The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)

I was so happy that Escape to Witch Mountain was neither a comedy or a western. I’m starting to think Disney’s doing this on purpose.

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We’ve seen a lot of stars come and go throughout our time together. Bobby Driscoll. Fess Parker. Tommy Kirk. Fred MacMurray. Dean Jones. The list goes on. Likewise, we’ve seen Disney’s formula for comedies spring up over. and over. and over. and over again. What happens when you combine these two phenomena? We’re about to find out. Welcome to the rise of Don Knotts. And here I thought we were turning a corner away from the slapstick. Sigh.

The Apple Dumpling Gang began life as a novel by Jack Bickham that I could not find to read. Old stalwart Norman Tokar returns to add yet another entry to his rather checkered filmography, alongside writer Don Tait who worked with him on Snowball Express. Not the most auspicious beginnings, but it didn’t matter much. With a box office gross of $36.8 million, this was the highest grossing Disney film of the entire 1970s! And Disney’s never been one to turn away when they find gold in them thar hills, so not only will we see The Apple Dumpling Gang again in a theatrical sequel, they also got a made-for-TV remake and its own TV spinoff.

However, the reviews weren’t nearly as kind to this film as the money would suggest. Critics were really starting to take note of what rough creative shape the studio was in. The Island at the Top of the World and Escape to Witch Mountain were bright spots of creativity and innovation (or attempts at them), so why were they backsliding? Why are we retreating into formulaic slapstick? And no, I’m not making that up just because that about sums up my pre-watch feelings on this movie. Roger Ebert and I just happen to have identical thoughts on the matter: “More recently, Disney has given us some genuinely inventive entertainments, especially ‘Escape to Witch Mountain’ and ‘Island at the Top of the World.’ With ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang,’ we’re back to assembly line plots about the adventure of squeaky-clean kids.” Still, I’ve also heard decent things about this one, so we’ll see!

STORY

This might be the first cold open in Disney history. Russell Donovan rides along the dusty trail to Quake City. The wide open spaces, sad harmonica music, and mournful coyote howls lay on thick that he’s utterly alone. Or is he? Amos Tucker and Theodore Ogelvie, the Hash Knife Outfit, are lurking just around the corner, ready to try to rob him. Keyword: try. They’re not very good at it. Theodore’s gun falls apart when he tries to aim it, and Amos’s lasso falls flat. In fact, Donovan disappears into the saloon before he even notices the two crooks.

The poker table is the perfect place for some idle chit chat and some exposition. Homer McCoy, Quake City’s local sheriff/judge/barber/justice of the peace/best character tells us a little bit about how this used to be a thriving mining town before they realized digging gold mines on a fault line was a really bad idea. In return, Donovan reveals that he’s just passing through on his way to open a casino in New Orleans. Suddenly John Wintle, an inexplicably British conman, bursts in to ask a favor. There’s a stagecoach bringing him a shipment of valuables tomorrow, and someone has to sign for them because he’s totally not skipping town. No one at the table so much as looks at him. Except Donovan. As long as he gets a down payment, he can stay in town long enough to sign. What could go wrong?

Roll credits! A stagecoach thunders down the trail, driven by Magnolia “Dusty” Clydesdale. Inside the coach are three orphaned children, Bobby, Clovis, and Celia Bradley. And spoiler alert, according to the theme song’s lyrics, the title refers to the kids and not the two crooks who feature so prominently on anything to do with this movie. Yeah, I was shocked too. The stage coach ends up running a little late because little Celia keeps having to “go”, but eventually they pull up to Quake City.

To Donovan’s horror, Dusty reveals that the “valuables” Wintle sent over are the children! He protests mightily, but Homer pokes his head in to remind everyone present that Donovan not only gave his word, but took a down payment. He’s stuck. Even demanding to speak to the manager only gets him an audience with Dusty’s senile drunkard of a father who only barely knows what they’re talking about. Celia has to go again, but Donovan barely notices. He’s too busy swearing up and down that he can’t do this, he’s just passing through, he has no way to take care of kids. But wouldn’t you know it, Homer knows that Wintle owns a shack in town.

Any time someone just happens to have a convenient cabin for a main character to live in, it’s a mess. The Sword in the Stone. Snowball Express. The Bears and I. It’s becoming as much of a Disney thing as car chases and dead moms. And this movie carries on that proud tradition. I mean, the shack Wintle wants Donovan to raise these kids in has tarps instead of a roof! He begs Homer to have the city take the kids in but Homer makes it abundantly clear in his colorful Harry Morgan way that even if this town did have an orphanage, Donovan’s kind of a jackwagon for even trying. Three hungry orphans look up at him with their big, sad orphan eyes, so he tries to give Clovis a reassuring pat on the head. But Clovis doesn’t like to be touched, so all his attempts at making the best of the situation get him is a hard kick to the shin.

Things get worse. A huge thunderstorm hits because of course it does, quickly flooding the shack. Dinner is barely recognizable as food, the kids won’t stop bickering, and his attempts to break up the fight gets him kicked in the shins again. Enter Dusty, as if in answer to his prayers. She’s brought along a bucket of leftover stew and after a good meal, the kids finally settle down to bed. Donovan is just blown away by what a perfect specimen of womanhood she is to be able to cook, clean, and take care of children and yes I know it’s supposed to be skeezy but I still threw up in my mouth a little bit. Fortunately, Dusty’s not buying it. She tells him in no uncertain terms that they’re his kids and he’d better get it together for their sake because she’s not doing it for him.

Instead, he takes the kids out to try to find a married couple to adopt them. It goes poorly. They let a dog into a henhouse, Clovis kicks a prospective father, and you know what some people just don’t like kids. And by “some people” I mean Iris Adrian, the one shining bright spot in such films as Scandalous John and Barefoot Executive, who never fails to be a huge mood who just doesn’t care about anything ever. I love her so much, it’s always nice to see her no matter how small the role. Anyway, this search for prospective parents is a bust. Donovan and his wards meander sadly through the town. Celia stops right in the middle of the road right as a flaming stage coach careens past, followed by a desperate fire wagon and about fifty random dogs for some reason. Without skipping a beat, Donovan races out and scoops up the little girl and I don’t know about you but I think we might have found a parent figure.

Well, he can’t have that, so Donovan disappears into the saloon to get drunk and play poker, unaware that Theodore and Amos are there plotting to steal his winnings. During this scene there’s a hilarious bit where Theodore keeps stealing a beer every time Amos tries to drink it, which is way funnier than I just made it sound. The kids are left to their own devices, which, with this being a Disney movie, of course means they get into trouble. Eventually they come to an abandoned mine. Could it be the one their dad owned? Nope. Playing around in a mine cart results in them careening out of control through miles of bad green screen, smashing up a Chinese laundry (because of course there had to be a racist scene) and shiny new one-man-band machine.

Poor Donovan gets stuck spending everything he won at the poker tables paying of debts for everything the kids broke. He’s furious, naturally. Not only is he stuck with these kids, he has to sell what little he owns just to keep food on the table. Bobby suggests that they check out their dad’s mine, because there’s supposed to be gold in there, but Donovan doesn’t believe it. So he storms out to return to the poker tables. It’s the only option he’s got left. But Amos and Theodore’s last two brain cells (combined) haven’t gotten the message that he’s flat broke, so they concoct another madcap scheme to rob him. They get distracted making bird calls and the whole thing falls apart.

The bungled robbery is so conspicuous that Donovan reacts with little more than a shrug of his shoulders. He finds Dusty in town, admiring a big brass bed and nonchalantly notes that two guys tried to rob him. Dusty’s just as unconcerned because everyone in town knows the Hash Knife Gang are too stupid to pose any real threat. They even got thrown out of their old gang, the Stillwell Gang, for shooting their boss in the leg. Well, no one’s worried about it, so Donovan casually offers Dusty a drink, completely forgetting that she’s a woman and women aren’t allowed in the saloon. Awkward. So he goes in alone, and comes out the next morning having lost what little he owns. He’s so hungover that when the kids run up to announce they’re going to go find gold in their father’s mine he just… lets them.

Amos races up to his and Theodore’s camp, completely freaking out. Twenty armed men are after them! It looks like this might be it for the Hash Knife Gang, so they make a pact to go down fighting. And you guys, this speech? Thirty years before Brokeback Mountain brought gay cowboys into the mainstream, Theodore’s monologue here reads like wedding vows. The swelling dramatic music behind the speech sells it. I ship it. Don’t lie, you do too. These two are married, I don’t make the rules. No one in this movie reads as straight, especially not these two, and as an LGBTQIA+ woman, I’m here for it. Aaaanyway, the dangerous posse Amos saw turns out to be three very much unarmed kids, just looking for directions to go play in an abandoned mine. Naturally, Theodore is humiliated that his husband had him all scared of a bunch of kids and lets Amos have it.

The mine itself is very dark and dramatic, which is a nice step up from other comedies we’ve seen. The music and the cautious way the kids move through the rocks make it feel like the mine could collapse at any moment. I’ve been missing this kind of peril. And sure enough, an earthquake hits Quake City! Oh no! The roof caves in and they’re trapped! And they actually let that moment linger for a second, which is nice. But it doesn’t linger too long before the kids see something shining right in front of their eyes. It’s a massive gold nugget! There was gold in the mine after all! Somehow they get out of there offscreen and we cut to the nugget locked up in the bank. Everyone in town wants a look at it, especially Amos and Theodore, who instantly start hatching their latest hare-brained scheme. And Amos accidentally sets Theodore on fire.

To celebrate their newfound wealth, Donovan buys the kids new clothes and takes them out to the Hard Times Café to feast on apple dumplings. He’s starting to get attached, though as he tells Homer, he still plans to go to New Orleans… eventually. It shouldn’t be a problem finding a home for the kids now, as there are people fighting for the chance. Literally, as we soon find out. A bunch of women, including my queen Iris Adrian, swarm the restaurant, seizing Celia and tearing her dress in their frenzy. Homer shoos them out, Donovan comforts the crying little girl, and it becomes clear that that’s not the kind of environment anybody wants the kids to grow up in.

Things don’t get better. No one in town seems to care about the kids half as much as their money. No one, that is, except Dusty. Being unmarried means she can’t adopt them, but Homer suggests to Donovan that he can marry her to create a semblance of the nuclear family. Donovan balks at the idea but in the end, he has to agree that it’s the best chance the kids have. The kids guilt trip him with a bouquet of flowers and off he goes to propose the deal. Naturally, Dusty doesn’t love this idea either, especially since he straight up admits that he’s going to abandon her. She’s particularly worried that he’s going to, as the movie puts it, “exercise his husbandly prerogatives”, which is a wild thing for a Disney movie to be tackling but a very real concern. Donovan swears he doesn’t like her like that, and Dusty gives in for the kids’ sake and the kids’ sake alone.

Yes, I’m taking this recap slightly out of order. It’s called narrative flow. Deal with it. During all of this, Amos and Theodore are enacting their plan to steal the gold nugget. Step 1: steal a ladder from the local firehouse to get them on top of the bank. Of course, dumb and dumber flail around the firehouse, waking the sleeping firefighter’s adorable dog, who could not be less concerned. Normally I find these slapstick scenes to be pretty annoying because Disney tends to do them exceptionally poorly. This bit has some great physical comedy because Knotts and Conway are actually funny, though it does outstay its welcome just a touch. Eventually it smashes clean through a nearby house, and Donovan catches them leaning totally not suspiciously against either side of the house. He’s not worried about it, so they’re able to get the ladder onto the roof. And we get some more shenanigans with them falling all over the thing until it inevitably breaks.

Okay, new plan. Somehow, they get a rope over the building, tying one end to Amos’s mule Clarice and the other around Theodore’s waist. The idea is that when Clarice moves, she’ll haul Theodore up to the bank’s roof. You can guess how well that works. The first time, Amos almost accidentally hangs Theodore (!!), and the second time Clarice won’t move. To make matters worse, the kids wander up and spot Theodore, who tries his best to act natural. His best ain’t great. Clarice chooses that moment to move, and Theodore flies up to the roof before the kids’ astonished eyes. Welp, they got into the bank. Unfortunately, they both somehow managed to get tangled up in the rope and the bank manager finds them dangling helplessly above the vault the next morning. Homer shoots them down and holds a trial right then and there, sentencing them to be hanged the next day. But they have to bring their own rope. For the moment, he lets them go, making it obvious that he just wants them to get out of town and stop causing trouble. But hey, if they show up, that’s on them.

A new challenger approaches! Remember how Amos and Theodore got kicked out of their old gang for shooting their leader in the leg? Well, Frank Stillwell is back, and he’s still angry. He’s after the nugget, too, and he and the Stillwell Gang are a lot more competent than the Hash Knife Outfit. As they scheme, Dusty and Donovan march up to Homer’s barber shop. He kicks out his customer and instantly switches over to justice-of-the-peace mode for an impromptu wedding. Dusty requests to hear the full marriage ceremony whether she loves her husband or not, which is really the only time in the entire movie we see her show even the least interest in traditional femininity (so much more on this later). But Donovan puts the kibosh on that and he doesn’t even have a ring, so that’s where we’re at with that. Homer pronounces them husband and wife and no sooner do they shake on it does Donovan ditch his new bride to go out drinking.

Dusty takes the kids out to the local general store for some candy. While chatting with the shopkeeper, Dusty finds out that the bed she was admiring has been sold. To Donovan. She jumps to the entirely logical yet horrifying conclusion that he lied to her about not wanting to “exercise his husbandly prerogatives” and naturally freaks out. She storms into the saloon, not caring about their rules about women, and blows up on her baffled husband, screaming and bashing him with anything she can find and trashing the place. Normally, I’m staunchly against female-on-male abuse portrayed as comedy, but that’s not really what’s happening here. She thinks he’s plotting to assault her and using the marriage as a cover to get away with it, so I can’t really blame her for fighting back. Also, Homer gets another hilarious nonchalant reaction so we’ve got that going for us. When Donovan finally gets a word in edgewise, he explains that he bought the bed for the kids, which clears everything up and that’s the end of that.

The whole town turns up to the hearing to find out who’s going to get the Bradley orphans. And it is pandemonium. Homer has to shoot the ceiling for what seems like at least the twentieth time just to get some semblance of order in this court. To the shock of no one, he gives custody to Dusty and Donovan. But suddenly, who should walk in but John Wintle, the kids’ only living relative who dumped them here in the first place! Now that they’re rich, he suddenly wants them again, and he has the legal means to take them. Homer’s not happy about it, but his hands are tied. And Wintle smugly saunters out with his niece and nephews in tow.

Back at the saloon, Dusty’s father, TR Clydesdale drunkenly tells a passing reverend alllll about the huge gold nugget and how valuable it is and the exact schedule of the stagecoach it’ll be on and how many guards there’ll be protecting it. You know, all stuff you probably shouldn’t tell random strangers about something that people have already tried to steal. The reverend is none other than a disguised Frank Stillwell, staking out exactly what he needs to do to get a hold of that nugget. And maybe get a few “alms for the poor” besides. The drunken old fool suspects nothing, not even when his purse goes missing. Meanwhile, his daughter gets a visit from Donovan, who’s delivering annulment papers before he heads out to New Orleans. I’m sure it’s supposed to be sad and hint that they’re going to fall in love for real, but honestly these two have all the spark of a broken Zippo lighter so it falls really flat.

With the threat of hanging dangling over their heads, things don’t look good for the Hash Knife Gang. Their fire has gone out, and they can’t even ride into town for supplies without risking their necks. As Amos and Theodore contemplate their predicament, who should show up but the Bradley kids! And they have a proposition. They can just have the gold nugget! It belongs to the kids, so it’s not stealing if they just give it away. And when it’s gone, Wintle won’t want them anymore, they’ll go back to Donovan, and Amos and Theodore will be rich and famous just like they wanted. Theodore has his doubts about how it will look for the “dreaded” Hash Knife Gang to work with kids, but Amos suggests they call them something else, like the Apple Dumpling Gang. And that’s the only time in the entire movie outside of the theme song that anyone calls them that.

Their plan to get a hold of a wagon to get into the safe goes pretty smoothly… except that the first wagon they find is the big, conspicuous fire engine. Whoops. Well, too late now, so the kids keep watch while the crooks sneak around the side. But they’re not the only ones with eyes on the prize. Frank Stillwell, still disguised as a reverend, threatens the banker at gunpoint and forces his way inside. His goons catch the kids and haul them inside to keep them away from the Sheriff, then force the banker to retrieve the chest containing the gold from the safe. It doesn’t look good, until two masked idiots burst in guns blazing and old, sweaty dynamite in hand. Oh, wait, nope, the Stillwell Gang gets the drop on them, and Frank’s still sore about being shot in the leg. But luckily for Amos and Theodore, they have bigger fish to fry. They start to leave with the gold, but Clovis pipes up that it belongs to them and they can’t have it. Stillwell seizes Clovis’s arm to shove him away, but Clovis don’t like to be touched. So Clovis kicks Stillwell’s injured leg as hard as he can, causing him to drop the heavy chest right on Amos’s foot and kickstarting a whole lot of chaos.

Right on time, Sheriff Homer rides up with Dusty and her father in tow. And be still my cold, dead heart, could this be a climax that’s not a car chase? It sure seems to be! Stillwell and his gang start shooting at anything that moves, the townspeople start shooting back, TR Clydesdale starts stealing booze from what’s left of the bar, and it all devolves into chaos. There’s even a nice M*A*S*H* reference when Homer says “Cover me, Mildred”, which is the name of Harry Morgan’s character’s wife on that show. Some extras even get hit! It’s a very, very long sequence but it’s just nice to see some actual peril and not, you know, the same schtick with the same stunts we’ve been seeing for like ten years now. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, especially when Donovan tackles Dusty to keep her safe when this female character is no defenseless wilting flower and she was doing just fine on her own, thanks. But I’ll take it.

Eventually, Stillwell realizes this shootout is a lost cause. No gold is worth this, so they run away, taking Celia as a hostage and leaving the gold for Amos and Theodore. Donovan hears the little girl crying for help and he and Dusty ride off to the rescue. Aaaaand there’s our car chase. Or, wagon chase. Horse chase? Whatever. It’s a period appropriate car chase. Dusty and Donovan ride after the Stillwell Gang on their stolen fire wagon. Of course, Donovan catches up to them first and beats the snot out of Stillwell while Dusty pulls Celia onto the safety of her horse. The wagon careens out of control into the river because of course it does, they always land in the water, and the men continue their brawl right up until Stillwell gets knocked into the water.

All those heroics impress Dusty sooo much that she jumps into the water to pounce on Donovan. The two heavily make out despite there being no real indication whatsoever that the two even really liked each other, let alone fell in love for real. It’s bizarre. Somewhere along the way, Bobby and Clovis sent for Homer so he’s here too, ready to haul the Stillwell Gang off to jail. All’s well that ends well, so all that’s left to do is check on the nugget. Oh, wait, nope, that’s a huge mushroom cloud over the horizon. When Team Good Guys gets back to town, there’s nothing left of the bank or the nugget but the fireproof vault and some flecks of gold dust. The vault door creaks open, and we see Amos and Theodore sheepishly hiding from the blast caused by dropping that old sweaty dynamite.

That gold nugget is history and Wintle no longer wants anything to do with the kids. That leaves them free to live with Donovan and Dusty! Donovan gives up his dreams of a casino and spends the reward money for capturing Stillwell on a nice home for his new family. And Dusty… sigh. Remember Bedknobs and Broomsticks, where I went off on the ending where Eglantine gives up her career and her magic to become a wife and mother and how dumb it is to have a tough, no nonsense confirmed spinster revert to traditionally feminine gender roles apropos of nothing? Yeah. It’s that. Dusty, who has shown almost no interest in femininity, who has spent the whole movie wearing rugged, practical mens’ clothes and essentially running her father’s business, comes down the stairs in a fancy white dress complete with corset and parasol, letting Donovan drive the coach (remember, she was a stagecoach driver), and again, essentially dropping her personality to be a Proper Lady because being a tomboy is bad. Oh, and Amos and Theodore give up crime and become their farmhands. The end.

Other than that godawful ending, I enjoyed this movie WAY more than I was expecting to! I almost forgot what it felt like to watch a competently made comedy that’s not just slapstick and pratfalls all the way through. There’s some of that present, but it doesn’t go overboard, and it tempers it nicely with some dry wit. And, like Bullwhip Griffin (which you’ll recall I enjoyed other than the racist parts), it takes advantage of its Gold Rush setting and has fun with it, rather than trying to whitewash history like a lot of Disney’s other Westerns. The characters here are extremely likable, even if the romance doesn’t quite work, and all in all I had a very good time! I can certainly see why this was the most successful Disney film of the 70s!

CHARACTERS

Russell Donovan is the second reluctant father figure we’ve had in a row. He’s a lot less caustic than his predecessor, Jason O’Day, though he does fight a lot harder against getting the kids. His turn around would come pretty much out of left field, except that even a vaguely shady gambler is a better person than the greedy, violent creeps who populate Quake City. Harder to swallow is his romance with Dusty. He shows zero internest in her right up until they’re making out. Even on the wagon at the end, he keeps her at arm’s length and tries to get out of spending time with her. It’s bananas writing. This was Bill Bixby’s final film role before he switched to working in TV full time, starring in shows like My Favorite Martian and The Incredible Hulk. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

Magnolia “Dusty” Clydesdale starts off so well. As a bit of a tomboy myself, it’s always nice to see a girl who’s a little rough and tumble who rejects the strictness of her assigned gender role. For one shining moment I thought Disney had finally accepted the Women’s Lib movement aaaand then the ending happened. I already said my piece on that, but it’s still super frustrating. Other than that, she’s awesome- takes no nonsense, doesn’t let Donovan push her around, fights back when she thinks he’s trying to do something awful, and just generally is happy to be her own person. They just didn’t need to shove her into a relationship with Donovan, except for the fact that this was written by conservative old men in 1975 and that’s the status quo. Susan Clark was actually afraid of horses and is usually seen on a mechanical one whenever a scene called for her to ride.

Bobby, Clovis, and Celia Bradley fall into the same trap that a lot of Disney kids do: namely, being pretty bland and interchangeable. There was an attempt to differentiate them with Clovis’s habit of kicking people and Celia’s peanut sized bladder, but those mostly boil down to pointless running gags with the exception of Clovis kicking Stillwell. That said, the script gives them plenty to do without forcing them into the background, which is nice. They might not stand out from each other, but they’re still active characters! And the child acting is excellent, too. We’ve seen Clay O’Brien (Bobby) before as Mark in One Little Indian, and we’ll see Brad Savage (Clovis) again a few more times, but this was adorable Stacey Manning’s (Celia) only movie.

Homer McCoy was far and away my favorite character. I know the Hash Knife Gang is the comedic centerpiece of this movie, but every line out of McCoy’s mouth had me rolling. The best comes when Wintle comes back with his lawyer showing the judge/sheriff/barber/justice of the peace documents “if it would please the court”: “what would please this court is to see you both run out of town on a rail!” I’ve said it before in movies like Snowball Express, but Harry Morgan’s snarky line deliveries are so much more in line with my sense of humor that Dean Jones falling all over himself that it’s always a joy to see him pop up in a cast list.

Amos Tucker and Theodore Ogelvie are still very funny, don’t get me wrong. These poor saps are the prototypical idiot henchmen who think they’re evil but are so terrible at it they might as well turn good. Like Kronk. You just can’t help but like them as much as the kids do! This was Tim Conway (Amos) and Don Knotts (Theodore)’s first film together, but they make such a great comic duo that they’ll team up several more times. They reminded me a lot of Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles, in the way they worked together so effortlessly. Don Knotts makes a fantastic straight man, though from what I hear he plays the clown more often than not both in Disney and as Barney Fife in The Andy Griffith Show. Tim Conway’s clown is just as delightful. It helps that Tim Conway has a much better script than World’s Greatest Athlete, which I’m pretty sure I only liked because I was a broken woman.

Also, seriously, husbands? Husbands.

Frank Stillwell is ostensibly our competent bad guy, but don’t worry. He’s not too competent. This ain’t that kind of movie. Still, the town buys his preacher disguise and he comes close to getting the nugget, so there are less competent Disney villains out there. The evil cowboy is played by real life cowboy Slim Pickens, who left his rodeo career behind to star in movies like Dr. Strangelove and Blazing Saddles. He’s actually played bit parts in quite a few Disney movies up until this point, including The Great Locomotive Chase, Never a Dull Moment, and Savage Sam. It’s nice to see such a talented actor step into the spotlight!

MUSIC

Paul J Smith and Buddy Baker composed a score that wouldn’t be out of place in Frontierland. In fact, I’m surprised none of it plays in Frontierland! There’s a lot of tinkling banjo and whining harmonica to set the scene, including a mournful tune that serves as Donovan’s leitmotif and the romantic (search your feelings, you know it to be true) swell that plays over Theodore’s monologue when they think they’re about to die. There’s a nice sense of place on this soundtrack, one that never loses the sense of fun that I’ve been missing from so many movies from this genre.

The Apple Dumpling Gang is far and away the best song Shane Tatum has written. Not that the competition is stiff. The songs from Superdad and the Biscuit Eater are not good songs. I maintain that the guy got his job because his dad’s the CEO. But this is still an excellent opening number! It sets the tone for a rollicking, wacky adventure with these kids and works wonderfully with the story we’re about to see. I’ve never heard of Randy Sparks and the Back Porch Majority (which is a heck of a band name) but you can tell how much fun they had recording this!

ARTISTRY

This movie looks like Frontierland just as much as it sounds like it. And that’s all to the good! Disney’s more serious Westerns tend to have a dusty, washed out brown to them that gets really old after a while. This one, though, doesn’t shy away from color in the backgrounds, buildings, or costumes. It’s much more appealing and much easier to settle into. Likewise, while their comedies tend to be shot like a stage play, with harsh lighting and little to no camera movement, this one pulls off some neat, dynamic shots. The poker game in the beginning is a sight to behold, cutting rapidly from player to player as Wintle begs the players to help him and everyone continues the game. You never get the sense that the action stops and it’s all because the camera keeps things moving. They also give a nice sense of peril to scenes like the run-down shack and the abandoned mine through the camera angles and unique lighting. It’s a nice change!

THEME PARK INFLUENCE

I keep saying this movie belongs in Frontierland, so you’ll never guess where you can find references to it. Actually, not to flex, but I found that first reference without even looking for it, before even watching the movie! I just saw the apple dumpling line and thought it would be relevant, and I was right! I noticed the second after watching it and was like “hey, I know those guys!”. Both of these references can be found in the queue for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Fitting for a movie that includes a wild mine cart ride! There are also two others that can be spotted that I didn’t get pictures of: another Wanted poster condemning the Hash Knife Gang for “habitual bungling”, and an advertisement for the Butterfly Stagecoach Line, owned by TR Clydesdale, that can take patrons to several locales including Quake City! Not bad for such an obscure movie!

FINAL THOUGHTS

I would like to apologize to this movie for ever doubting it. It was so, so much more enjoyable than I ever thought it could be. Turns out, a Western with a little whimsy in it can actually be a lot of fun! It did trip at the finish line with Dusty, but man, if you forget about the forced romance, this film’s a real hidden gem… er, gold nugget.

Favorite scene: The hilariously subtle visual gag of Theodore stealing Amos’s beer every time he takes a sip. These two are masters of comedy.

Final rating: 8/10, surprising even myself!