Bill Walsh was an unsung hero of Disney - maybe he's sung, I don't know. But his name was on the studios biggest hits of the 50s and 60s, whether Mary Poppins, Davy Crockett, The Mickey Mouse Club or this.
It's a surprisingly shark poke at early 60s US - colleges where rich donors expect people to automatically pass their dumb sons, and where the military is behind the eight ball. I was really (delightedly) surprised to see the pot shots taken at the military - they're depicted as blundering fools, pompous idiots and what not. Surely, this was par for the course at the time, it's just weird to see it in a Disney film.
Fred MacMurray is very well cast in the title role. Nancy Olson does what she can in a thankless part. Keenan Wynn is enormous fun as the villain who bets against his own son's team - Tommy Kirk is good value too as the son. Elliott Reid, so miscast in Gentleman Prefer Blondes, is perfect as the slime ball after Olsen. It's odd to see this in black and white when it feels like such a colour movie.
There's plenty of wish fulfilment - a flying car, using special powers to win a baskeball game. I think this was central to Walsh's success.
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