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The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is a 1969 American science fiction comedy film starring Kurt Russell, Cesar Romero, Joe Flynn and William Schallert. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Company.
It was one of several films made by Disney using the setting of Medfield College, first used in the 1961 Disney film The Absent-Minded Professor and its sequel Son of Flubber. The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is the first film of the "Dexter Riley" series.
Dexter Riley and his friends attend Medfield College, a small private college which cannot afford to buy a computer. The students persuade wealthy businessman A. J. Arno to donate a computer to the college. Arno is secretly the head of an illegal gambling ring which used the computer for its operations.
While installing a replacement computer part during a thunderstorm, Riley receives an electric shock and becomes a human computer. He now has superhuman mathematical talent, can speed read and remember the contents of an encyclopedia volume in a few minutes, and can speak a language fluently after reading one textbook. His new abilities make him a worldwide celebrity and Medfield's best chance to win a televised quiz tournament with a $100,000 prize. Riley single-handedly leads Medfield's team in victories against other colleges, to his teammate's growing resentment.
During the tournament, a trigger word ("applejack") causes him to unconsciously recite details of Arno's gambling ring on live television. Arno's henchmen kidnap Riley and plan to kill him, but his friends help him escape by posing as house painters to gain access, and sneaking him out in a large trunk. During the escape, he suffers a concussion which, during the tournament final against rival Springfield State, gradually reduces his mental abilities to normal and leaves him unable to answer the final question. By an incredible coincidence his teammate Schuyler is able to answer the final question and win the $100,000 prize. Arno and his henchmen are arrested when they attempt to escape the TV studio and crash head-on into a police car.
* Not credited on-screen.
The film's theme song, "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes", was written by Robert F. Brunner and Bruce Belland.
A. H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote: "This 'Computer' isn't I.B.M.'s kind but it's homey, lovable, as exciting as porridge and as antiseptic and predictable as any homey, half-hour TV family show". Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune reported: "I rather enjoyed The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and I suspect children under 14 will like it, too". Arthur D. Murphy of Variety praised the film as "above-average family entertainment, enhanced in great measure by zesty, but never show-off, direction by Robert Butler, in a debut swing to pix from telefilm". Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Disney Productions latched on to a terrific premise for some sharp satire only to flatten it out by jamming it into its familiar 'wholesome' formula. Alas, the movie itself comes out looking like it had been made by a computer".
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The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is a 1969 American science fiction comedy film starring Kurt Russell, Cesar Romero, Joe Flynn and William Schallert. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Company.
It was one of several films made by Disney using the setting of Medfield College, first used in the 1961 Disney film The Absent-Minded Professor and its sequel Son of Flubber. The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is the first film of the "Dexter Riley" series.
Dexter Riley and his friends attend Medfield College, a small private college which cannot afford to buy a computer. The students persuade wealthy businessman A. J. Arno to donate a computer to the college. Arno is secretly the head of an illegal gambling ring which used the computer for its operations.
While installing a replacement computer part during a thunderstorm, Riley receives an electric shock and becomes a human computer. He now has superhuman mathematical talent, can speed read and remember the contents of an encyclopedia volume in a few minutes, and can speak a language fluently after reading one textbook. His new abilities make him a worldwide celebrity and Medfield's best chance to win a televised quiz tournament with a $100,000 prize. Riley single-handedly leads Medfield's team in victories against other colleges, to his teammate's growing resentment.
During the tournament, a trigger word ("applejack") causes him to unconsciously recite details of Arno's gambling ring on live television. Arno's henchmen kidnap Riley and plan to kill him, but his friends help him escape by posing as house painters to gain access, and sneaking him out in a large trunk. During the escape, he suffers a concussion which, during the tournament final against rival Springfield State, gradually reduces his mental abilities to normal and leaves him unable to answer the final question. By an incredible coincidence his teammate Schuyler is able to answer the final question and win the $100,000 prize. Arno and his henchmen are arrested when they attempt to escape the TV studio and crash head-on into a police car.
* Not credited on-screen.
The film's theme song, "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes", was written by Robert F. Brunner and Bruce Belland.
A. H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote: "This 'Computer' isn't I.B.M.'s kind but it's homey, lovable, as exciting as porridge and as antiseptic and predictable as any homey, half-hour TV family show". Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune reported: "I rather enjoyed The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and I suspect children under 14 will like it, too". Arthur D. Murphy of Variety praised the film as "above-average family entertainment, enhanced in great measure by zesty, but never show-off, direction by Robert Butler, in a debut swing to pix from telefilm". Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Disney Productions latched on to a terrific premise for some sharp satire only to flatten it out by jamming it into its familiar 'wholesome' formula. Alas, the movie itself comes out looking like it had been made by a computer".