The Shaggy Dog (1959)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Charles Barton

Writers:

Bill Walsh (screenplay) and
Lillie Hayward (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 March 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Comedy | Fantasy

Tagline:

It's dog-gone FUNNY!

Plot:

Through an ancient spell, a boy changes into a sheepdog and back again. It seems to happen at inopportune...

Plot Keywords:

Animal | Spy | Ring | Escape | Mailman

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Fred MacMurray	...	Wilson Daniels
Jean Hagen	...	Freeda Daniels
Tommy Kirk	...	Wilby Daniels
Annette Funicello	...	Allison D'Allessio
Tim Considine	...	Buzz Miller
Kevin Corcoran	...	Moochie (Montgomery) Daniels
Cecil Kellaway	...	Professor Plumcutt
Alexander Scourby	...	Dr. Mikhail Andrassy
Roberta Shore	...	Franceska Andrassy
James Westerfield	...	Officer Hanson
Strother Martin	...	Thurm
Forrest Lewis	...	Officer Kelly
Ned Wever	...	FBI Chief E.P. Hackett
Gordon Jones	...	Captain Scanlon, Police Chief
Jacques Aubuchon	...	Stefano

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:K-8 | USA:G (re-rating) (1974) | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Gregory Peck was the second choice for the role of Wilson Daniels.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Thum comes to visit Dr. Andrassy at his home, Dr. Andrassy seems a little surprised and tells him, "I told you never to come here at night." At the end of the scene, Dr. Andrassy says to Thum that he'll seem him at the doctor's home again the following night at 8:00pm, even though at the beginning of the scene he told him never to go to his house at night.

Quotes:

Buzz Miller: Hey, Wilby, what is it this time?
Wilby Daniels: What about the seven bucks I loaned you?
Buzz Miller: What about it?
Wilby Daniels: Cough it up. Pop pulled the plug on my allowance.
Buzz Miller: Gee, pal, I'd like to help you out, but you know how it is. I've got a date with Allison.
Wilby Daniels: I'm sick and tired of financing your romances.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Scarlett Johansson/Death Cab for Cutie (#31.10)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

The Shaggy Dog

This was NOT Disney's first live-action feature

The "Wild & Woolly" DVD edition of 1959's THE SHAGGY DOG (and some product reviews and posts found here) claim this film is the "first live action movie ever produced by Walt Disney!" I guess all those other live action features Walt produced PRIOR to THE SHAGGY DOG (such as 1957's OLD YELLER or 1954's Academy Award-winning 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, among others) didn't count? (One comment posted here stated that 20,000 LEAGUES, like TREASURE ISLAND, was one of the films done for Disney in England because of studio funds tied up there. Not true; when not filming on location, 20,000 LEAGUES was shot on the sound stages at the Disney Studio in California...information supplied to me by the studio while I was researching & writing a magazine article on the making of the film.) I can see how some reviewers might make such a mistake, but for the claim to appear on the packaging that was approved by the Disney staff takes some serious explaining. (As does the differences in running time for the two versions of the film, with the B&W version being the full cut of the movie, while the colorized version is missing about 10 minutes of material.) Don't get me wrong,this is a great comedy and well worth having...it just deserved a bit better treatment for its fans.