From the JUNGLE to the GYM...He's the Greatest!
1973-02-14
N/A
106 min
Stuck with a feeble sports department, college coach Sam Archer (John Amos) faces the ax unless he can reverse the school's athletic fortunes. An African vacation with his assistant (Tim Conway) answers Archer's prayers when he spots the athletically gifted Nanu (Jan-Michael Vincent). Sam counts on Nanu's remarkable abilities to put the team back on the winning track. This upbeat farce boasts an impressive cast of comedians.
Bang average.
<em>'The World’s Greatest Athlete'</em> feels like a mixture of stuff we've seen before in this era of Disney. It doesn't do enough to make an impact on me, not helped by silliness of the story and meh casting.
John Amos is the best part of this, I enjoyed what he brings to the table here. Away from him I'm struggling to remember any others already, Roscoe Lee Browne - who is in one of my favourite films, <em>'Treasure Planet'</em> - is alright but I found his character boring.
I think there's actually potential there with the overall premise, but as usual with this studio's early decades they choose to make it dumb and silly rather than meaningful - it would take a load of tweaking, but I reckon this would make a better coming-of-age/underdog story with a more proper tone. That would make it a completely different film, admittedly.
Lastly, the score is surprisingly solid while the end scene is its most amusing moment. Those two things and Amos aside, this is a bland one.
