Genre Guesstimation – No Deposit, No Return (1976)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s genre has been chosen by Marc of French Toast Sundays and we will be reviewing our favorite Live Action Disney Films.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Nov by sending them to disneylivemarc@movierob.net

Tnx Marc!

Try to think out of the box!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Live Action Disney Films…….

“Your children are looking for attention and affection and they’re going to get it from anybody they can, even two ‘kind of’ kidnappers. ” – Duke

Number of Times Seen – At least twice (Video in the 80’s and 7 Nov 2021)

Brief Synopsis – During their boarding school holiday, a pair of siblings try to find a way to get money in order to visit their workaholic mother overseas instead of staying by their grandfather in California.

My Take on it – This is a movie that I recall seeing as a kid, but didn’t remember much about it.

In typical Disney fashion, this film is completely geared towards children and leaves very little for an adult to care about.

The story moves along at a pretty slow pace and fails to be more humorous in many of the scenes.

The slapstick aspect of the film and the way that things get confusing to the characters due to a comedy of errors along the way.

Don Knotts and Darren McGavin are great as the bumbling criminals who befriend the kids and work together on a scheme to help both sides get some money to solve their problems.

Vic Tayback is ok as the lead gangster even though he feels a bit too soft in that role.

The film has a much better plot that is presented here and that hurts things a bit because of the wasted potential.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – First of two movies pairing Don Knotts & Darren McGavin. The two later co-starred in another Disney production, Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978). Both, Don Knotts & Darren McGavin died within a few hours of each other on Saturday, February 25th, 2006. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Not really. Fun movie, but a bit too silly for its own good.

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)