[.ca] Horse In The Gray Flannel Suit

From Amazon.com:
Dean Jones has a typical '60s occupation: ad man. Widower Fred Bolton is in need of a fantastic campaign to promote the stomach pill Aspercel. And in typical Disney get-a-kid-and-animal-in-there fashion, he makes the contrived decision to accommodate his sweet teen daughter Helen's longing for a horse, and advance the elusive ad campaign. Fred figures if he and Helen (Ellen Janov, in her only film role) can make a champion of the horse (now named, you guessed it, Aspercel), the name will get in the papers and Helen will have her horse. Complications arise when Helen reveals she hates riding in shows. Fortunately, her riding teacher, the beautiful Suzie Clemens (underrated Diane Baker), agrees to take up the cause, and sparks a little romance with the ambitious dad. The trio have a challenging competition and Suzie's ex, the wealthy and conceited Archer Madison (Lloyd Bochner, in a role he played often), to deal with, but as with all Disney films, good and earnest triumphs over smug and self-satisfied. Look for a young Kurt Russell, who has little to do but grace the movie (and Helen) with a little teen idolness. His introduction into the film--driving a red convertible MG--is hilarious. A sweet, easy-to-watch, harmless--if a little forgettable--film. (Ages 4 and older) --N.F. Mendoza

Great Movie! LOVED it!:
Well, I thought this movie was wonderful! I am a horse lover, so I usually like almost any movie with horses in it. But I think people who are and aren't horse lovers will like this movie too. It's funny, it has a good story, and it has gripping competition. The horses used in this movie were excellent jumpers (not to mention beautiful). I have rented this movie from the local video store a minimum of 10 times. Its a good old Disney Classic thats good to watch when you just feel like curling up on a couch and watching a video.

The horse of course:
This is a great family film from the Disney Studio. A fun adventure with Dean Jones, without as much slapstick as his other Disney outings. A little adventure, big dose of comedy, with some romance thrown in while a single father has to sort out his priorities. Jones is an advertising executive that is stuck between an employer who is pressuring him for a jazzy new ad campaign, and being a single parent of a daughter that desperatley wants a horse. He is not to keen on horses, the cost of the riding instructions she is attending, or even the instructor. Of course the instructor (Diane Baker) feels his daughter is a fantastic rider and should actually compete. He is opposed to the extra cost and the let he fears his daughter will have. Through a few twists, suddenly the 2 needs meet and he not only buys a horse but lets his daughter enter it in shows. But he really does it to promote an ad campaign and figures out a way to have his clients pay for it. Meanwhile his daughter develops a love interest in another horseman, a very young Kurt Russell. And Dad begins to fall for the instructor he hates. Dianne Baker and Dean Jones have a wonderful chemistry and if you loike them together you should really see them as a married couple in another Disney comedy called, "the Ugly Dachsund". The DVD version listed here does NOT include widescreen, or remastered, or have any extras, which is a big dissapointment. My VHS version is clean though and looks fresh even though it is also not in widescreen.

Great Movie! LOVED it!:
Well, I thought this movie was wonderful! I am a horse lover, so I usually like almost any movie with horses in it. But I think people who are and aren't horse lovers will like this movie too. It's funny, it has a good story, and it has gripping competition. The horses used in this movie were excellent jumpers (not to mention beautiful). I have rented this movie from the local video store a minimum of 10 times. Its a good old Disney Classic thats good to watch when you just feel like curling up on a couch and watching a video.

Full Screen Sucks ......... most of the Time!:
DVD Movies have many great features: great picture quality, making of documentaries, trailers and much more. However my favorite feature would have to be "Widescreen". So that is why I was so disappointed when I found out this movie was full screen. I bought this movie anyways, because at less I could replace my old faded VHS tape with superb color and sound and it did. However it did more than that. Upon closer comparison I noticed that was getting a lot more picture on the top and bottom and left and right of the screen!!!! On my 32 inch TV it's about and extra inch and a half more picture around the out side of the screen compared to my VHS tape. I was overjoyed and delighted by this discovery. So don't be too hasty in judge this movie if you love widescreen. Give it a chance it will be sure to please.

DISNEY DOESN'T GET IT!!!!!:
No wonder the company is about to be taken over and broken up -- DVD was introduced to be an alternative to video, to offer more than video: better picture, more extras, and most importantly, more picture. Letterboxing. Widescreen. The complete image. So what does Disney do? They take some of their most beloved live-action films such as this one, and dump it on DVD in full-frame editions. What is the point of that? Who isn't used to widescreen DVDs yet? Why should I waste my money replacing my old Disney videos with the same crappy full screen image as before? Disney just doesn't get it, and their sales show it.