The Walt Disney company had a thing about movies with monkeys in them, through the years they made a number of them. The Monkey's Uncle, Toby Tyler, Monkey's Go Home and finally The Barefoot Executive.
The Barefoot Executive is pretty lazy and routine stuff, a typical Disney live action film from the 1970's. The film is about a monkey who can pick hit television shows for a third place network. This is essentially a satire on the world of television five years before the Paddy Chayefsky film Network came out. Since it's a Disney film the satire is mighty mild.
Probably the most interesting thing about the film is the cast. Kurt Russell who took over for Tommy Kirk in the young adult roles after Kirk got to old for the roles and was arrested for "indecent behavior" is the star. Along with Russell were Joe "Captain Binghamton" Flynn, Harry "Colonel Potter & Officer Frank Gannon" Morgan, Wally "Mr Peepers" Cox, Hayden "Dr Bellows" Roarke, John "Jack Tripper" Ritter and an actor called Heather North who was the voice of "Daphne" in those Scooby Doo cartoons. The cast is a venerable who's who of hammy character actors from the 60's and 70's.
A fascinating film only for a lot of reasons that really have nothing to do with the film.
96 minutes.
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