The late John Amos starred in one of the most unlikely Disney movie hits ever
The passing of John Amos has been a reminder of his historic starring role in one of the more unlikely Disney live-action hits ever!
The news that John Amos died in August at the age of 84 has led to some looks back at his long acting career. Breaking out as weatherman Gordy Howard on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Amos took the lead role in the hit comedy Good Times. After leaving the show following a beef with the producers, Amos starred in the Emmy-winning mini-series Roots.
After that, Amos was a familiar face on TV and in movies, with notable appearances in Coming To America, Die Hard 2, The West Wing, Men in Trees, and more. Yet amid all that, it's easy to forget Amos' starring role in one the weirder Disney films of a weird period.
The World's Greatest Athlete.
This 1973 film was notable, with Amos in his first leading role and the first time since Song of the South that a black man was the lead in a Disney film. This was that odd period for Disney live-action when they were catering to families but trying to find an identity as the cultural shifts were changing audiences. Thus, we have a strange film, one that looks like it's from a backward time yet still classic Disney slapstick.
Directed by Robert Scheer, the movie wasn't supposed to star Amos at all. Originally, Godfrey Cambridge was to take the lead, well known as a stand-up comic, and had worked for Disney before. The part was tailor-made for Cambridge in the setups, but he fell ill during the first week of shooting and had to drop out (Cambridge would die of a heart attack three years later). Thus, Amos was a last-minute replacement, and his more straight-laced manner didn't quite work, so if Cambridge had taken the role, the movie might have been funnier.
Thankfully, if you need comedy, you can't go wrong with Tim Conway. A man who could make someone burst into uncontrollable laughter with just a look, Conway actually got top billing over Amos despite being the sidekick and aiding the film. That's needed as the plot is more than iffy today.
The World's Greatest Athlete is a weird film
The movie opens by looking at Merrivale College, where Coach Sam Archer (Amos) coaches pretty much all the sports. Sadly, Archer and assistant Milo (Conway) have to face the fact that Merrville's athletes are not only bad, they are shockingly bad, inept and Archer is on the verge of being fired and suffering a breakdown. For some reason, he decides to take Milo along for a trip to Zambia. A wince-inducing line has Archer talking about "Going home," Milo points out he's from Cincinnati, and Archer brushes off, "Well, my ancestors are from here."
While traveling, the pair stare in shock as a handsome young white man (Jan-Michael Vincent) outruns a cheetah thanks to some outrageously bad green screen footage. Seeing him pull off more astounding feats, Archer breaks out the paycheck only to find the youth, Nanu, prefers to stay with the native tribe that adopted him when his missionary parents died. That includes his godfather Gazenga (Roscoe Lee Brown), who thinks throwing Nanu into American athletics will ruin him.
Luckily, Archer discovers the natives have that classic "law" that if someone saves a person's life, they're indebted to him. That has a montage of Archer risking his life constantly for failed rescues before finally getting Nanu to save him and thus bring him to the States. From there, Archer plans to enroll Nanu in college and have him win every event possible.
The comedy is wild, which includes how they sneak Nanu and his pet tiger past the near-sighted landlady (Nancy Walker, in surprisingly her only Disney film) by dressing the tiger like a little kid. Gazenga follows as he's not truly a villain but trying to "help" Nanu by sabotaging his success, which somehow involves shrinking Milo to a few inches tall. Nanu connects with lovely coed Jane (to sell the Tarzan theme more) and some rival college guys trying to ruin Nanu.
The movie culminates in a track and field meet with Howard Cosell, playing himself, calling the action as Nanu suffers from a voodoo doll-inflicted curse before the day is saved. In the end, Archer decides to let Nanu live his life back in Africa. He and Milo take a trip to China, where Archer sees a kid running past a horse, and Milo sighs, "Here we go again."
The movie's surprising success
Most of the movie isn't that good, with too much Disney slapstick and bad special effects. Vincent is mostly bland as Nanu and while that sells how he's an innocent, it doesn't make him compelling. Conway does his best to make it funny and his expressions to this madness are fun.
It is fascinating to see two black characters given such attention in a movie in this time period. Amos may not be a comedian, yet he shows how flustered Archer is, egotistical and sees Nanu as just a property, but slowly comes to like the kid. Maybe Cambridge would have brought more laughs but Amos gives the character a bit more heart so you can root for him.
Even better is Brown, who takes what could have been an appalling role of a witch doctor and imbues it with gravitas. A genius touch is how he uses the cliches expected of him, making others think he's a dumb native when he's smarter and more worldly than anyone else. Brown's booming voice and performance help the character shine as you can actually understand his motives for trying to protect Nanu as best he can.
The direction is okay and Marvin Hamlisch supplies the music. Yes, as in one of only two people in history to have an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony and Pulitzer Prize. The idea of him providing the music for a Disney film seems crazy, but it works.
Now you read all this and you'd think this was a forgettable Disney entry that likely sunk fast at the box office, right? Guess again. For some strange reason, the movie connected with audiences, grossing $22 million (which would be like $150 million today) and the twelfth highest-grossing film of 1973. Its success was a needed boost for Disney's coffers to sustain them in a tough period.
Surprisingly, Amos never did another Disney film despite his scores of terrific credits. The movie itself has to be found in older VHS collections yet it still is notable for not just Amos' first starring role but also a rare case of a Disney hit of that period putting an African-American lead in the focus and, while not great, still fun in a cheesy way.