The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island

Yes this television movie did not give a rating because the good reason why I did not enjoy is because ever since I started Gilligan's Island the first season and mostly two and three seasons of it and cancel it immediately is because opportunities like this tv movie about a popular basketball team and a island that cannot never go home is just a disappointment because as an adult especially the new generation it's very much made for kids (TV-G) all audiences which to me is boring and puts me to sleep but this television movie puts me to sleep and yes it happens constantly 100% of the minute. What a waste.

The Harlem Globtrotters crash land on Gilligan's Island. Compared to this, the original series seems almost intelligent.

That said this is truly one of the worst things you could imagine seeing.

This thing should be shown in prison to violent offenders serving life sentences. When they get finished watching this they will ask for the death penalty instead.

If you have anything else to do, and I mean anything, do it besides watching this.

Wow. If you were to teach a class on bad movies, this is the one to show.

I am probably one of the few Gilligan fans who can say that they like this picture, but there are several things wrong with it. Ginger has regressed backward in age so that she looks like her own daughter. Lovely Constance Forslund, an actress who once played Marilyn Monroe, is obviously too young to play the role when she would be better off doing it in a remake. The Howells who once said they never had a son suddenly have one, so either they had lied way back then, or they adopted the oldest kid in the orphanage to avoid parental duties." Oh no, we meant we didn't have a son ON THE ISLAND." This was supposed to set off a new series with the castaways running a resort on their old island, such a series would have allowed them to close all the old plot points of the series and bring back their old guest stars, but instead there is a culture shock as the castaways meet the Harlem Globetrotters. An illogical bet is made just for the team to play and show off their magic on a ridiculous looking court that has to be seen to be believed. Husband and wife team Martin Landau and Barbera Bain play financial rivals of the Howells in order to bilk them out of a valuable new element on the island. The plot as well as the jokes are straight out of the series, as are the Skipper's and Gilligan's wardrobe. Couldn't they have got more new clothes by now ? Still, this movie to end all movies does follow the spirit as well as the craziness of the series. I can only assume the next movie will be called: "Return to Gilligan's Island: Balingkoff's Revenge."

I've had a strange fascination with this movie since it came out in '81. It's not great cinema, not a great TV movie, not very good by the TV-series' standards. But...

*It is the "last roundup" for the original cast. Jim Backus, Alan Hale and Natalie Schaefer have passed on in the years since, and there seems no clamoring to reunite the surviving members with a new Skipper and Mr/Mrs. Howell. As an admirer of the spirited, surreal comedy of the original series, I found this movie to be a not-too-bad farewell.

*I'm a big hoops fan, and this is one of the rare opportunities to see the Globetrotters on film. (The Globetrotters' cartoons and old film clips are shown occasionally, and ABC televises a Globetrotter game once a year, but that's about it.) They are master ballhandlers and showmen, and they demonstrate that here. (Also, we get to hear "coach" Scatman Crothers sing "Sweet Georgia Brown," which ain't bad.)

*This may be the final joint film appearance of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain before they divorced. In any case, it's fascinating to watch Mr. Landau mug and overact, in the days before he became a "serious," bankable character actor in films.

*Because Jim Backus was ill during the filming, the "Mr. Howell" role is filled mostly by the Howell's son, "Thurston Howell IV" -- played by David Ruprecht, who now hosts "Supermarket Sweep." I don't believe the Howells ever mentioned having a son in all the prior episodes/movies, but there he is, all of a sudden. (Backus does make a cameo at the end, thank goodness.)

*Longtime Laker announcer Chick Hearn's in the film, as the announcer for the "big game" between the Globetrotters and the Robots. He talks and talks and talks...and after a while, his yakking gets somewhat distracting. (The very final scene, the producers cut off Chick's mike while he was still talking!)

The humor's cornball and slight, and the site of the aging Bob Denver as the supposedly child-like Gilligan is laughable. But Ruprecht acquits himself pretty well, as do Russell Johnson and Alan Hale. (Dawn Wells doesn't have much to do, Natalie and Jim are too old -- and minus Tina Louise, the character of Ginger is lifeless.)

It's not as good as "Rescue From Gilligan's Island," but better than "Castaways On Gilligan's Island." For fans of the show (and the Globetrotters), it's worth a watch.

This movie was one of the few that are better than the book. I have been a big fan of Gilligan ever since he blew their chances of getting off of the island. Nice to see Thruston Howell the 4th as well as the Globetrotters.