Sonetimes silly, often juvenile, this comedy caper from the writer and director of the "Benji" movies is a film that has to be seen to be believed. While Academy Award winners Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy (along with Elke Sommer) our top build, the actual stars are all a bunch of youngsters who made their sole film appearance in this film. With the exception of Vincent Spano, the careers of Dion Pride (the talented son of Charlie), Jeff Nicholson and Michael Gerard all went in different directions. Pride is an absolute charmer as the leader of this group who somehow comes across evidence that there is a murder plot afoot, and all evidence points to Borgnine. Local police officer Kennedy thinks that these kids are just a bunch of pranksters, although he will a dime for every now and then. Lisa Whelchel is as far from her snooty character of Blair Warner on "The Facts of Life" as she could be, and together, they work to prevent this murder from happening.
Young Nicholson seems half the age of the other boys, yet there he is with a football helmet and Jersey on getting ready to play a school game with them. It's not even indicated that is a mascot, and there he is ready to go out on the field and get crushed by these guys his size. These private school kids are don't forget intelligent enough to garner the evidence that they need to make a case, although the contents of Borgnine's briefcase does have a funny revelation. Imagine that in 1979 that these kids were able to come up with a case without the benefit of access to the internet. There are some very funny visuals, and the film does move at a nice pace, but at times it appears to be stretching. Still not bad for the kind of films that it is, and George Kennedy is very funny as he does the Edgar Kennedy slow burn every time he has to deal with the kids.
Young Nicholson seems half the age of the other boys, yet there he is with a football helmet and Jersey on getting ready to play a school game with them. It's not even indicated that is a mascot, and there he is ready to go out on the field and get crushed by these guys his size. These private school kids are don't forget intelligent enough to garner the evidence that they need to make a case, although the contents of Borgnine's briefcase does have a funny revelation. Imagine that in 1979 that these kids were able to come up with a case without the benefit of access to the internet. There are some very funny visuals, and the film does move at a nice pace, but at times it appears to be stretching. Still not bad for the kind of films that it is, and George Kennedy is very funny as he does the Edgar Kennedy slow burn every time he has to deal with the kids.