User Reviews

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.

in my mind this sequel is better than the first movie.i thought it was funnier,and much better paced.it's shorter,but there's more packed into it.the story is better.Tom Conway and Don Knotts reprise their roles from the first one.unfortunately Bill Bixby does not return.on the plus side,there is more comic mayhem in this one and more action in general.once again,the movie is family friendly.again,if you have nothing else to do on a lazy Sunday,you could do worse than this movie.like the first one,it's no masterpiece,and it's not supposed to be one.it is however an improvement.for me,The Apple Dumpling Gang is a 6/10

Good again.

Like the first film, 'The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again' manages to suitably entertain. I still don't think Theodore (Don Knotts) and Amos (Tim Conway) are majorly funny, but it is enjoyable to see their shenanigans - especially amid well-known crooks.

Those two are about the same as they are in the 1975 original, but the side story in this isn't interesting at all - the love stuff with Jeff (Tim Matheson) and Milly (Elyssa Davalos) is very forced. Harry Morgan, playing a different character than in the other, isn't as good this time. All the villains, though not amazing, are all very solid in what they give.

'The Apple Dumpling Gang' is the better of the two, but both are just about entertaining to watch thanks to Knotts and Conway.

First of all, congratulations are in order for Tim Conway for hilarity,and the unforgettable Kenneth Mars' outrageous funny Marshall Wooly Bill Hitchcock character whose performance left me in stitches from laughter! I laughed long after seeing the film when I remembered how did Marshal Wooly Bill Hitchcock go after the Apple Dumpling Gang. In my opinion this sequel to the first Apple Dumpling Gang was a great improvement from its original version in both comedic content and character development, and its story line. I highly recommend this sequel for clean family fun and entertainment. Steve Horvath, Chicago, IL

It's not even remotely reminiscent of the first movie, I mean, it's only reminiscent of the two misguided protagonists, but the absence of children embezzles the Apple Pie Gang, and without the protagonist couple, even the romance is damaged, no cuteness, no romance, almost annoying...

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!

Occasionally, the decision to attempt to watching everything on Disney Plus throws up some unexpected gem. A glint of diamond, lost in a sea of content. "The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides again" is not such an occasion. It's an interminable dull sequel, taking the worst aspect of the previous film and running them into this unlikable sequel.

Having decided that the cosy life isn't for them, Amos (Tim Conway) and Theodore (Don Knotts) strike out on their own again. With just a donkey to their name, they accidentally blunder into a bank heist and inadvertently incapacitate the towns legendary lawman, Wolly Bill Hitchcock (Kenneth Mars). From they're the land a nearby military outpost and are press ganged into service.

Unlike the first film, which wisely uses the pair as occasional comic relief, there the tiresome duo are the main thrust of the story, blundering from one situation to another, burning the Fort down, accidentally joining a gang, dressing as women to escape. I can't speak to how it went down in 1979, but today it's . . . let's go with "lack of sophistication" makes it a tiresome endeavour. There is a B-Story though. With a very young Tim Mathieson who is a private on the base getting involved with raids on the Fort's supply runs and also wooing Mille Gaskill, played by Elyssa Davalos, a fairly prolific actress in the late 70's and early 80's and mother of "Man in the High Castle" star Alexa Davalos.

It's not lost on me that Conway and Knotts are both legendary comedic performers and it's their popularity that is the reason the film exists at all, but between them they honestly couldn't raise a smile in a film that felt like it would never end.

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..

I like Don Knotts in what he does as an actor. This movie is just some good clean fun wrapped up in hilarity! Tim Conway is also good at his role in the movie. I like this movie because it is something that everybody can watch and enjoy!

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

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.

Don't watch this if you are sad. There's a strange dynamic in humor, having to do with happy endings. Happy isn't happy.

The standard model is two dummies who do everything wrong. As the story progresses, more and more damage is done, and the plight of the comics gets worse and worse. For some reason, their disaster makes us feel lighter. Its such a strong model that when we deviate from it, we notice.

Then, at some point, someone — possibly Disney — changed the formula to what we have here. The guys are stupid as usual. They destroy everything as usual. They humiliate the policeman (or other authority figure) as usual. What's new is that it all adds up to them being celebrated for some unintended good.

For some reason, the effect is to make us feel worse. It was only with Peter Seller's Jacques Clouseau that the hero was so profoundly clueless (and French, extra clueless because he was french) that the adjusted formula works.

The only value in this is the performance of Ken Mars as the tortured sheriff.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.