The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes

1969 "Programmed for laughs!"
5.9| 1h31m| G| en
Details

Some college students manage to persuade the town's big businessman, A. J. Arno, to donate a computer to their college. When the problem- student, Dexter Riley, tries to fix the computer, he gets an electric shock and his brain turns to a computer; now he remembers everything he reads. Unfortunately, he also remembers information which was in the computer's memory, like Arno's illegal businesses..

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Reviews

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film
Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
moonspinner55 Having had great success with their campus kook comedies "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" and "The Monkey's Uncle" in the mid-1960s, Disney couldn't pass up the opportunity to continue their formula, now with Kurt Russell's Dexter Riley replacing Tommy Kirk's Merlin Jones. Small town college, eager to keep up with the times, accepts the donation of a (very large) computer from the local big shot--who then forfeits his usual $20,000 annual gift to the school, telegraphing us that he's a rat. Goof-off student Dexter is electrocuted after touching the computer wires with his sneakers in a puddle, thus giving him a computerized brain. Since Dexter isn't really a medical marvel--just the victim of an unusual circumstance--his winning at gambling and against other universities in a College of Knowledge face-off doesn't seem fair. Mathematicians test Dexter's brain and are amazed, while the dean of the school smiles like a shark on the sidelines--everyone is either corrupt or being duped. Family film is poorly made and in gloppy color, but kids in 1969 didn't notice or care. Russell returned as Dexter in 1972's "Now You See Him, Now You Don't" and in 1975's "The Strongest Man in the World". *1/2 from ****
HobbitHole People who are putting down this film as not good enough to 'show it's face in the theater' are showing their extreme ignorance.These movies were made for family audiences and rebroadcast on Walt Disney's television program which highlighted family oriented movies with cast members that even signed morals clauses that they wouldn't act up (see Lindsey Lohan, etc. in these days) and trash the Disney image as being a family movie business.Early on Disney had just made shorts and TV shows. In the late fifties they started making full-length films like 'The Shaggy Dog' with Fred MacMurray. It was so successful, it started something. Fred MacMurray was asked to do more films.The Absent-Minded Professor (remade later with Robin Williams in the lead role in 'Flubber') was one of the successful movies made by Disney that was then edited for their TV audience. It not only spawned a sequel, "Son of Flubber", but many more family films and comedies that were designed to help people forget their problems, while at the same time the commercials advertised Disneyland.Disney was ahead of his time in providing programming in what were essentially well-made advertisements for families to enjoy and be reminded about visiting Disneyland, his 'family fun park'. This light-hearted, fun comedy featured Kurt Russell in the early days of computers (pre-internet)getting the computer's full knowledge into his head.In the remake (with Kirk Cameron) they updated it to the Internet infiltrating the student's mind and a 'super-hacker' from the opposing school (who's dean ironically is past Disney star Dean Jones) who seeks to hack Cameron's brain and stop his 'brilliance'.The first of the three films that revolve around Dexter Riley (Russell), the dean (Joe E. Flynn), and friends is also the best done, though the others are enjoyable too. ('Now You See Him, Now You Don't' and 'Strongest Man In the World' are part of this three movie series)It also teaches the value of humility. Riley did nothing to gain his knowledge, yet he became proud of how smart he was. He had to learn humility and how to treat his friends if he wanted to keep them. Good lessons to learn.The Disney television films were made for families and are much better than the stuff made today for 'families' including politically correct films, sexually explicit, nasty language and all the other things that supposedly makes them more 'modern'. Disney TV temporarily stopped around 1975. They have made some films since then that were still family oriented, though people that followed Walt and then Roy Disney didn't have the same ideas about films and the value of good stories. Enter the Michael Eisner era...remaking classics and making part 2 stories of classics that have no basis in classic books and WERE released direct to video or DVD. Even marginal animated hits got sequels made. Actual hits like Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, got several (part 2 of Aladdin was a real turkey).Several of the older Disney films were remade for a 'revived' TV program. The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes was one of the better attempts. I would say only a handful were watchable in their 'updated' form. They made kids have to act like adults while the adults act like kids (this might be a clever plot line in 'Freaky Friday', but when it enters into other stories, it's hard to make out who is supposed to be adult and who are kids.No wonder kids today are forced to face problems beyond their years. They can't even escape it in the so-called 'escape films' on TV or in the movies these days (with rare exceptions).It takes exceptions like Pirates of the Caribbean or The Chronicles of Narnia to remind Disney that people still like well-made escape films that are wholesome and uplifting for the whole family.
Morticon This is just another one of those naive half-baked 60s movies that's not even good enough to show its face in a movie theater. The plot seemed really interesting, you know, a kid getting a computer into his head, if only the movie were as good! Uggh, it's just horrible. Life's time on earth is too precious to waste, and watching this movie would be an excellent way to waste it. It's like repeating the same scenes over and over and over and over again with different lines. I actually fell asleep during it. This was actually on Netflix, and the extremely corny movies are NEVER listed on there. I really can't believe they listed this. Please don't see it, take my word for it.
Øystein-3 This isn't such a bad movie with Kurt Russel doing quite a good performance and the plot is extremely original.But I don't want to spoil the fun go rent it or buy it is surely worth the run for it's money