The Strongest Man in the World (1974)

Country: USA
Director: Vincent McEveety
Production Co: Disney
Genre: Family, Comedy
Rating: 6.1/10
Length: 92 mins

Storyline

A school laboratory accident mixes one student's vitamin cereal mix with Dexter Riley's chemical experiment. When the kids decide to dispose of the mess to their neighbor's cow, they learn that the cereal gave the cow the super-strength to give a massively vast supply of milk. When they try it out on themselves, they discover that the stuff gives any human superhuman strength for a few minutes. The school sees this as the thing needed to save their school from closure, as the Dean makes a deal with his relative who owns the company that makes the cereal for financial support, unaware that it was Dexter's chemical which was solely responsible for the strength. When her competitor learn of this deal, he hires two criminals to stop it.—Kenneth Chisholm

Plot Keywords

college student, college dean, criminal, thug, competitor, playful, amusing, campy, quirky, experiments, science gone awry, superhuman abilities, business scheme, rivalry, discovery, temptation, rise, 1970s

Short Review

Worst of the trilogy.While 'The Strongest Man in the World' isn't anything atrocious, it most certainly fails to land on the same level as the two Robert Butler directed films. The plot, which is about strength this time, isn't as finely executed or as entertaining.Kurt Russell (Dexter), the star of the last two productions, barely features in this one. I can see why they kept the focus on Higgins (Joe Flynn), as it worked well in 'Now You See Him, Now You Don't', but to switch eyes from Dexter to Schuyler (Michael McGreevey) is a strange choice. Cesar Romero (Arno) and Richard Bakalyan (Cookie) are also too forced into things.There is still minor enjoyment in there, but everything's just a little duller than in the other sequel and 'The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes' original. A decent set of films, still.