Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

John T. Ryan AS THE STORY goes, when Mr. Walt Disney need some cold ca$h, with which to help in paying for the completion of his then pet project, his Disneyland theme park in sunny, Southern California, he negotiated with ABC for a deal to bring a second Disney Production to the airwaves. Inasmuich as he already had his weekly DISNEYLAND being telecast for an hour, every Wednesday, another approach would be in order.INSTEAD OF PRIMETIME, Walt's attention turned to the mid to late afternoon time period; being the province of the kids. Rather than one hour at a crack, Mr. Disney opted for 5 daily shows of an hour each.IN ORDER THAT the voracious programming appetite of such an ambitious an undertaking would be constantly satiated, it was decided that this show would be of the variety nature. Because music, song and dance would be an important element of this package, singer/dancer/actor Jimmy Dodd was hired to put that part of the show together.STAFFING THE PROGRAM with young the youthful performers that would be Dodd's charges was accomplished with tryouts (aka "cattle call" on Broadway). A chosen few made he cut; all destined to answer that command of: "Mousketeer Roll Call, count off now!"* IN ADDITION TO the musical aspect of the show, the running time was filled by other features, such as: the Mickey Mouse Club Newsreel ("Dedicated to you, the Leaders of the 21st Century@!"), Special Guests, Serials (SPIN & MARTY, CORKY AND WHITE SHADOW, THE BOYS OF THE WESTERN SEA, etc.) and let us not forget Mouse Cartoon Time! ADDITIONALLY, EACH DAY had its own theme. Fun With Music, Guest Star Day, Anmything Can Happen Day (a cheater topic), Circus Day and Talent Round-Up Day. Disney Animator/Cartoonist, Roy Williams was added to the cast to add some gravitas.AS MUCH AS we hate to say it, being that it is surely a mortal sin to criticize anything that is Walt Disney, we hated all of that musical stuff! We mean, just what young boys want to watch is a lot of singing and dancing! (Well, we got past all that to watch the serial, newsreel, cartoon, etc.WHEN THE MONETARY goal was reached, Walt Disney unilaterally ended THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB; which may well be the one and only time when it wasn't the Network giving the ax to a program! And before that event, there was already a third Disney series on ABC, ZORRO starring Guy Williams.NOTE: * After all of the Mouseketeers had been chosen, Mr. Disney himself spotted a young girl at his daughters ballet recital, whom he thought would be a good candidate for the show. The girl was the Late, Miss Annette Funicello!

onerybeyle Current description of original MMC, verifiable by many published sources, are: 1) there was no Mouseketeer Bob (Robert Thornon); 2) Ruth Carell was not a Mouseketeer and did not "recur" on the show; 3)Tommy Kirk was not a Mouseketeer, although there is a photo of him in the outfit; 4) Dr. Miller, Julius Sumner, did a recurring science segment on the first two years; 5) R.G. Springsteen not a director-only Miller and first year Dik Darley directed the show;6) the show ran one hour the first two years, then half hour third year, half hour reruns fourth year 1958-59; 7) Paul Petersen, later of "Donna Reed Show" only lasted a few weeks of the first year.There were 39, only, kids on the first show 1955-59 and only 9 lasted the entire filming: Annette, Karen, Sharon, Doreen, Darlene, Cubby, Lonnie, Bobby, Tommy. First year there were 24 (+four fired)= 28. Only two lasted two seasons: Dennis years 1 & 2, Cheryl, 2, 3 & reruns. The others lasted only one season.MHB

John (opsbooks) When our first TV arrived in March, 1959, this was the show which materialised out of the ether. 6.05 PM on a Tuesday night, if my memory serves me correctly. And thus began a decade-long love affair with the lovely Annette Funicello - only she didn't know it! A wonderful team of young performers who could do just about anything, a cartoon or two, a guest star and the serial which probably starred Tim Considine. Was it 'The Hardy Boys'? I watched every episode and it was a sad day when due to changing times, the MMC left our screens.When several members toured Australia (Jimmy, Darlene and possibly Karen or Annette) they were mobbed by thousands. I wasn't one of them as we didn't have a car and I had no easy way of reaching Mascot Airport. It would be years before I came across the souvenir brochure, my one small memento of those great times ...

helpless_dancer This was the high point of many of my days back in the mid-50's. I thought Jimmy Dodd was a little flakey, but the kids were who I wanted to see anyway so I put up with him and Roy the big mousketeer. Little did I dream that Paul Peterson, Bobby Burgess, and Johnny Crawford would go on to such superstardom. Not to mention Annette's brilliance in all those epic beach films. This was a nice program to come home to after school every day, especially friday because that was western day.