Le retour du gang des chaussons aux pommes

Tim Conway and Don Knotts proved to be so popular in the first Apple Dumpling Gang movie that the Magic Kingdom felt they had to be reteamed for The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. Leaving behind the two children they were involved with in the first film, our two outlaw wannabes find themselves enlisting in the cavalry after unwittingly helping in a bank robbery.

Conway and Knotts's fiddlefooted fumblings are happening at the same time that army supplies are being systematically robbed from Fort Concho with commandant Harry Morgan having no clue why. And Morgan's got other things on his mind as well. His daughter Elyssa Davalos is arriving to marry her fiancé, Lieutenant Robert Pine. But a most amorous private played by Tim Matheson keeps getting in the way.

It was a stroke of genius at the Magic Kingdom when someone got the idea to team Don Knotts and Tim Conway. Like Bing Crosby and Bob Hope who had very successful careers as solos, when they teamed they really clicked. I only imagine that the individual projects both men were involved in kept them from doing even more films together. Each had a really good feel for the timing of the other and the comedy styles blended well.

Disney Studios gave them a good cast in support as they always did. Ruth Buzzi has a nice turn as a blind lady who keeps trying to raise the town alarm about a bank robbery. But the absolute best was Kenneth Mars as Marshal Wooly Bill Hitchcock, a man who can't stand to lose. A feared legend of the west, he can't close the deal on Knotts and Conway, because strange fate keeps intervening. He gets driven to madness the same way Inspector Dreyfus is with Clousseau.

Best scene in the film are Conway and Knotts as they bungle their way into burning the whole fort down, a bit taken from the Gary Cooper comedy, Cassanova Brown. Second best scene is Knotts and Conway in drag as saloon entertainers, taken of course from Some Like It Hot.

Reused material or not, the stuff is very funny and more than kids will get laughs from two comic geniuses in The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again.

I thought this was one of the funnyest movies I have seen.. This almost surpasses Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run 2.. It's a must see.. Tim Conway was as funny as he has been in some of his other movies like the Dwarf.. But I thought Don Kotts took the cake.. I have watched it twice and after writing this I am going to watch it again..

This is the sequel of the first movie that was made in 1975 and that was The Apple Dumpling Gang. In 1979 The Apple Dumpling Gangs Rides Again starring Tim Conway as Amos Tucker, Don Knotts as Theodore Olevie and Tim Matheson as Private Jeff Reed. Those two bumbling outlaws Theodore and Amos are broke and down on their luck. So they decide to try to deposit a check in the local bank only to be accused of trying to rob it. While trying to escape they run into legendary Marshall Wooly Bill Hitchcock. With Hitchcock on their trail the two bumbling outlaws decide to enlist in the Army. Enters Private Jeff Reed who trying to figure out whose stealing guns from the Army surplus. After getting in all kinds of trouble Amos and Theodore end up in the stockade. Although they escape this mess, the witless team who could never shoot straight still can't seem to succeed in going straight. It's riotous, raucous fun as The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. I saw the first one and I don't think this was as good. However with Tim Conway and Don Knotts together you can't go wrong so I'm giving this picture 8 weasel stars.

I have never laughed so hard at a movie in my life. I'm very disappointed in the rating this comedy has gotten... this film was one of those rare sequels that surpasses the original. A definite must-see for all Tim Conway fans ("Where is your horn, little boy blue.")

Granted, there are some smarmy moments... but Tim and Don shine in this comedy for the whole family!

Still holds up today. Classic comedy for the entire family.