Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Tony Randall | ... | Prof. Daniel Potter | |
Shirley Jones | ... | Janice Claridge | |
Edward Andrews | ... | Griswald | |
Howard Morris | ... | Sweeney | |
Ernest Truex | ... | Claridge | |
Jim Backus | ... | Sergeant | |
Frank Faylen | ... | Catfish | |
Celia Milius | ... | Sally Brighton (as Celia Kaye) | |
Dick Sargent | ... | Tommy | |
Adam Roarke | ... | Bob Brighton | |
Whit Bissell | ... | Dr. Braden | |
Harriet E. MacGibbon | ... | Mrs. Claridge (as Harriet MacGibbon) | |
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Jim Boles | ... | Pete |
Parley Baer | ... | Police Captain | |
Connie Gilchrist | ... | Maid |
Fluffy the lion is the main attraction in this comedy. He plays the subject of an ambitious experiment done by Daniel Potter (TONY RANDALL), a scientist trying to prove that even a wild animal like a lion can be made into a pet with proper training. Wherever he goes, Potter's ponderous pet incites mayhem amongst the region's fearful residents. To escape his panicky neighbors, Potter and Fluffy hide out in a hotel. There, the owner's daughter (SHIRLEY JONES) falls for the unlikely duo, while everyone else fall all over themselves in a panic. Our heroes find themselves on the run from the law when Fluffy is accused of eating someone! Can Potter stop the police before they shoot an innocent lion? Written by Ian McKendell <imckendell@mac.com>
Tony Randall plays a professor of comparative psychology who is chased out of his animal lab by the cops, who are responding to complaints by the neighbors that he's harboring a wild beast. It's only Fluffy, a tame and very sleepy lion, who checks in with Randall at an apartment-hotel under the nose of manager Edward Andrews (Randall orders 35 hamburgers and a vat of Pablum from room service, sending the Asian staff into a tizzy). A brunette Shirley Jones plays the begrudging love-interest, who initially believes police reports that Randall is psychotic (he's so incredibly guileless about how other people feel about an uncaged lion walking around that the cops may have a point). Gitchy-goo comedy for family audiences; utterly underwhelming and unrewarding. Jim Backus is wasted as a desk sergeant; Adam Roarke (later of the juvenile delinquent wheelers of the late-'60s) has a clean-cut role here as a newlywed. *1/2 from ****