The Strongest Man in the World ** (1975, Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, Eve Arden, Phil Silvers, Cesar Romero, Dick Van Patten, Harold Gould, James Gregory) – Classic Movie Review 11,336

The Strongest Man in the World (1975) is ‘The Biggest Laff-Lifter of the Year!’

Director Vincent McEveety’s 1975 The Strongest Man in the World is a moderately engaging, daft Disney youth comedy with Kurt Russell back for the third (and last) time as college kid Dexter Riley, who gets superhuman strength mega-powers and wins a weightlifting contest when he discover a new chemical and eats a strange breakfast cereal.

Cute and amusing performances from Eve Arden and Phil Silvers as Harriet Crumply and Kirwood Krinkle, rivals for the formula, Cesar Romero as the bad guy A J Arno, Dick Van Patten, Harold Gould, James Gregory and Joe Flynn as the dean, Dean Higgins, help out. But the film does flag and drag a lot in places, with invention and good jokes at a premium in the screenplay by Joseph L McEveety and Herman Groves.

Also in the cast are Michael McGreevey, Richard Bakalyan [Dick Bakalyan], William Schallert, Benson Fong, Ann Marshall, Don Carter, Christina Anderson, Paul Linke, Jack David Walker, Melissa Caffey, John Debney, Derrel Maury, Matthew Conway Dunn, Pat Fitzpatrick, David R Ellis, Larry J Franco, Roy Roberts, and Fritz Feld.

It is the final film of Joe Flynn, who died of a heart attack, age 49, on 19 July 1974, the year before it was released in the US on 6 February 1975. UK audiences had to wait till 15 August 1976.

It follows The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) and Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972).

The Strongest Man in the World is directed by Vincent McEveety, runs 92 minutes, is made by Walt Disney Productions, is released  by Buena Vista, is written by Joseph L McEveety and Herman Groves, is shot by Andrew Jackson (Technicolor), is produced by Bill Anderson, is scored by Robert F Brunner, and designed by John B Mansbridge.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,336

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