Dexter Riley
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| Dexter Riley | |
|---|---|
| Starring | |
Release date | 1969–1995 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $16,710,000 (Cumulative of 4 films) |
The Dexter Riley film series consists of American Science fiction-comedy films, centered around a college student named Dexter Riley, portrayed by Kurt Russell. The films, taking place at the fictional Medfield College, follow the science class lead by Professor Quigley, and their experiments, projects, and adventures. The college, under the direction of Dean Eugene Higgs (Joe Flynn) becomes involved in the nefarious plans of billionaire-turned-criminal, A.J. Arno (Cesar Romero).
The film trilogy received mixed critical and audience reviews, while its television film remake was poorly received.
Films
| Title | U.S. release date | Director | Screenwriter(s) | Story by | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | December 31, 1969 | Robert Butler | Joseph L. McEveety | Bill Anderson | |
| Now You See Him, Now You Don't | July 12, 1972 | Joseph L. McEveety | Robert L. King | Ron Miller | |
| The Strongest Man in the World | February 6, 1975 | Vincent McEveety | Joseph L. McEveety & Herman Groves | Bill Anderson | |
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)
Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972)
The Strongest Man in the World (1975)
Television
| Title | U.S. release date | Director | Screenwriters | Story by | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disney's The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | February 18, 1995 | Peyton Reed | Joseph L. McEveety & Ryan Rowe | Joseph L. McEveety | Joseph B. Wallenstein |
During the late-'80s and early-'90s, a number of made-for-television remake films of classic Walt Disney Productions were produced and released as a part of The Magical World of Disney series. Among them, was The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.
After a laboratory accident, the contents of a computer's encyclopedia is transferred biochemically into the brain of Dexter Riley, a less-than-average college student. After his newly acquired genius he appears on a trivia show, competing between various universities. After acing the show's quiz, and acquiring all the points, another university finds out about how he attained his skills and does everything to discredit Dexter.
Related films
Main article: The Shaggy Dog film series, & Flubber franchise
The Dexter Riley film series, takes place at the Medfield College. The college is used as a primary location, in two other Disney film franchises. The college appears in both The Shaggy Dog film series, and the Flubber film series. The three film series collectively take place within the same fictional universe.
| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Story by | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flubber film series | |||||
| The Absent-Minded Professor | March 16, 1961 | Robert Stevenson | Bill Walsh | ||
| Son of Flubber | January 16, 1963 | Bill Walsh & Don DaGradi | Walt Disney and Bill Walsh | ||
| Flubber | November 26, 1997 | Les Mayfield | John Hughes | John Hughes and Ricardo Mestres | |
| The Shaggy Dog film series | |||||
| The Shaggy Dog | March 19, 1959 | Charles Barton | Lillie Hayward & Bill Walsh | Walt Disney and Bill Walsh | |
| The Shaggy D.A. | December 17, 1976 | Robert Stevenson | Don Tait | Bill Anderson | |
| The Return of the Shaggy Dog | November 1, 1987 | Stuart Gillard | Paul Haggis & Diane Wilk | Harvey Marks | |
| The Shaggy Dog | March 10, 2006 | Brian Robbins | Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley and Geoff Rodkey and Jack Amiel & Michael Begler |
David Hoberman and Tim Allen | |
Main cast and characters
| Character | Films | Television | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | Now You See Him, Now You Don't | The Strongest Man in the World | Disney's The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | |
| Dexter Riley | Kurt Russell | Kirk Cameron | ||
| Dean Eugene "E.J. Gene" Higgins |
Joe Flynn | |||
| A.J. Arno | Cesar Romero | |||
| Professor Miles Quigley |
William Schallert | William Schallert | Jason Bernard | |
| Richard Schuyler | Michael McGreevey | |||
| Debbie Dawson | Joyce Menges | Ann Marshall | ||
| Harriet Crumply | Eve Arden | |||
| Kirkwood Krinkle | Phil Silvers | |||
| Cookie | Richard Bakalyan | |||
| Dean Al Valentine |
Kirk Cameron | |||
| Dean Webster Carlson |
Dean Jones | |||
| Norwood Gills | Matthew McCurley | |||
Additional crew & production details
| Film | Crew/Detail | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Cinematographer | Editor | Production companies |
Distributing companies |
Running time | ||
| The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | Robert F. Brunner | Frank V. Phillips | Cotton Warburton | Walt Disney Productions | Buena Vista Distribution Company | 1hr 31mins | |
| Now You See Him, Now You Don't | 1hr 28mins | ||||||
| The Strongest Man in the World | Andrew Jackson | 1hr 32mins | |||||
| Disney's The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes |
Philip Giffin | Russ T. Alsobrook | Jeff Gourson | Walt Disney Television, ZM Productions |
American Broadcasting Company, Buena Vista Television |
1hr 27mins | |
Reception
Box office & financial performance
| Film | Box office gross | Box office ranking | Budget | Worldwide Total income |
Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Other territories | Worldwide | All time North America |
All time worldwide | ||||
| The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | not available | not available | not available | not available | not available | "small" | $5,500,000 | [1][2] |
| Now You See Him, Now You Don't | not available | not available | not available | not available | not available | not available | $4,610,000 | [3] |
| The Strongest Man in the World | not available | not available | not available | not available | not available | not available | $6,600,000 | [4] |
| Totals | not available | $16,710,000[a] | ||||||
Critical and public response
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | IMDb user rating | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomatometer | Audience Score | Metascore | User Score | ||
| The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | 50% (6 critic reviews)[5] |
41% (6,010 user ratings) |
54/100 (4 critic reviews)[6] |
TBD [7] | 6/10 stars (3,923 reviews)[8] |
| Now You See Him, Now You Don't | 80% (5 critic reviews)[9] |
58% (1,689 user ratings) |
— | — | 6.3/10 stars (1,617 reviews)[10] |
| The Strongest Man in the World | —[11] | 41% (2,951 user ratings) |
63/100 (4 critic reviews)[12] |
TBD[13] | 6.1/10 stars (2,409 user ratings)[14] |
| Disney's The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | —[15] | 40% (951 user ratings) |
— | — | 5.2/10 stars (719 user ratings)[16] |
Legacy
Main article: Not Quite Human film series
Notes
- ^ These numbers is an approximate calculation of the total income, The Walt Disney Company made of movie rentals. Box office numbers, are not available from the company.
References
- ^ https://vanyaland.com/2019/07/23/once-upon-1969-kurt-russell-and-the-decline-of-disneys-golden-era/
- ^ "Big Rental Films of 1970", Variety, 6 January 1971 p 11
- ^ "All-time Film Rental Champs", Variety, 7 January 1976 p 48
- ^ "All-time Film Rental Champs", Variety, 7 January 1976 p 44
- ^ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/computer_wore_tennis_shoes
- ^ https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-computer-wore-tennis-shoes/critic-reviews
- ^ https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-computer-wore-tennis-shoes/user-reviews
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065566/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt
- ^ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/now_you_see_him_now_you_dont
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069031/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt
- ^ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/strongest_man_in_the_world
- ^ https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-strongest-man-in-the-world/critic-reviews
- ^ https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-strongest-man-in-the-world/user-reviews
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073760/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt
- ^ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_computer_wore_tennis_shoes1995
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112709/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt