Manthast Absolutely amazing

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

mike48128 If I did "see" it, it was on Walt Disney Presents and it wasn't on a color TV. A fabulous cast: Janet Blair, Buddy Epsen, Walter Brennan, John Davidson, Lesley Ann Warren, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Richard Deacon, Wally Cox, and others. A few "humable" Sherman Bros. songs. One song-after-another in the first 20 minutes may put you off at first, but stay with it. The family band wants to sing at the Grover Cleveland rally in St. Louis, but instead ends up resettling in The Dakota Territory. A somewhat predictable plot involving romance between Lesley and John and some family political disagreements. The last 30 minutes of the movie really "click" and thus I "upgraded" my initial rating from 8 to 9. A rousing full cast "dance" number followed by a "brawl" in which nobody really gets hurt, Disney-style. (Walt Disney died before the film was completed and it was released 18 months after his death.) Perhaps the last live action musical Disney Studios film until the very recent Beauty and The Beast? Walter Brennan does an outstanding job and "holds" the movie together!

ctheslayer Based on the memoirs of Laura Bower Van Nuys, the 1888 presidential election serves as the backdrop for this lovestory between Laura's older sister, Alice (Leslie Ann Warren) - a teacher and the eldest daughter in the Bower family's musical act, and Joe (John Davidson) - a spin doctor at odds with the families' political views.The hostilities between Democrats and Republicans over the hotly contested Cleveland/Harrison race and state's rights are more relevant today than ever in light of the 2000 Presidential Election night debaucle. And when Democrat Grandpa Bower, the patriarch of the family, substitute teaches for Alice at the local school, his decision to teach the children his views about the Civil War - very different from the views of the primarily Republican Dakotans - causes an uproar among the settlers and threatens to divide the young lovers forever.The romantic moments are sweet. The show-stopping numbers which make perfect sense in a musical about a musical act are quite impressive, especially the rousing "Ten Feet Off the Ground" high-kick routine by Warren and Janet Blair, and "West O' The Wide Missouri" featuring a young blonde dancer named Goldie Jean Hawn. Other standout performers are the incomparable Buddy Ebsen, comedian Wally Cox, a very young Kurt Russell and "Walton"/rock guitarist Jon Wamsley, and, as Grandpa, the great Walter Brennan.As both a musician and political analyst, this movie strikes a "chord" with me (that and the fact that I remember my parents taking me to see it in the theatre and owning both versions of the soundtrack!) An overlooked gem, this is family entertainment that doesn't insult your intelligence. It teaches alot about tolerance without being preachy, and, of course, it all works out in the end.

Allen Blank When Walt Disney died, he had various projects in the works and at various stages. After the success of Mary Poppins he wanted to make more big budget Roadshow musicals. A year after his death the Disney company released "The Happiest Millionaire", a wonderful film that originally ran 2 hours and 45 minutes. After the LA premiere the company afraid of a huge loss kept cutting the film down till it lost one whole number and parts of other ones and finally was cut by a whole half an hour on his general release, which was done with minimal publicity, and didn't do much at the box office. A year later they had another Roadshow musical to release, "The One And Only, Genuine, Original Family Band. But after the failure of "The Happiest Millionaire", the company that Walt let behind were running scared. They decided to premiere the 2 hour and 15 minute film At Radio City Musical Hall for it's Christmas Show. But because of their stage show among other concessions, they told Disney that they will only show the film as their Christmas Attraction if they cut the film to under 2 hours. So for the Music Hall premiere they cut the film to 1 hour and 50 minutes, but still were going to release the long version as a Roadshow attraction. But the shortened film didn't do well, plus other Roadshow attractions that did have a Roadshow release failed at the box office. So Disney decided to release the shortened version of the film in general release the following spring, without much fanfare. The film died at the box office and was then shown as a two parter, cut even more, on the Wonderful World of Disney the following year.This film didn't deserve it's fate. At it's current state it's still a fun musical about Grandpa (Walter Brennan) a devout Democrat who organised his family into a band to play at the Democratic Presidential convention for the current US President, Grover Cleavland. But his granddaughter (Lesley Ann Warren) has a teaching job off in the Dakota territory for a man(John Davidson)that she's fallen in love with. So Grandpa made the ultimate sacrifice and instead of going to the democratic convention they went to Dakota, a primary Republican area. Grandpa stirs up trouble and the two loves fight, then on the eve of election, everything comes to a head to a great climax. One interesting trivia in the film is that one of Warren's bothers is played by young Kurt Russell and a girl that Davison uses to get Warren jealous is a young dancer named Goldie Jeanne Hawn, yes Goldie Hawn.In the wake of the release of the DVDs of the restored Roadshow version of "The Happiest Millionaire" and the restored version of "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", maybe Disney will dust this film off and restore it as well for a future DVD release. I can only hope.

bailey44 This is a classic Disney movie involving a small bit of American history. This movie deals with a family that moves out to the Dakota Territory and the presidential election involving President Grover Cleveland. If you liked "The Happiest Millionaire" then you will probably enjoy this movie also. Because of this movie, I will always remember that Grover Cleveland lost this reelection, but won next four years later.