Reviews (5)

Rolling the dice on a Disney DVD?We have a winner!
Here is an excellent example of live-action Disney from the 1970's.A fun film for everyone starring Jan-Michael Vincent as a superathlete raised in the rain forrest (what we used to call the jungle), Roscoe Lee Browne as his mentor, the very funny Nancy Walker as a blind landlady, and the ever comic genius, Tim Conway.The best suprise is a very funny performance from actor John Amos as a track coach with a dismal win-loss record.

Disney Studios is graciously presenting this fine movie in its Original Aspect Ratio of 1.85:1.Why this movie and not others is, well, typical Disney mentality.But I guess we take 'em as we get 'em and Disney gets my money.Too bad "That Darn Cat, The Barefoot Executive and Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N." missed the 'letterbox boat'!

Terrific, underrated Disney comedy
In my opinion, "The World's Greatest Athlete" may very well be the best Disney comedy of the '70's, even better than "Freaky Friday" or "Apple Dumpling Gang."It's also incredibly underrated, with Leonard Maltin seemingly alone among major critics in loving it.

Without giving anything away, it is a goofy, inspired slapstick comedy with a terrific cast including an absolutely hilarious Tim Conway as an inept assistant coach, a well-cast Jan-Michael Vincent as a superathlete, the wonderful Roscoe Lee Browne, rising above his stereotypical, potentially offensive role as
an African witch-doctor, and the wonderful Nancy Walker as a blind landlady who mistakes a tiger for a drunken
frat boy.

But top acting honors go to John Amos as the losingest college coach in history.The fact that he is black is important to the story set-up, but is completely uncommented on in the film and therefore makes the film ahead of its time, at least for Disney studios, who I believe had never before had a black lead actor in one of its films.This is also the film in which Howard Cosell plays himself in a hilarious bit and delivers the great line:"I have never seen anything like this in my entire illustrious career!"

The only reason I don't give "The World's Greatest Athlete" better than a *** rating is that it isn't yet available in the remastered, wide-screen special edition DVD it deserves.Come on, Disney, get on the ball.You have a real gem in your vault and you act like you don't even know it.

an awesome goofball movie
this is a dumbell movie chock full of really stupid stuff. it's so dumb it's funny. i wish more movies were like this that doesn't take itself seriously. i own 2 copies of this movie.

boy how i remember
i remember seeing this movie when i was a little kid. my grandmother took me to see this in radio city music hall. that was way back at the beginning of the 70's. what a great film but i will not purchase it until it comes out on dvd. THANK YOU.

A great wholesome comedy for the entire family
A great wholesome comedy for the entire family. The kids will love it too. We need more family oriented movies like this one to be made in todays day and age. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Mary Tyler Moore is Fabulous!This DVD Release is a Waste!
I don't own, nor do I plan to purchase this product because I ALREADY own the Complete 1st Season on DVD!What overpaid executive came up with this stupid release?I agree with the other writers, how about a Season 2 preview tape?What good is a preview after the full season has been released?Just a ridiculous marketing plan.

This would be the same as going to the theater and seeing previews of films that were released almost 2 years prior!

Why is Fox so ignorant?
Fox is releasing all these so-called "best of" disks of their shows, only AFTER releasing the first seasons.This is absured and insulting to the fans that have bought the complete seasons and to fans of the shows in general.<>

Four Top Notch Episodes
In a recent effort to get casual fans interested in their TV products on DVD, Fox has released four episode starter sets of several of their shows.Reasonably priced, they tempt the viewer to buy the first season and even provide a coupon for the purchase price of the sampler off the price of the complete first season if offered.The casual fan has little to loose.

And this set offers four of the funniest episodes from the first season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show."Love is All Around" is one of my favorite TV pilots ever, expertly introducing us to the characters we'd grow to love as the series progressed.

"Support Your Local Mother" brings Rhoda's Mom for a visit.With Mary as her host, Mary begins to see why Rhoda has a hard time dealing with her mother.

"Toulouse-Lautrec Is One of My Favorite Artists" finds Mary confronting the realization that she's a height bigot when a charming but shorter man asks her out.

"The Snow Must Go On" places Mary in charge of election night coverage.Vowing they won't go off the air until they get final results, Mary must keep Ted going when they are cut off from any source of news.

Of course, the problem with this disc is that any fan of the show has had two and a half years to get the complete first season by now.But if you are a casual fan, this disc will give you four top notch episodes from the first season of this classic sit-com.

Good but buy the complete season 1 instead
I am rating this 5 stars just because the MTM show deserves 5 stars.Notice that the sales rank of this start up disk is much lower than the complete box set.Good.I want Fox to release seasons 2+ in their entirety.And hopefully this will help.Just a note to the Fox team who is putting out the MTM dvds..... Include the entire cast on the box.The pictures they use nowis making it look like the 'Independent Seventies Woman striking it out on her own' type show which was new at the time but today it's dated.If they include Ted, Lou, Murray, etc. it will appeal to a much wider audience who know and love these characters.

For "Starters", Check Out These Four Terrific MTM Episodes!
On March 22, 2005, Fox Home Entertainment released this "TV Starter Set" DVD consisting of four of the best episodes from Season #1 of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". This one-disc "Starter" Pack is nice for those people who are not at all familiar with the MTM Show (and would just like to see a "sample" from the series), or for those who are already fans of Mary's show, but don't want to dig too deep into their pocketbooks and purchase the full-season, 24-episode DVD boxed set of the first MTM season, which is a compilation which also earns a perfect "Five-Star" rating from this writer.

Unlike the deluxe 4-Disc "Complete First Season" DVD set of "TMTMS", there aren't any special bonus features on this "Starter" disc -- just the four episodes (listed below). But it's still a very good deal, IMO, at the bargain price offered.

The video quality for these four stellar MTM episodes is simply SUPERB! I doubt these shows could look any better. The colors are perfect and vibrant and there's no annoying video "noise" or artifacts (that I can detect at any rate).

Each episode here gets its own "Chapter" sub-menu on the disc, with 10 chapter stops per show! Video is presented in the original TV ratio of 1.33:1; the audio sounds just fine via the disc's English Dolby Digital soundtrack (of the 2.0 Mono variety). There are even two foreign-language tracks included (in Spanish 2.0 Mono and French 2.0 Mono); plus Subtitles in English and Spanish. Unfortunately, there is not a "Play All" feature included.

There's also a very short "Mary Tyler Moore TV Spot" included on this disc. This is not an original 1970 CBS-TV promo for TMTMS, however. It's a brief 15-second ad pitching the 4-Disc "Complete First Season" set of The MTM Show.

A 12-page insert (DVD advertising booklet) also comes with this Starter Set, featuring many ads for other FOX TV-On-DVD products.

And -- You also get a valuable mail-in certificate good for $10.00 off the price of one of FOX's full-season DVD boxed sets. According to this coupon offer, you don't necessarily have to use the discount for the Mary Tyler Moore first-season collection. You can apply the $10 discount to any one of 12 different complete-season sets put out by Fox Home Entertainment -- "TMTMS" Season 1, "24" Seasons 1 thru 3, "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" Seasons 1 thru 7, or "The Pretender" Season 1. The coupon offer expires December 31, 2005.


Here's a glance at the four episodes that make up this "MTM Starter Set" (with original CBS-TV Air Dates in parenthesis)............

1.) "Love Is All Around" (09/19/1970)
2.) "Support Your Local Mother" (10/24/1970)
3.) "Toulouse-Lautrec Is One Of My Favorite Artists" (10/31/1970)
4.) "The Snow Must Go On" (11/7/1970)

"Love Is All Around" is the debut episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", and does a great job of introducing the viewing audience to "Mary Richards", "Rhoda Morgenstern", "Phyllis Lyndstrom", "Lou Grant", "Murray Slaughter", and "Ted Baxter".

Everybody in this series was first-rate all the way, with the show picking up more steam as the first season progressed; and it got even better in Season #2.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was one of the most popular and successful TV comedy series ever aired on network television, accumulating an amazing 67 Emmy nominations during its seven-year period on the airwaves (1970 to 1977). The series won 29 total Emmy Awards, including four during its rookie season.

This MTM "Starter" disc is a fine supplementary addition to the DVD collection of anyone who loves flat-out good TV shows.

------------------------------

Post-Script / Related News:

MTM SEASON TWO IS COMING TO DVD ON JULY 26, 2005!

This Season 2 news is also confirmed on the Main Menu of this "MTM Starter" disc. At the top of this disc's Main Menu are the words "Season 2 Available Summer 2005". Plus, the Menu screen also provides other informational blurbs as well, letting the viewer know that "The Bob Newhart Show Season 1" is coming soon; and that MTM Season 1 is available now.

This is outstanding news, indeed, for those who have been craving MTM Season Two on DVD ever since the first-season set was released on September 24, 2002. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

I WANNA BE RHODA!!!!!
Don't get me wrong Mary Tyler Moore was a "nice" character, but waaaaaay overrated!!!! Rhoda was so much funnier and well deserving of her own show!!!

Although I watched this show in re-runs ( it's original run was before my time), I really enjoyed Rhoda living the single life in New York during the Sensational Seventies!!! Valerie Harper JUST PLAIN ROCKED AS RHODA! She had a great relationship with her sister Brenda, was time enough for her pain in the butt mother ( played by the very funny Nancy Walker), she had a really cool apartment, and I just loved those fabulous scarfs she wore on her head. Very Chic!!!
The 1970's was such a fantastic era for some of the best sitcoms ever created and Rhoda was among them!!! The story lines were well written and the dialogue was really funny, unlike the pathetic sitcoms currently wasting valuable network airtime today!!! I don't even bother to check the tv guide anymore, I'd rather watch Nick at Night or TV Land instead!!!
Well bad tv is an entirely different and depressing subject so I'll just say my prayers and hope the powers at be are listening and RELEASE RHODA ON DVD PRONTO!!!

First Season (1974-75)
Why is this show so hard to find in reruns?I never even saw this until Nick at Nite added it to their lineup in the 1990s, but I instantly fell in love with the show and all the characters in Rhoda's life.

After 4 years as Mary Tyler Moore's best friend on the MTM show, Rhoda moved home to Manhattan so she could be near her sister Brenda (Julie Kavner, now the voice of Marge Simpson!) and pursue a relationship with Joe Gerard (David Groh).Nancy Walker played her pushy mother Ida and Harold Gould played her dad Martin.Both had appeared on the MTM show in those characters beforehand.Heard but not seen was the drunken doorman, Carlton (Lorenzo Music, who helped create this show and then later on became the voice of Garfield the cat).

Season 1's opening credits had Valerie Harper, as Rhoda, telling about her life and why she moved back to New York while we saw several pictures fly across the screen in a mostly animated montage.This opening was dropped later on, but its my favorite of all the openings used.

Here are the first season episodes for what will eventually prove to be a great DVD set:

01 - Joe (9-9-74)
Rhoda comes home to visit her sister and meets Joe Gerard (Mary Tyler Moore guest stars).

02 - You Can Go Home Again (9-16-74)
Rhoda moves out of Brenda's small apartment back into her bedroom at Ida's place.

03 - I'll Be Loving You Sometimes (9-23-74)
Joe tells Rhoda he wants to back off from dating because of his failed first marriage.

04 - Parents Day (9-30-74)
Ida manipulates Rhoda into letting her and Martin finally meet Joe.

05 - Lady In Red (10-7-74)
Rhoda gets a job working for a book publisher, but the job doesn't last and she goes back to window dressing.

06 - Pop Goes The Question (10-14-74)
Joe asks Rhoda to move in with him, but she would rather they get married (Mary Tyler Moore guest stars again).

07 - The Shower (10-21-74)
Brenda throws Rhoda a last-minute wedding shower and invites her old friends from high school, except one of them (Linda Lavin) turns out to have been Rhoda's fierce rival.

08 - Rhoda's Wedding (10-28-74)
Ida manages to get Rhoda and Joe to hold their wedding at her apartment in the Bronx, causing catastrophe when Phyllis forgets to pick her up and Rhoda is forced to ride the subway IN HER WEDDING DRESS!Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, Gavin Macleod, Georgia Engel and Cloris Leachman from the MTM show guest star.This was a 1 hour episode but always got replayed as two separate parts.

09 - The Honeymoon (11-4-74)
Ida gives Rhoda and Joe a honeymoon cruise, but it turns out to be a cruise for old people.

10 - 9E Is Available (11-11-74)
Joe thinks it would be a mistake to move into Brenda's apartment building and Brenda thinks it's because Joe doesn't like her.

11 - I'm A Little Late, Folks (11-18-74)
Rhoda thinks she might be pregnant.

12 - Anything Wrong? (11-25-74)
Rhoda worries when Joe goes to his father (Robert Alda) for marriage advice.

13 - S'Wonderful (12-2-74)
Rhoda can't help interfering when she thinks Brenda's new boyfriend is really married.

14 - Goodbye Charlie (12-9-74)
Rhoda can't stand Joe's chauvenistic best friend and struggles to get along with him.

15 - Guess What I Got You For The Holidays (12-16-74)
Rhoda gives Joe a large sum of cash for Christmas but he loses it trying to save his demolition business.

16 - Whattaya Think It's There For? (1-6-75)
Ida insists on loaning Joe some money to save his business and is offended when he and Rhoda try to tell her no.

17 - Not Made For Each Other (1-13-75)
Rhoda fixes up her shy friend Myrna with Joe's friend Charlie.

18 - Strained Interlude (1-20-75)
Joe is jealous when Rhoda's old boyfriend wants to meet with her after being apart so many years.

19 - Everything I Have is Yours Almost (1-27-75)
Rhoda worries when she finds out Joe's been seeing a doctor.

20 - Chest Pains (2-3-75)
Rhoda and Brenda accompany Ida when she visits a doctor about chest pains (Norman Fell plays the doctor, and John Ritter guest stars as Brenda's date).

21 - Windows By Rhoda (2-10-75)
Rhoda finally rents an office to run her window dressing business, and hired Myrna as her assistant.

22 - A Nice Warm Rut (2-24-75)
Rhoda and Joe end up fighting after Brenda announces she's moving to San Francisco.

23 - Ida The Elf (3-3-75)
Rhoda and Brenda find out that Ida got a job in a hospital.

24 - Along Comes Mary (3-10-75)
Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore guest starring again!) shows up for a surprise visit just as Rhoda and Joe are about to leave for a weekend getaway.

CAN'T WAIT
I was excited about Mary Tyler Moore Season #2 and now I'm thrilled to see this will be available too.Look forward to preordering. Thank you.

HEY FOX ~ BRING ON THAT FIRST SEASON!!
This show rocked those first two years.Who cares what the critics have to say-- Rhoda as a married woman was not just funny as all getout but was a relief to see after those 4 years as Mare's chronicly single best bud.Rho deserved some happiness and that wedding episode delivered in spades!!
Hey you Fox studio suit guys, you need to put this out like you did the Bob Newhart & Mary discs!
IF YOU RELEASE IT, WE WILL BUY!!!
(PS:What about PHYLLIS??-- Mother Dexter was the best!!) ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Still just as great, over 60 years later
Lucille Ball, Tommy Dix, Virginia Weidler, June Allyson, and Nancy Walker star in this hilarious and refreshing story of a military school student who invites a famous movie actress to the prom.

Bud Hooper didn't know that his letter would ever be answered...but when Lucille Ball writes back to say she'd be delighted to attend his school's senior prom, he's in shock. He frantically wires his girlfriend, Helen, not to come because he is sick. Guilty and depresed, Bud wishes he'd never thought up this crazy scheme. His two roommates are enthusiastic, however, and convince him that Helen will never know.

Meanwhile, Lucille Ball isn't any happier. Jack, her publicity agent, wants to get her on the front page and thinks this is the way to do it. Lucille is skeptical, especially when she hears that she must hide her identity and go to the prom as Helen, because that was the name Bud turned into the faculty two weeks before.

Trouble escalates when Helen shows up just before the prom, having intended to keep her poor bedridden boyfriend company. Then it's just one laugh after another as Lucille Ball's dress is torn off in a frenzy of "souvenir collecting" started by the fuming Helen. Lucy is then forced to hide in a stuffy closet, while Bud and his friends try to plan an escape.

This is a true gem of a movie, with great songs and hysterically funny lines. My favorite line was probably one spoken by the hopelessly ugly blind date (Nancy Walker): "You can't insult me and get away with it. In fact, you can't insult me."

VERY FUNNY ONE LINERS!
This movie has many lines that my sisters and I still quote from today! ("Whoever finds her...I hope it's me!" -- one of our favorites!) Trust me, this is very funny!

Wonderful Forties Musical
If you like college musicals, you'll love this fast paced MGM piece of fluff. The story is simple, a military college cadet wins a date with Hollywood actress Lucille Ball (In one of many performances where she plays herself) This ill conceived publicity stunt designed to re-start her faltering career, turns into a hilarious disaster when the cadet's girlfriend shows-up the night of the big date. You can imagine the fun that ensues with Lucy hiding out in the cadet's dorm room closet which continues to get more crowed by the minute. The musical numbers are all classic, like Harry James' swing version of "Flight of the Bumble Bee," and the rollicking "Barrelhouse, Boogie, and The Blues," beautifully performed by Nancy Walker, June Allison, and Gloria DeHaven. This was their MGM debut film and they all went on to stardom.

This is one of MGM's better musicals from the forties, it is full of great music, lively dancing and just plain fun and let's face it Lucille Ball is absolutely georgous.

I highly recommend this film!

Lucy shines!
Lucy looks absolutely fabulous in this movie, just like she does in every other movie. She is a brilliant actress, and it shows in this film. Her talent comes shining through. She's very funny at times, especially when her fans rip off her clothes and she slaps a man. She's left there in her underwear, and she constantly has to hide in closets(poor dear!). This is a very good movie, so if you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and do watch it. If you love Lucy as much much as I do(which I doubt), or even remotely close to how much I do, then watch her shine in Best Foot Forward. ... Read more