tale. This came out at, or near the time of the "Kent State" mess. Dates about it vary from placing it in 1969 or 1970. Whenever it actually played, it came at the end of a very turbulent time in America's history. I feel that audiences were looking forward to seeing a nice, quiet view of college life, however naive.

I remember seeing this as a kid in the theatre, and saw it again for the first time in many years on cable recently. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it after all this time. Russell's performance is quite believable, despite the fantastic story line. Really good entertainment, and blows away much of the modern Disney entertainment provided these days, which is pretty nauseating.