#731. Superdad (1973)

Directed By: Vincent McEveety

Starring: Bob Crane, Kurt Russell, Barbara Rush



Tag line: "Young love is making waves...and Dad's about to get beached!"

Trivia:  This movie sat on the shelf for a year before Disney decided to release it








I was amazed at how well I remembered Disney’s Superdad, a movie I had last seen in theaters back in 1975 (which is when the studio finally got around to releasing this 1973 picture). I couldn’t have been more than five years old at the time, but it obviously made a lasting impression.

I was sure it starred the guy from Hogan’s Heroes (Bob Crane), and also featured the guy from McHale’s Navy (Joe Flynn, in a small role, playing his usual bad-tempered character).

I vividly recalled the water-skiing scene, I knew Bob Crane was gonna fall down some stairs at one point, and even remembered the showdown between the dad and the beatnik, which was set on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.

In fact, only one thing that slipped my mind, and that's how badly Superdad sucks.

And it does…it really, really does!

Charlie McCready (Crane) loves his daughter, Wendy (Kathleen Cody), a recent high-school graduate, and wants to see her go far in life. But Charlie believes the lazy, unambitious group of kids she hangs around with are holding her back, and the worst among them is Wendy’s boyfriend, Bart (Kurt Russell).

So, Charlie arranges for Wendy to receive a scholarship from his old Alma Mater, which takes her a long away from home. But his plan backfires when Wendy falls in with an even worse crowd in college, landing her in more trouble than she’s ever known before.

Let’s set aside for a moment the problems that lie on the surface of Superdad, like the fact it’s a sloppy film, with scenes thrown in that simply don’t fit. There’s an absolutely painful sequence where Charlie, after watching a family therapist on TV, decides he needs to spend more time with Wendy. So he tags along with her and her friends to the beach, setting up some of the most pathetic slapstick I’ve ever witnessed.

The primary issue I had with Superdad was its basic premise. Never once do we understand why Charlie is so against Wendy’s high-school chums. Featuring such future stars as Kurt Russell, Bruno Kirby and Ed Begley Jr, they are a polite, fun-loving group of teens, a far cry from the negative influence Charlie believes them to be. His opinions of them make no sense whatsoever, and as a result, there’s not a moment we are on Charlie’s side, which is problematic when you consider he’s the focal point of this movie!

Disney released some impressive live-action family fare in the ‘60s and ‘70s, a few of which are still considered classics (Swiss Family Robinson, Mary Poppins), while others remain at least passable entertainment for kids and parents alike (The World's Greatest Athlete, The North Avenue Irregulars). Why they bothered with Superdad is beyond me. This movie is damn near unwatchable.