bkoganbing The Kurt Russell era at Disney Studios started with The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes which is a misleading title. Because when Russell gets shocked and the computer knowledge and memory retention is programmed into him, he's not wearing tennis shoes. In fact if he had he would not have been grounded and would have gotten the electric shock.Although Kurt had appeared in several Disney features with this one he started starring in them on a regular basis and eventually quite properly worried that he would be fatally typecast in Dexter Riley type parts. Fortunately for his career he wasn't.But for about 8 years or so after this film he was Disney's all American kid lead in a lot of teen comedies. Seeing Kurt and his fellow students at Medfield College you would hardly know there was anything like a counterculture war going on with kids doing things like tuning in, turning on, and dropping out, to dodging the draft, to protesting at the Pentagon.Here the kids are doing nothing more than trying to aid their favorite professor William Schallert from hidebound Dean Joe Flynn. But after the computer comes and it's a large machine and Russell gets shocked from it, everybody wants a piece of him with his retentive memory. Including the guy who owned the computer gangster Cesar Romero. He forgot to erase the files of his business and when Russell starts blurting out his private information on a college bowl show on television, Romero decides he's got to be eliminated.I won't say more other than Russell finds out who is friends really are. The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (who really didn't) is an innocuous and quaint Disney film. I think the younger generation who now own their own or have access to same in schools and libraries will get a laugh out of Joe Flynn's reluctance to enter the modern age and the monstrosity of a machine he bought.

gigaman1989 This was the first movie I saw with Kurt Russell, and have been a fan of him ever since. His acting in this film, as well other Disney films he was in, shows young Kurt firmly grasping what it takes to be a good actor, and he continues to do so to this day.I saw this again recently, and its such a relief from some of the crap that Disney puts out now. Its a good example of good, clean family fun without the added bathroom jokes, etc., and for that reason I can see this might not appeal to kids today. But still, its a good, light-hearted comedy that'll still get a few laughs even today. Joseph McEveety provides a good story, and director Robert Butler executes it nicely. Joe Flynn and Cesar Romeo delivered some great performances, as did all the supporting cast.

Andrew Towne Add this to the list of great non-animated Disney movies and TV shows of the fifties and sixties (some others are "Darbie O'Gill and the Little People," "Follow Me, Boys," "Spin and Marty," and "The Hardy Boys.") This is wholesome, fun, family entertainment. But it's also witty, well-written and not overly sentimental. A nice slice of Americana at its best.Kurt Russell, so appealing as a child actor in "Follow Me, Boys," returns to the screen as a nineteen-year-old (approximately) college student. His acting range is excellent, and he is accompanied by an able crew of supporting actors. Joe Flynn (who many will remember as the perpetually flustered captain in "McHale's Navy") is perfect as the dean of a private college that ranks low academically and in terms of financial resources in comparison to other colleges in the state -- especially the state university. Flynn -- in a sign of his college's limited resources -- drives what appears to be a Volkswagen Karman Ghia convertible. The driver's-side interior door latch is broken, so he simply uses a rope to keep it closed.He complains that the state university is rolling in taxpayer money that his private college can't lay its hands on, and rants and raves in a meeting of the college board of directors about the unfairness of that and about how the president of the state university is "greedy." The students overhear all of this through a bug they've planted in the dean's office. The dean, having declared that the school can't afford a computer that one of the professors wants, goes on to mention the names of some of the students he thinks should be put on academic probation.Hearing all of this, the students decide to try to get the computer themselves. What follows is a comedy of mishaps, misunderstandings and odd coincidences that is very entertaining. The overall theme -- that friendship is more important than money, fame and prestige -- is well supported by the plotting and character development in the movie.This movie, in my opinion, is worth watching more than once. Part of its charm is that the conception of what a computer was and could do was so different in 1969 than it is today.All in all, I highly recommend "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes."

Seth Nelson "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" is a very good film. Released by the Disney company in 1970 or so, it's a movie about a student who has all the knowledge, all the power, all the info - that made him as smart as one of those huuuuuge computers of the time!!!!! Hence, the name of the film is called "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes!"I've seen this original version not on the Old Disney Channel, but on a local station late one Saturday night in '97. It was good; I also remember the 1995 TV remake that I watched on ABC as were we moving here to Texas!Man, I wish I had all the knowledge like that boy did!!!!! Oops, this reminds me - I gotta quit writing reviews at the moment and finish writing my midterm paper - now!!!!!Before I go, let me say, enjoy this film!!!!!10/10