El profesor y el león

I love Tony Randall movies and so after I finished watching another one of his delightful films (THE BRASS BOTTLE), I decided to give FLUFFY a try. After all, I liked him in so many films and this one looked pretty cute...so I was bound to like it, right. No...no...no! In fact, I disliked it so much I couldn't even finish it.

The story is about a very eccentric man, Professor Potter (Randall)...too eccentric to be believable in any way. The story begins with security guards at the university breaking into Potter's lab and trying to confiscate his lion, named 'Fluffy'. They don't realize that Fluffy is very tame and sweet and they don't give Potter any time to explain. So, Potter is forced to use their dart guns on them and make his escape with Fluffy. He then checks in with his pet to a rooming house--all the while they don't realize the pet is a lion. And again and again, folks ALMOST see Fluffy when it escapes and walks about doing nothing in particular. And, Potter seems a bit oblivious to the fact that a lion running about town might cause a few problems.

The problem with the film is that they didn't make Potter so much eccentric as a complete idiot. Again and again, he could explain things simply but doesn't and every problem that arises seems completely contrived. Rises, at its best, to the level of a sub-par 1960s Disney film but never better. Tons of broad humor, overreactions and stupid special effects (such as phone in champagne basket and short- circuiting switchboard). Just dumb.

Tony Randall plays a professor of comparative psychology who is chased out of his animal lab by the cops, who are responding to complaints by the neighbors that he's harboring a wild beast. It's only Fluffy, a tame and very sleepy lion, who checks in with Randall at an apartment-hotel under the nose of manager Edward Andrews (Randall orders 35 hamburgers and a vat of Pablum from room service, sending the Asian staff into a tizzy). A brunette Shirley Jones plays the begrudging love-interest, who initially believes police reports that Randall is psychotic (he's so incredibly guileless about how other people feel about an uncaged lion walking around that the cops may have a point). Gitchy-goo comedy for family audiences; utterly underwhelming and unrewarding. Jim Backus is wasted as a desk sergeant; Adam Roarke (later of the juvenile delinquent wheelers of the late-'60s) has a clean-cut role here as a newlywed. *1/2 from ****

One of my most fondest memories growing up. My dad and I would watch it every time it came on the television and it is one of my favorites and always has been. It is clean, funny, and just a great cast and the lion is priceless. It would be wonderful if it would be released on DVD. I have been looking for this movie on the internet for years now and have come to realize I am not going to find it. If anyone has not seen it well, it is a must see movie. It is fun and heart filled and something you can watch with the whole family. They just don't make movies like they used to. I am hoping one day to have the experience of watching it with my daughter as well. Never has a movie held so much meaning to me and even more so since I lost my day and I would love to be able to watch it once again with my mom and daughter. It is a great movie, must see, two thumbs way up.

To many fans, Tony Randall will only and always be Felix Unger, but in this movie he plays Professor Daniel Potter who much to the concern of everyone around him does experiments with his pet lion, Fluffy. Filled with many of those recognizable faces from the Seventies, such as Edward Andrews, Howard Morris, Jim Backus and Dick Sargent, the movie's most enduring star is the lion who upon sight of him sends many a person irrationally running for their lives. Randall is a hoot as he stands by the lion indifferent to the events and saying, "He's harmless I tell you. Harmless." Shirley Jones is on hand as Randall's lady love unsure of his feelings as she races by his side as Fluffy runs loose and unattended in a hotel freaking out everyone who sees him. "He's harmless. Wouldn't harm a fly !" insists Randall. There is a nonsensical and silly aspect to this movie, but it's charming aspect comes from Fluffy's innocent to the hysteria he unknowingly causes and the confusion that Randall knows he's creating. You have to see it for the man who rides the lion's back.

This is one of my all time favourite movies. I wish it was out on DVD. Years ago it was on TV and I taped it so every now and then I get it out and watch it. It may not be as clear as a DVD would be but I still love to watch it. Tony Randall and Shirley Jones are great in this movie. I would love to see it out on DVD and wouldn't hesitate to buy it regardless of cost. It's a great family movie and comedy. A lot of the movies made today are just plain garbage but not this one. I love the movies of this era as they are just good clean fun without the violence and gore that is so common today. Please, whoever made the movie Fluffy, please release it on DVD ASAP for all us fans out here who would love to own it for ourselves.