The Absent Minded Professor (1961)

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

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Writers:

Bill Walsh (screenplay by), Samuel W. Taylor (based on a story by)

Stars:

Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

A bumbling professor accidently invents flying rubber, or "Flubber", an incredible material that gains energy every time it strikes a hard surface. It allows for the invention of shoes that can allow jumps of amazing heights and enables a modified Model-T to fly. Unfortunately, no one is interested in the material except for Alonzo Hawk, a corrupt businessman who wants to steal the material for himself.

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | the white house | washington monument washington d.c. | aerial camera shot | flubber | 

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Taglines:

All about a scrambled egghead ... a flying flivver and FLUBBER (the Goo that Flew!)

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi | Sport

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The song "Medfield Fight Song" was written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, the first of many they would write for Disney.

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Goofs

When taking flight, while on the ground the wheels will turn due to being on the ground, but once airborne there is no friction with the ground to keep any of the wheels turning, yet all four wheels keep turning.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Prof. Ned Brainard: Energy takes on many forms. Example, what do we know of acoustical energy? It was discovered by a famous scientist, right? Wrong. We must give full credit to an Italian tenor who, one night, was singing an aria in a Milano pizza parlor. You all know the story, how he hit a high note, and the sound waves shattered a wine glass on the other side of the room. Watch me, and I will show you acoustical energy at work
[...]

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Alternate Versions

Also available in a colorized version (made in 1986 and later in 1997), on TV, VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray.

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Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: Children of a Lesser Clod (2001)

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Soundtracks

Medfield Fight Song
Written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

User Reviews

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 March 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Absent Minded Professor

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1