O Maior Atleta do Mundo

After a few decades of knowing about this '70s Disney comedy, I finally took my borrowed DVD and watched The World's Greatest Athlete. In this one, Coach John Amos and his assistant Tim Conway have been on the losing end of various sports endeavors for so long that dean Billy De Wolfe (in a too-brief role)-who's accompanied by his son Danny Goldman-remind them of just one more year on their contract. Amos tears it up and goes to Africa with Conway to get away from it all. There they find Jan-Michael Vincent who outruns a tiger. The only way they can get him, though, is if he saves one of them...I'll stop there and just say that this is one of those silly family comedies that was the House of Mickey's bread-and-butter during the decade that the other major studios were making big box office and winning Oscars with more mature fare. With the Tarzan-inspired story and many well-established special effects, there are quite a few chuckles here-and even a big laugh concerning a wheelchair-bound old man who can "suddenly" walk-that I admit to doing while watching. And it's fun seeing Conway either putting his head where it sometimes doesn't belong or getting moved by a voodoo doll once owned by a witch doctor played by Roscoe Lee Browne. But the stuff involving Nancy Walker as a near-sighted landlady and Goldman as the dean's interloping son I could do without. And stunning Dayle Haddon as Vincent's girlfriend (called Jane, of course) is just window dressing. Still, this is harmless fare that should provide enough enjoyable distraction for 90 minutes especially as you watch such real-life announcers like Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell join in on the fun. P.S. I just found out, via the IMDb site, that Mr. Goldman was the voice of Brainy Smurf on the "Smurfs" TV cartoon show.

If you are a fan of Jan Michael Vincent and would like to see him with very little threads on, this is the film for you! Yes, there's also a cute plot about a black football/baseball/basketball coach (John Amos) who travels to Africa on safari with his hopelessly stupid assistant (Tim Conway). While in Africa, they discover Nanu (Jan Michael Vincent)a young white African boy who possesses amazing athletic abilities. Nanu travels to the USA with the coach to excel in sports. Of course his witch-doctor adoptive father disapproves, and all sorts of goofy 70's effects ensue. JMV wouldn't be remembered for his acting in this movie, but his physique certainly got attention! He's slim and muscular, with long blond hair, and he looks perfect in the skimpy Tarzan outfits. But really, the star of this film is the TIGER! You never see this in movies today - a real, live, full-size tiger wrestling with the leading actor! With his teeth around JMV's neck, no less!! Can you imagine? One false move, and CRUNCH! Dead actor! Wow. I was amazed. JMV cuddles and rolls around with this Tiger throughout the movie. It's awesome. Move on over Russell Crowe - Jan Michael Vincent takes on real tigers, not CGI ones!!!

Silly? You bet - and don't we love silly. A fish out of water? Most certainly - and aren't we all, at one time or another, a fish out of water. Loads of fun? Most definitely. The story line comes from the fertile imagination of someone impacted by Tarzan, but Tarzan was never this much fun. From Africa to America, covering a whole bunch of different types of people, including a tiger and a near-sighted landlady, The World's Greatest Athlete provides humor and a wonderful chance to relax. It gives you a happy chance to laugh at yourself and everyone else. The whole family will enjoy it. Our family found it a favorite when it first came out - and now that I am retired I still enjoy having a laugh at it now and then.

Bang average.

'The World's Greatest Athlete' feels like a mixture of stuff we've seen before in this era of Disney. It doesn't do enough to make an impact on me, not helped by silliness of the story and meh casting.

John Amos is the best part of this, I enjoyed what he brings to the table here. Away from him I'm struggling to remember any others already, Roscoe Lee Browne - who is in one of my favourite films, 'Treasure Planet' - is alright but I found his character boring.

I think there's actually potential there with the overall premise, but as usual with this studio's early decades they choose to make it dumb and silly rather than meaningful - it would take a load of tweaking, but I reckon this would make a better coming-of-age/underdog story with a more proper tone. That would make it a completely different film, admittedly.

Lastly, the score is surprisingly solid while the end scene is its most amusing moment. Those two things and Amos aside, this is a bland one.

Having noted the recent death of Jan Michael Vincent and never having seen a single episode of his most famous vehicle, the hit TV show "Airwolf", I remembered watching as a boy this Disney movie in which he starred and I which believe got him his start in pictures.

The studio I seem to recall was putting out a lot of real-action family entertainment features at this time of which this is one and watching it again, obviously myself now much older, I still enjoyed the gentle, innocent fun put on the screen. Vincent plays Nanu the running, jumping jungle boy who is tricked by an on-holiday failed U.S. sports coach played by the very Cosby-esque John Amos and his hapless sidekick Milo played by Tim Conway, into coming to America to represent Merrivale college at the national track and field event where he is entered in every possible discipline as their sole participant. Along for the ride too is his pet tiger Harry, which certainly earns its stripes with an excellent supporting actor performance. I understand thankfully that no humans were injured during the making of this movie in their scenes with the tiger.

With his limber physique and mop of blonde hair, Vincent makes for a handsome lead even if most of the time he only requires to speak in sub-Tarzan style mono-syllables in between all of his running and jumping exploits. His only stops along the way are for a little romance with his pretty female tutor and contending with his geeky rival for her affections, the latter of whom is aided in his nefarious plan to scupper Nanu's shot at glory by flying in the boy's African witchdoctor to dispense some voodoo magic against him.

Of course it all ends happily in an entertaining conclusion where Nanu wins every event, literally on the run, even finding time to sportingly help up a fellow competitor who's fallen during their race. Unsurprisingly, he wins the girl too! Some today might carp at the depiction of third world stereotypes plus I found the slapstick antics centring on Conway a bit wearing after a time, but with reasonable special effects and some nice touches of humour, especially at the witch-doctor's introduction to the college hierarchy, this was a pleasantly amusing if slightly dated film I was pleased to re-watch after so long.

R.I.P. Mr Vincent.