A Pata de um Milhão de Dólares

An absolutely excellent movie.

I cannot, for anything, understand any criticism of this fine film, such as Mr. Siskel, walking out on it, as he did this for only three movies, out of all the thousands he watched for reviewing.

Any movie, I say, any movie, with Joe Flynn, is great, and you add in Edward Arnold, and the solid Disney characters similar to those of the Dexter Riley era, and you have a smash hit.

The plot, what is wrong with that? The last I knew, Disney was known for fantasy, and family tales, with a happy ending.

Dean Jones, as usual, is superb, Sandy Duncan, great, as his loving and supportive, sweet wife. And Tony Roberts, great- punchy, yet a friend to the professor (Jones).

Concerning the portrayal of sweet, middle-class American family life, what is wrong with that? Nothing. Just because it does not look like life of today, is no reason to knock it, plus it provides deep joy for those who grew up in that era (1971), especially those who did so, in the Southland, where this gem was filmed.

Happy ending, with good lessons learned, a fine film.

That eternal Disney lead, Dean Jones, plays a harried scientist named Albert Dooley who's constantly sweating out bills. Then fortune arrives in an odd way. He's brought home a research animal named "Charlie", a white duck to whom Alberts' son Jimmy (Lee Montgomery) becomes attached. But Charlie was exposed to radiation after wandering into a laboratory, and now is capable of laying golden eggs. So naturally Albert and his lawyer buddy Fred (Tony Roberts) get dollar signs in their eyes. But their actions catch the attention of federal agents, led by James Gregory as Rutledge, who want to know how these private citizens are coming into possession of this gold.

"The Million Dollar Duck" is standard live-action Disney fare from this period. It's not a classic of its kind, rarely producing any true belly laughs, but it's amiable enough and amusing enough to keep it watchable for 93 minutes. Like many a Disney comedy, it builds up to a frantic chase sequence that does get over the top in a reasonably funny way. The movie does deserve some credit, though, for revolving around not a dog or cat but a different species. And the duck herself is endearing, and the human cast goes through their paces with efficiency. Joe Flynn is an irritable treasury agent and next-door neighbour, Sandy Duncan the somewhat air-headed, miniskirt-wearing wife / mother, Jack Kruschen is Alberts' boss at his lab, and Virginia Vincent plays Flynn's wife. Per Disney's style, familiar character actors in small parts do perk things up a little: Arthur Hunnicutt, Frank Wilcox, Bing Russell, Frank Cady, Hal Smith, Edward Andrews, Bernard Fox, Arthur Franz, Bruno VeSota, etc.

While never really inspired, there's enough good-natured mayhem here to make this palatable viewing for the intended family audience.

Six out of 10.

I sat down in 2021 to watch the 1971 Disney movie "The Million Dollar Duck". This is my second time to watch it actually. I remember watching it back in my childhood, probably in the early 1980s, but I could only vaguely recall the movie. So as I had the opportunity to sit down in 2021 to watch it, of course I did so.

This movie is still very entertaining and watchable, even now 50 years after the movie was initially released. So writers Ted Key and Roswell Rogers definitely did a good job with the script here, and that is quite the accomplishment which makes for a truly timeless classic movie.

"The Million Dollar Duck" is a twist on the classic tale of fowl being able to produce a golden egg. So it is a familiar storyline, but with added contents. And I will say that the Disney fingerprint definitely is showing on this 1971 movie. There was just something profoundly enjoyable about the movies Disney made back in the day.

The cast in "The Million Dollar Duck" definitely was good, and of course having Dean Jones in the lead role certainly made for a good movie, as he had a great track record with his older Disney movies. So if you enjoyed him in other of Disney's movies, you will also enjoy him in "The Million Dollar Duck".

This was definitely a movie well worth taking the time to sit down and watch again, and it is a movie that has something to offer to the entire family.

My rating of "The Million Dollar Duck" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Hard pressed scientist Albert Dooley has little money to spend as his work with animals isn't proving as profitable as he hoped it would be. However one day his worthless duck is exposed to high levels of radiation. Taking the duck home with him he finds that it can be stimulated to lay eggs – eggs made of solid gold. The more eggs it lays the more Albert becomes consumed with it and also the more attention the sudden increase in gold deposits in the local reserves draws from the Treasury Department.

This film is a good example of the films Disney made around this time, in the same way as animation with songs and smart-ass sidekicks are of the 90's. This is typical of the period but not the best example of when it works well. The plot is goofy and sets the tone for the sense of humour but it isn't used very well. Instead of laughs it really only produces energy and `wackiness'. There are a few laughs but not many. Most of the action has dated badly – with clichéd hippies, All-American happy families and forced physical routines.

Jones is OK, accustom as he is to roles such as this. He carries it well but the subject has less charm than some of his better films (Herbie for one). Of the rest of the cast only Tony Roberts really sticks in the mind as he has almost all of the good lines. The duck is cool though!

Overall this is a passable family film but it will not be `great' for any member of the family. There are better Disney films out there from this period – this one just lacked a certain spark to make it work better.

I'm sure not too many of the kids or even the parents that took their kids to see The Million Dollar Duck back in 1971 would realize that the British film Mister Drake's Duck was the inspiration for this Disney film. Nevertheless the British film of 1951 and the Disney film of 1971 are remarkably similar. Only the British had Mister Drake's Duck lay uranium eggs whereas this Disney duck lays gold ones after a bit radiation exposure and a concoction that Sandy Duncan makes and gets fed to the duck.

The British film was not one of their better comedies, but Mister Drake's Duck had some good moments and nice satire on the government of Great Britain in those post war Labour Days. This one just has a lot of good players looking very silly.

Two of them are stars Dean Jones and Sandy Duncan as a research scientist and his wife who are barely scraping by financially. The duck in question is part of a research project conducted by head scientist Jack Kruschen. When the duck flunks the intelligence test Kruschen gives him to Jones and his young son Lee Harcourt Montgomery becomes attached to it also.

Of course when it starts laying those golden yolks inside the egg at that point Jones and car pooling neighbor Tony Roberts think they've hit the leprechaun's pot. But then in 1971 America as now ownership of gold is most restrictive. Not to mention that ducks that can just squat and those orbs can ruin the monetary structure of the world. That sends neighbor Joe Flynn into action who works for the Treasury Department and Flynn's supervisor James Gregory.

The Million Dollar Duck has far more silliness than genuine humor in it. Far from gold, it's not even good sounding brass.