The AbsentMinded Professor (1961)

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Writers:

Bill Walsh (screenplay)
Samuel W. Taylor (story)

Release Date:

16 March 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi | Sport

Tagline:

The funniest discovery since laughter!! [1976 re-release UK]

Plot:

A college professor invents an anti-gravity substance which a corrupt businessman wants for himself.

Plot Keywords:

Professor | Shoes | Invention | Nutty Professor | Locker Room

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Fred MacMurray	...	Prof. Ned Brainard
Nancy Olson	...	Betsy Carlisle
Keenan Wynn	...	Alonzo P. Hawk
Tommy Kirk	...	Biff Hawk
Leon Ames	...	President Rufus Daggett
Elliott Reid	...	Prof. Shelby Ashton
Edward Andrews	...	Defense Secretary
David Lewis	...	Gen. Singer
Jack Mullaney	...	Air Force Captain
Belle Montrose	...	Mrs. Chatsworth
Wally Brown	...	Coach Elkins
Wally Boag	...	TV Newsman
Don Ross	...	Lenny
Forrest Lewis	...	Officer Kelley
James Westerfield	...	Officer Hanson

Also Known As:

The Absent-Minded Professor (Australia)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #19680) (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1974) | Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Renwick Gym, Pomona College - 333 N. College Way, Claremont, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Three generations of the Wynn family act in this film: Ed Wynn; his son Keenan Wynn; and Keenan Wynn's son, Ned Wynn.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Alonzo Hawk is talking to Ned and Betsy about 'merging together', Betsy is putting on his flubberized shoes. Right before Alonzo gets up you clearly see that the soles of the shoes do not have Flubber applied, although he jumps as if he did. He never changes shoes.

Quotes:

[the fire crew has arrived to rescue Alonzo Hawk, who is now bouncing out of control]
Fire Chief: [shouting through megaphone] Mr. Hawk! This is the Fire Chief speaking! We'll have everything under control in just a moment. Now Mr. Hawk, try to relax.
Alonzo P. Hawk: Relax? How can I relax, you fat-head?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Disneyland: Disney Goes to the Oscars (#30.8)" (1986)

Soundtrack:

Medfield Fight Song

More Bounce To The Ounce

The Absentminded Professor was the second film that Fred MacMurray in his second career rebirth with Walt Disney as the midwife. He scored an enormous success in The Shaggy Dog and Disney films together with his My Three Sons TV series established MacMurray as the quintessential family father figure which would endure for the rest of his life.

I do remember seeing this in the theater back as a youngster and back then the younger ones in the crowd were looking at Tommy Kirk who was at the height of his Disney popularity.

Nevertheless MacMurray gives a delightful performance as science professor Ned Brainerd who's accidentally invented a variation on rubber which has a great deal more bounce to it.

He's so wrapped up in his experiment that he's even forgetting his wedding day to Nancy Olson, AGAIN. She's about had it with him and ready to fall for the wolfish English professor Elliott Reid.

MacMurray has his own troubles. Other than helping his college win a basketball game with a team that they are way overmatched against, he's not quite decided what use this stuff he calls flubber is good for. But wealthy Keenan Wynn sure wants to get his hands on it.

Funniest sequence in the film is Keenan Wynn after MacMurray and Olson trick him into wearing flubberized shoes is seeing bounce slowly into the stratosphere before a quick thinking Tommy Kirk devises a way to counteract his flubberized dad.

The AbsentMinded Professor was so popular with audiences that Disney did another version with almost the entire same cast in Son of Flubber.

That one was almost as funny, but this still has a lot of laughs even after almost fifty years.