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The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
	Promotional poster
Directed by	Vincent McEveety
Written by	Don Tait
Produced by	Tom Leetch; Ron W. Miller
Starring	Tim Conway; Don Knotts; Tim Matheson; Kenneth Mars; Jack Elam
Cinematography	Frank V. Phillips
Edited by	Gordon Brenner
Music by	Paul J. Smith; Buddy Baker; Joseph S. Dubin (orchestration)
Production; company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release date	June 27, 1979;
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$20,931,111

The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again is a 1979 American comedy-Western film directed by Vincent McEveety. Produced by Walt Disney Productions, it is a sequel to The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), starring the comedy duo of Tim Conway and Don Knotts reprising their respective roles as Amos and Theodore. The film also stars Tim Matheson, Harry Morgan, and Kenneth Mars.

Plot

Amos Tucker (Conway) and Theodore Ogelvie (Knotts), a pair of bumbling holdup men now going straight, arrive in the "boom town" of Junction City to start anew. But the duo end up causing havoc while getting cheated out of their money by two bank robbers named Wes Hardin (Osmond) and Hank Starrett (Gehring). Things worsen when Amos and Theodore end up suspected of the robbery and on the run from the town's feared lawman Marshal Woolly Bill Hitchcock (Mars), who developed a personal vendetta toward Amos and Theodore after they accidentally humiliated and injured him on two occasions. To escape Hitchcock's vengeance, Amos and Theodore ditch their donkey Clarise, as she was used by the robbers, and enlist in the United States Cavalry at Fort Concho. The duo's bunglings and a run-in with a now insane marshal, who found them by following Clarise, result in the fort being burned to the ground. The following day, the fort commander Major Gaskill (Morgan) is relieved of his position while Amos and Theodore are placed in a military jail.

But the "jail" turns out to be a cover for a robber baron named "Big Mac" (Jack Elam) who proceeds to recruit Amos and Theodore for an upcoming train robbery. Still determined to go straight, the boys attempt to extricate themselves from the situation by warning the local sheriff. The sheriff not available, they are told to visit the saloon as there is a visiting U.S. Marshall. After dressing up as bar-room dance girls to hide themselves from Big Mac's gang, having another encounter with Hitchcock, and making a trade for blankets to hide themselves, Amos and Theodore accidentally end up on the train Big Mac is targeting. With the help of Jeff Reed (Matheson), an army intelligence officer who posed as an enlisted soldier to uncover a conspiracy of military robberies, and Major Gaskill's daughter Millie (Davalos), they arrest the robbers and their inside man Lt. Jim Ravencroft (Robert Pine). Soon after being given pardons, Amos and Theodore decide to resume working at Russell Donovan's farm.

Cast

Tim Conway as Amos Tucker
Don Knotts as Theodore Ogelvie
Tim Matheson as Pvt. Jeff Reed
Kenneth Mars as Marshal Woolly Bill Hitchcock
Elyssa Davalos as Miss Millie Gaskill
Jack Elam as Big Mac
Robert Pine as Lt. Jim Ravencroft
Harry Morgan as Maj. Gaskill (Millie's father)
Ruth Buzzi as Old Tough Kate, aka 'Granny'
Audrey Totter as Martha Osten (Blind Cabin Widow)
Richard X. Slattery as Sgt. Slaughter (chief soldier)
John Crawford as Sherick
Ralph Manza as Little Guy
Cliff Osmond as Wes Hardin (Bank robber)
Ted Gehring as Hank Starrett (Bank robber)
Robert Totten as Blainey
James Almanzar as Lennie
Shug Fisher as Bartender
Rex Holman as Reno

Production

Parts of the film were shot at Kanab movie fort and Kanab Creek in Utah.^[2] The railroad scenes were filmed on the Sierra Railroad in Tuolumne County, California.^[3]

Reception

Vincent Canby of The New York Times thought that Kenneth Mars was "very funny" and that Harry Morgan "has some nice moments" as well.^[4] Variety wrote that the film "lurches from one set piece to another, in a fashion that makes its 88-minute running time seem much longer. Conway and Knotts have perfected their bumbling routines to a very minor art form, but principal laughs are supplied by drunk jokes, and character names such as Jack Elam's Big Mac. When hamburger trademarks become chief yock-suppliers, time has come to look elsewhere".^[5] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "delightful" with "much humor and action. Indeed, it's more inventive — and eventful — than the more sophisticated comedy-western Butch and Sundance: The Early Days".^[6] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post dismissed it as "the latest uninspired attempt at juvenile comedy from the Disney studio".^[7]

References

^ Top-grossing G-rated films Archived December 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Boxofficemojo.com.
^ D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN 9781423605874.
^ Jensen, Larry (2018). Hollywood's Railroads: Sierra Railroad. Vol. Two. Sequim, Washington: Cochetopa Press. p. 25. ISBN 9780692064726. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
^ Canby, Vincent (August 31, 1979). "Film: A Comic Romp In Apple Dumpling Land". The New York Times. C13.
^ "Film Reviews: The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again". Variety. June 20, 1979. 19.
^ Thomas, Kevin (July 11, 1979). "'Apple Dumpling': Summer Fun Fare". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 10.
^ Arnold, Gary (July 18, 1979). "Bumbling 'Dumpling'". The Washington Post. E6.