Thursday, December 12, 2013

Snowball Express


I have long said that any movie with a good snow scene is a good movie. This 1972 Disney flick is basically one long good snow scene. 

I saw SNOWBALL EXPRESS in theaters twice when it first came out. Once I went by myself and a week later when it was still playing, I took my Mom because I thought it was THAT enjoyable. 


One of my friends on Facebook these days is Michael McGreevey whose name is oddly misspelled on the posters for this film! Yesterday, his co-star, Kathleen Cody (now also  FB friend) posted about the movie online.


I had such a major crush on Kathleen Cody from her appearances on DARK SHADOWS not long before this picture. Earlier this year, I was able to tell her that online. (Blush)


Dean Jones once called me on the telephone and Johnnie Whitaker and I spoke once online as well. So odd to watch this movie again last night for the first time in decades with all those connections.



Although quite enjoyable all the way, it's a family film with fairly predictable Disney schtick but the script actually surprises with some genuinely funny bits along the way. 


Dean Jones continues his role as Disney leading man, replacing Fred MacMurray whom co-star Nancy Olsen played opposite in the Flubber films a decade earlier.


According to Michael, the dog was not a performing dog at all but, he believes, Diane Disney's actual dog. "St. Bernards are just naturally funny," he says.


Also in a cast of old pros we find George Lindsey, Keenan Wynn, Mary Wickes and--stealing every scene he's in, effortlessly--Harry Morgan.


If you find yourself snowed in this winter, find a copy of SNOWBALL EXPRESS for good old-fashioned family fun...and the best snow scenes ever!


Thanks Michael and Kathleen for getting me to watch it again and enjoy it all over!

1 comment:

  1. Director Norman Tokar was being kept rather busy at Disney in the '70s... inbetween movies, he managed to direct some TV, like the "5 O'Clock Charlie" episode of MASH.
    If I recall, Tokar pinch-hit for Ezra Stone on the "Aldrich Family" radio show during WW2, and since you met Stone, that's another sort-of connection.

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