I noticed that several reviews for "The Apple Dumpling Gang" said it's a good family film. Well, I don't exactly agree. While kids will likely enjoy it, parents will likely struggle because the humor is designed to appeal only to kids. A few examples are the annoying orphans...one whose 'funny' routine is that she needs to pee all the time and the other is a kid who loves kicking people in the shins. Uggh...unfunny and annoying. Not much better are the shennanigans of Tim Conway and Don Knotts...comic relief whose comedy is pretty limp but, again, will likely appeal to kids. My advice is for adults to just turn the film viewing experience as a drinking game and take a shot every time the little girl says she needs to use the bathroom....you'll soon be too loaded to care about the film.
Bill Bixby plays a professional gambler in the old west. Soon after the story begins, he's given custody of three orphans...and he has no interest in being a daddy. He tries repeatedly to give them away but without success. Later, the brats find a huge gold nugget in their dead father's mine...and suddenly townsfolks are willing to take the kids. Fortunately, the gambler isn't willing to dump the kids on these greedy folks but sets his eyes on leaving them with a tom-boy like lady (Susan Clark). But what about the local idiots who want to steal the nugget (Conway and Knotts)?
In many ways, this movie plays like two different movies combined....with the gambler and the kids being one story and the two idiot crooks being a separate story that occasionally intersects.
My feeling is that for kids, I'd give this one a 7. They'll enjoy it but won't love it. For adults adn teens, I'd give this one a 3, as it's often painful viewing. Painful and unfunny. Overall, I'd give this one a 4...and it helps illustrate the sorts of dreck Disney was releasing through the 1970s.
Bill Bixby plays a professional gambler in the old west. Soon after the story begins, he's given custody of three orphans...and he has no interest in being a daddy. He tries repeatedly to give them away but without success. Later, the brats find a huge gold nugget in their dead father's mine...and suddenly townsfolks are willing to take the kids. Fortunately, the gambler isn't willing to dump the kids on these greedy folks but sets his eyes on leaving them with a tom-boy like lady (Susan Clark). But what about the local idiots who want to steal the nugget (Conway and Knotts)?
In many ways, this movie plays like two different movies combined....with the gambler and the kids being one story and the two idiot crooks being a separate story that occasionally intersects.
My feeling is that for kids, I'd give this one a 7. They'll enjoy it but won't love it. For adults adn teens, I'd give this one a 3, as it's often painful viewing. Painful and unfunny. Overall, I'd give this one a 4...and it helps illustrate the sorts of dreck Disney was releasing through the 1970s.