The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

Now here's a tricky one... a man, a horse, and a fence. Bet you haven't seen many movies with that threesome!

This screenshot comes from a movie that you may have seen. If you can name the film it is from, you've won this round of the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game....but you'll never know unless you guess, so give us your best shot down below in the comment box.

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

Get Smart: The Exploding Bomb Game (1965)

 Would you believe that there was a Get Smart boardgame with an exploding time bomb? That's a gimmick that only Ideal could have come up with and the toy company did a great job of capturing the spirit of the popular spy spoof series with this fun game. 

Each player plays Maxwell Smart (Secret Agent 86), who must collect clue cards from various locations to piece together a picture of an enemy KAOS agent. But watch out for Kaos agents for they are everywhere! Worse yet, there is an exploding (spring-driven) time bomb that is ready to go off at any second! 

The board featured some cute graphics of the four Kaos agents wreaking havoc and an ambulance with what looks like a caped woman hanging on by the bumper. The game usually sells for $50-$75 but often the spring on the time bomb is broken...or the bomb is missing completely (what kid could resist pocketing it?). 

Ideal also made a Get Smart Card Game for those who didn't want to mess with bombs. Don Adams lent his likeness to other toy companies in the 1960s and 1970s, namely for a line of "Skittle" games for Aurora toys. There was Skittle Tennis, Skittle Horseshoes and Skittle Tac-Toe among others. 

From the Archives: A Ticklish Affair (1963)

 
Little Grover (Peter Robbins) was taking a flight on some tethered weather balloons when he decided to cut the ropes and really soar in 1963's A Ticklish Affair. This brought Officer Key (Gig Young) and a fleet of patrol cars out trying to chase him down...a difficult task to do with San Diego's shifting winds.

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)

In 1948, Busby Berkeley was hired to direct the all-American musical Take Me Out to the Ball Game but midway through production he had to withdraw due to health issues. That's when Gene Kelly stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun with a blockbuster! 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game was the first film to team Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin and this winning threesome were so entertaining they joined forces right afterwards for the classic On the Town, both directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. 

The Donen-Kelly duo were also responsible for penning this story, a wholesome blend of Americana, baseball, and good ol' gambling. Gene Kelly stars as Eddie O'Brien, short-stop of the fictional Wolves pro-ball team. When playing with his buddies, first baseman Dennis Ryan (Sinatra) and third baseman Nat Goldberg (Munshin), they're unbeatable. The owner of the Wolves recently passed away and his niece K.C. Higgins (Williams) arrives to take a "hands on" approach to ownership. At first, they resent this, but then they come to admire her.... all except Eddie, who is steamed that she moved up their curfew and increased the fine for breaking it. Eddie likes to entertain the girls at night, so that cramps his style. 

Eddie likes to entertain, period. When he isn't playing ball, he is cutting capers. Off season, he and Dennis are a popular vaudeville act. When Joe Lorgan (Edward Arnold), a big gambler in town, bets heavily against the Wolves, he uses Eddie's love of show business to lure him away from training. But when Eddie learns he has been made a stooge he rallies back to help the Wolves - and his buddies - win the pennant. 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game was a box-office success on its release and raked in nearly $3,000,000. It had that magical aura that only the Arthur Freed unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer could create. This one also bore the unique stamp of Busby Berkeley, Stanley Donen, and Gene Kelly, who directed most of the dance sequences. 

Berkeley and Kelly originally wanted Judy Garland to play the leading lady but she was having substance problems, so Ginger Rogers was cast as her replacement. Ginger then backed out a month prior to filming and Esther Williams took over. What a jim dandy substitute! 

Williams was ideal for the role and perfectly cast. She was already a leading star and this role let her take a quick break from swimming - she only had one simple pool routine in the picture. However, as Williams put it in her autobiography, filming Take Me Out to the Ball Game was an experience of "pure misery." Kelly was too demanding as a director and, along with Donen, seemed to resent her. 

Betty Garrett, who had a wonderful role as a boy-crazy girl chasing the girl-shy Dennis Ryan, had a different experience. In her autobiography she wrote that "making Ball Game.. was pure joy and Frank was an absolute delight to work with." 

"Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

"There ain't nobody my size!"

Jules Munshin was making his breakthrough screen role in Take Me Out to the Ball Game. He had previously had a bit part in Easter Parade (1948) as a waiter and, on the strength of that performance, got this role. He made a great "third wheel" and was even more entertaining in On the Town.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game included a number of pleasant - albeit forgettable - musical numbers, the best of which feature Gene Kelly dancing. "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg" and "It's Fate Baby, It's Fate" are the most fun to watch, but the patriotic "Strictly U.S.A" number is classic MGM - lavish and entertaining. 

All in all, Take Me Out to the Ball Game is a pitch-perfect blend of song, slapstick, and sentiment and - with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra rounding the bases - the film scores big in every inning so, if you're in a baseball mood, this one's a grand slam in entertainment. 

Gold Key Comic: Walt Disney Presents Bullwhip Griffin (1967)

"On the trail of California gold, a boy and his family butler seek a lost map to the fabulous Mother Lode!"

That's Bullwhip Griffin in a nutshell, but there is much more to the story than that and this comic, from Gold Key publications, shows you just how entertaining the movie is. That's what these comics were for.... a little entertainment and a lot of promotion. The comic books were usually released as movie tie-ins just after the film was released in theatres. 

Gold Key and Dell Movie Classics were the two big comic book houses that issued all of the latest film releases in picture-story format. Gold Key was lucky enough to have a license from Walt Disney Productions, so they issued all of the Disney film adaptations, comic characters (like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse), as well as the Disney television adaptations (Zorro, The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, The Hardy Boys, etc)....and they made them quite nicely. In fact, I think Gold Key's illustrations are a slight cut above Dell's quality. 

The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin, starring Roddy McDowall, Suzanne Pleshette, and Karl Malden, hit the theatres in 1967 and, shortly after, this wonderful little comic book arrived on the newsstands. It followed the film scene by scene and most of the characters were drawn to match the actors in the movie...with the exception of "Bullwhip" himself, Roddy McDowall. Bullwhip doesn't resemble Roddy in the least. 

Walt Disney presents Bullwhip Griffin sells for $2-$12 on average but could go up to $30 for a near mint condition comic. If you're a fan of the film, it is a nice collectible to own. 

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

Here's a man who seems to be irritated with someone - or is it with something someone said? He gets happy quickly, however. Remember this film? I'm sure you do. Just pop the title in the comment box below and you'll get a prize. 

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)

Dexter Riley (Kurt Russell), a popular but not-too-smart student at Medfield College, becomes a walking whiz-kid when he accidentally electrocutes himself with the donated computer the college received from wealthy businessman A.J. Arno (Cesar Romero). Now he has encyclopedic knowledge and lightning-fast recall. Dexter's mechanical brain turns him into a national sensation, and he finds his newfound skill going to his head when Arno recruits him to his business, but he soon discovers that "everyone is out for themselves!". A.J. wants to exploit Dexter’s abilities for his own gain, while the deans of two colleges are attempting to recruit him for academic competitions so they can win funds for the school. 

Dexter doesn't realize that he absorbed sensitive data from the computer - incriminating information about Arno's illegal gambling rings. When he accidentally blurts it out on live television during an academic quiz challenge, Arno's henchmen kidnap him, prompting his college friends to mount a rescue to get Dexter back on TV so they can win for good ol' Medfield!

"The State Collegian Classification Test is tomorrow. As you know, we came in 36th last year. I think we can improve on that." (Dean's announcement)

"36th? You know Dexter, there are only 37 colleges in the state." - Annie

"Gee, I wonder who we beat?" - Dexter

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is a light-hearted comedy from Walt Disney that was geared for the teenage market when it was released. It proved to be so popular that two more Dexter Riley films were made, each one featuring a different scientific breakthrough: invisibility (Now You See Him, Now You Don't) and super-strength (The Strongest Man in the World). 

Kurt Russell was ideally cast as Dexter, your average good-looking but not-too-bright college student. He's loyal to little Medfield College and means well in all he does, but things always tend to backfire and, when it does, his pal Schuyler (Michael McGreevey) is usually right beside him. Dexter is a genius compared to Schuyler who really bumbles things. Luckily, their recurring opponent - A.J. Arno and his stooge Chillie (Richard Bakalyan) aren't the sharpest sharks in the tank. Like most Disney films of the 1960s and 1970s, the Dexter Riley series end with a chase scene and this is when A.J. and his gang always get caught. 

Kurt Russell is not usually considered a comedian but he was great in all the Dexter films. In The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, he is especially funny when he tries to sputter out the answers to the remaining quiz questions agonizingly slow while his "computer" is shutting down. 

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes boasts a great supporting cast of character actors: the talented William Schallert plays Medfield's science teacher Professor Quimby whom the students love but the dean despises; Alan Hewitt plays Dean Collingsgood of the rival State College, and Joe Flynn portrays Medfield's Dean Higgins, a lovable fussbucket. Joe had previously appeared in Disney's The Love Bug but, as Dean Higgins, he had a chance to showcase his unique comedic talent. He reappeared in both Dexter Riley sequels as well as in The Barefoot Executive with Kurt Russell, before his death in 1974. 

Jon Provost, Frank Webb, Debbie Paine, and Frank Welker have supporting roles as Dexter's college pals. 

There's a lot to like in this film: its groovy opening (with computer punch card graphics!), the small town college vibes, the dunebuggy chase, and the TV quiz show finale - not to mention Kurt Russell. If you enjoy it - as we certainly did - then check out the sequels. Luckily, all of Russell's Disney films are on DVD and are available to stream through Disney+.