The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
5.6 /10 1 Votes
50% Rotten Tomatoes Genre Family, Comedy Duration Country United States | 6/10 IMDb Director Robert Butler Initial DVD release January 14, 2003 Writer Joseph L. McEveety Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date December 24, 1969 (1969-12-24) Sequel Now You See Him, Now You Dont (2-hour) Cast Kurt Russell (Dexter Riley), Cesar Romero (A.J. Arno), Joe Flynn (Dean Higgins), William Schallert (Professor Quigley), Alan Hewitt (Dean Collingsgood), Richard Bakalyan (Chillie Walsh)Similar movies The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and Now You See Him - Now You Dont (2-hour) are part of the same movie series | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Students from a cash-strapped college, in need of a computer, convince businessman A.J. Arno (Cesar Romero) to donate one. When it needs to be repaired, student Dexter Reilly (Kurt Russell) fixes it during an electrical storm and receives a shock. Suddenly the computers brain has fused with his, and hes a genius. Unfortunately, he also has knowledge about Arnos illegal gambling operations, which were stored in the computer. Now Dexter is a celebrity, but Arno wants him eliminated.
Contents
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is a 1969 film starring Kurt Russell, Cesar Romero, Joe Flynn and William Schallert. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Company as part of "The Last Laughs of the 1960s".
It was one of several films made by Disney using the setting of Medfield College, first used in the 1961 Disney film The Absent-Minded Professor and its sequel Son of Flubber. Now You See Him Now You Dont and The Strongest Man in the World, both sequels to The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, were also set at Medfield.
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..
Plot
Dexter Reilly (Kurt Russell) and his friends attend small, private Medfield College, which cannot afford to buy a computer. The students persuade wealthy businessman A.J. Arno (Cesar Romero) to donate an old computer to the college. Arno is the secret head of a large illegal gambling ring, which used the computer for its operations.
While installing a replacement part during a thunderstorm, Reilly receives an electric shock and becomes a human computer. He now has superhuman mathematical talent, can read and remember the contents of an encyclopedia volume in a few minutes, and can speak a language fluently after reading one textbook. His new abilities make Reilly a worldwide celebrity, and Medfields best chance to win a televised quiz tournament with a $100,000 prize.
Reilly single-handedly leads Medfields team in victories against other colleges. During the tournament, a trigger word causes Reilly to unknowingly recite on television details of Arnos gambling ring. Arnos henchmen kidnap Reilly and plan to kill him, but his friends help him escape. During the escape Dexter suffers a concussion which, during the tournament final against rival Springfield State, gradually returns his mental abilities to normal; one of Reillys friends, however, is able to answer the final question ("What is the geographic center of the contiguous United States?"). Medfield wins the $100,000 prize, and Arno is arrested.
Cast
* Not credited on-screen.
Reception
The film received a mixed reception.
Sequels
Similar Movies
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and Now You See Him - Now You Dont (2-hour) are part of the same movie series. Kurt Russell and Cesar Romero appear in The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and The Strongest Man in the World. Son of Flubber (1963). Alan Hewitt appears in The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and The Absent-Minded Professor. Kurt Russell and Joe Flynn appear in The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and The Barefoot Executive.
TV movies
This film was remade as the TV movie The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes in 1995 starring Kirk Cameron as "Dexter Riley".
Other Disney Channel movies carrying similar plot elements were the Not Quite Human film series, which aired in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The films were based on the series of novels with the same name.
References
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes WikipediaThe Computer Wore Tennis Shoes IMDbThe Computer Wore Tennis Shoes Rotten TomatoesThe Computer Wore Tennis Shoes themoviedb.org