Dondi

Undoubtedly one of the worst little films ever made. The well-known "shlock" movies have no pretensions, don't take themselves too seriously and at least give the viewer a few laughs. "Dondi" is a true BOMB with no redeeming features which, when originally released, probably went long way to undermine US/Korean relations. As Leonard Maltin suggests, "Watch this film and you will understand why David Janssen became a fugitive!"

After ruining the long-running comic strip "The Gumps," Gus Edson launched the gooey dreck known as "Dondi" to dozens of newspapers. He or his syndicate persuaded Al Zugsmith, best known for his potboilers with the pneumatic Mamie van Doren, to make this bucket of cinematic treacle.

One wishes Mamie could have appeared, but she had the good sense to stay out of this one - the closest we get is an appearance by a Jayne Mansfield hot water bottle, which displayed much more personality than Patti Page. The "singing rage" warbles several nauseous tunes that make "The Doggie in the Window" sound like "Highway to Hell." And I thought her theme to "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" was bland! And let's not forget David Kory in the title role...but I certainly want to! He yells his lines in the tone of a kid who didn't get sprinkles on his sundae. After watching this overly sentimental excuse for a film, you'll be praying to the porcelain gods! Show this to your kids and they'll ask what they did wrong!

If you want a kids' movie from this era that's actually good, and sweet without being gooey, get a Philip Leacock film like "Hand in Hand" or "The Little Kidnappers."

Incidentally, I met Irwin Hasen, artist of the Dondi comic, at a convention 12 years ago. He was such a nice guy, I hadn't the heart to tell him how much this movie sucked...though I wonder if I DID tell him, he might have agreed?

I was about about 9 years old when the movie Dondi came to the Fernrock Theater in North Philly, the neighborhood I grew up in. I had been an avid reader of the comic strip (published in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer) since it was first introduced and I suppose because of my age at the time, I related to the title character. All I remember today is that I loved it as a kid and cried like a baby at all the sappy parts.

I am sure if I were to revisit this movie today as a jaded 50-something year old guy, I too might rain harsh words about this movie which has accumulated a whopping 3.3 stars by the reviewers. But I choose to rate it based on the way it made me feel when I was nine, and too naive to know old folks in the year 2004 would consider it a piece of crap. Today our kids grow up much too fast. A movie like Dondi might be just what the doctor ordered for your kids as opposed to say - a prescription for Ritalin.

Dondi gets a 7.5 from me.

Saw this picture ages ago. Leonard Maltin hit the nail on the head when he said "Watch this film and you'll know why Janssen became a fugitive"! The comic strip was never very good and this film is ten times worse. If it had even a shred of Sci-Fi in it MST3K could swoop down on it for some laughs but it doesn't. David Janssen did fine work in his career but this is certainly the worst he was ever in.

The audio on this film was terrible and/or the producers simply just picked the wrong child actor in the seven (7) year old David Kory to play Dondi. We the audience are expected to have sympathy for the war orphan seven (7) year old Dondi as the sailors led by David Janssen are suckers for his sad face and really poor language but sadly, the little Dondi just irritated me every time he opened his mouth and mumbled something incoherent.

Dondi stows away on the ship that is taking the sailors back to the USA and what is supposed to be a comedy of errors as little Dondi wanders the streets of New York city alone I for one failed to see nay entertainment value in this farce.

I gave it a rather higher 4 out of 10 IMDB rating simply for the fact the female leads of Susan Kelly, Joan Staley and Patti Page were easy on the eyes and were the only thing that helped me get through the entire film only to see a disappointing and commonly written happy ending.