Un singulier directeur

A monkey who fills network slots?

Just another executive meeting at the networks, you might think, but this is the beauty of the plot that is "The Barefoot Executive", a movie made when Disney was in its live action glory.

A still-young Russell is a mail boy at one of the big networks who has ideas but the stuffy boss (Flynn) will have none of it. Then, Russell agress to babysit his girfriends' neighbor's pet chimp (probably a '70s thing) who turns out to be a whiz at picking out all the popular shows. One thing leads to another until Russell, playing all the chimp's hunches, finds himself on top of the TV programming world.

It's not Prokofiev but for pure fun this movie is a keeper. How can you dislike a movie that not only has Russell and a cute chimp but also the comedic timing of both Joe Flynn and Wally Cox? Their moments together are pure hilarity. Even "MASH"'s Col. Potter (aka - Harry Morgan) has plenty of good scenes as a blustering head honcho.

For kids and grown-ups who grew up on these movies, there can be no substitutes. "The Barefoot Executive" is monkeying around at its best.

Nine stars. And we'll get through this if we ALL KEEP COOL HEADS!

Although not part of the Dexter Riley series (in fact made just after the first one), it carries Russell where Dexter might have gone after college. The same type of humor skims the surface of this movie but, it is the biting satire that is it's heart. Playing to the pretentious attitudes of people who cater to each other more than their clients, in this case the TV audience, they are completely stumped when an outsider successfully predicts the new favorite shows. But Russell holds a secret that would completely demoralize everyone in charge. Never mind a young mail clerk seems smarter than seasoned pros, but what about a monkey!

This movie showed a maturity the Riley series never did, although the concept of a bunch of college slackers was ahead of it's time, and stood out from the rest of the Disney fare at that time. Well worth viewing as it shows Russell at the beginning of his adult career. His comedic timing and relaxed, natural acting talent are quite evident here.

I'm not usually turned on by animal comedies, and I read the synopsis for this one and decided to give it a miss. Then I was flicking channels and came across a late film on the Disney channel, started watching it, became engrossed and thought it was nice, just funny enough without going overboard for laughs. Kurt Russell is certainly a long way from "action hero" status; the story works well enough, and it's classic Disney fodder that parents can enjoy with their kids. Rating: 6/10.

Nice, safe family comedy featuring a television network, a cute/funny chimp, and a young Kurt Russell in the prime of his Disney phase.

Kurt is a low-level employee with a big television network with high-level ideas. By shear chance, he discovers that his neighbor's pet chimp is able to correctly predict the big ratings winners for each week's programs, and surreptitiously uses the animal to move up within the organization.

The chimp demonstrating his disdain for poor programming (clearly enunciated raspberries, followed by screams of displeasure, and culminating in his throwing some destructive object at the screen) sent me into fits of laughter.

But it also gave me (as a seven year old) an inkling into how the television industry works, and thereby planted the seeds of a life-long interest in the boob tube. And to this day, I am still wondering what the subject matter of "Devil Dan" is, and why it was so much more of a winner program than "The Happy Harringtons"...

Get the kids away from "Nickelodeon" for a couple of hours with this campy treat...

One of the funniest comedies I've seen yet. What made this so was the interplay between Wally Cox and Joe Flynn [one of my favorite comics]. The bit on the building ledge was too much and had me rolling. The bellowing company prez was well played by Harry Morgan, a man I well remember from the early 60's sitcom "Pete & Gladys" where he played the put upon hubby, Pete Porter. John Ritter performed the snobbish, suck-up nephew to the hilt who, of course, gets his just payment in the end. 4 stars.