The Shaggy Dog (1959)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I just learned that Kevin Corcoran ("Moochie") died in 2015 in his middle 60's. He was a Disney child actor that played in several notable Disney Movies including "Pollyanna", "Swiss Family Robinson", this film and many others. He was also a regular on the (original) Mickey Mouse Club, "Spin and Marty" and (surprisingly) many non-Disney productions as well. He quit acting at age 15 and became a respected film and TV director for many decades. Yes, he even directed "Murder She Wrote" episodes. Not standing on nostalgia, both this film and "The Absent-Minded Professor" were well-colorized and are more enjoyable because of it. Readily available from Amazon and "the usual" mail-order companies, bundled with the "Shaggy D.A." sequel. Annette steals the show. She was "dressed down" to make her look younger and less grown-up. It didn't work. I had a "crush" on her, too. The well-known plot involves awkward foreign intrigue and teenage romance as Annette completes with new girl on the block who even doesn't look remotely French and has a beautiful shaggy sheep dog. A magical "Borgia Ring" is involved along with a "real" sheepdog that disappears every time the "trans muto" dog transformation occurs. A silly sub-plot involves foreign spies. The best scene involves Moochies' brother (Tommy Kirk) in shaggy sheepdog fur, leading the police on a wild-goose car chase. (yeah, the dog is driving.) Note: "The Shaggy D.A." with Dean Jones is quite good, also. (I don't care for the 2006 Tim Allen remake at all.) A priceless classic Walt Disney Production.

Here's another flick from the past that I actually saw in the theater during it's initial run back in 1959. My Mom and Dad would take me to the movies as a kid and it was usually a Disney picture like this one. Watching them today is a little weird because they don't have that same magical quality unless you're with someone of the same age I was back then. That's why I bring my granddaughter over for company when tuning in to these old time films.The story's a blast for youngsters. Watching young Tommy Kirk turn into a Brataslavian Sheep Dog is a highlight of the picture and he gets to do it a number of times. The tale borrows from ancient fables of shape-shifting creatures and black magic, with a little bit of Lucretia Borgia thrown in for good measure. But you know, there might have been something to all that magical stuff - right after Franceska (Roberta Shore) cleans the cut above Buzz Miller's (Tim Considine) eye, all trace of the cut disappears!What's kind of interesting are those scenes of the Shaggy Dog driving Buzz's roadster and later on the police car. The Disney folks figured out a way to make it look like a dog was really driving the car, wagging tongue and all. Not too much of a problem today of course, but this was over fifty years ago and the special effects department did a pretty good job.For Annette Funicello, this was her first feature film, and even though she's not a principal, she still has a fair amount of screen time. Not to belabor the point, but it was cool way back when to see one of the Mousketeers make it to the big screen. This was also about the time I started becoming familiar with the names of the actors and actresses in the movies I saw. I happen to recall both Bob Hope and Bing Crosby being asked in separate interviews who they thought the richest person in Hollywood was. Without batting an eye or needing time to think about it, they both answered with the same name - Fred MacMurray.

I remember being taken to this movie when I was 8 or 9 years old. I was accompanied by my mother and my aunt. I remember being appalled at their reaction. They were nearly rolling in the aisles. I was unimpressed knowing that a child could not be turned into a dog and found the whole thing silly. I have not seen the movie since then. But I guess I might enjoy it these days for it's silliness. My mother and I did not see a movie again until I took her to see "2001" in 1968. She was impressed and correctly predicted, beforehand, there would be Howard Johnson's at the space station. Sorry for the unrelated memories that have nothing to do with this movie. But I cannot help but relate that 7 years later I took her to see "Blazing Saddles", fearful that she might be offended by some of the off color jokes. She laughed wholeheartedly at all the dirty jokes.

There seems to be some confusion about exactly what place in film history The Shaggy Dog has. First and foremost it is not Walt Disney's first live action film, but it is the first live action big screen comedy that he did. It is also the first film that Disney did with Fred MacMurray starring.For MacMurray this was a big film. His career was in the doldrums at that point and this film brought him to his final phase of his career as the star of family oriented comedies. He got a television series, My Three Sons, after this and that together with the Disney films kept him steadily working for the next fifteen years.Though MacMurray is the star along with Jean Hagen as his wife, the film's title role is played in part by Tommy Kirk. Kirk is a young teenager with a lot of angst and an abiding interest in the space program. So much so he constructs his own rocket in his basement and it has an unscheduled launch to open the film. A generation later, this bit was copied in Family Matters by Steve Urkel.Anyway he's got a healthy set of hormones as well and a rivalry with the smooth talking Tim Considine down the street. Both are hot to trot for Annette Funicello, but when Roberta Shore shows up with father Alexander Scourby, both go after her as well.Roberta's the only weakness in the film. For someone who is foreign, she has one cheesy accent and at times just drops it altogether. She's also got a large shaggy dog named Chiffon.Anyway while at a museum young Mr. Kirk gets a hold of an enchanted ring and repeats a spell that causes him to enter the body of the neighbor's shaggy dog. And he discovers that in fact Scourby and his confederates are spies. What follows after as Kirk periodically changes from talking dog to teenager is still pretty hilarious. Fred MacMurray gets a lot of laughs as the man who gets the credit for exposing the spy ring which son Kirk can't really claim.James Westerfield, one delightful character actor in everything he does, makes the first of three appearances as Officer Hanson, the much put upon patrol cop in this, The Absent Minded Professor and Son of Flubber. Best moment in the film is when Kirk as The Shaggy Dog steals Westerfield's police vehicle in pursuit of the villains.I'm still amazed at how well the ancient special effects still work in this film. Disney took some meticulous care in doing the scenes with the dog. You really do think The Shaggy Dog is driving those vehicles and not some guy dressed in a dog costume. Good thing it was a large Shaggy Dog though, a Chihuahua would not have worked as well.Still working well today.