This kooky canine comedy from Walt Disney Productions was the belated sequel to hit The Shaggy Dog (Charles Barton, 1959).
Following on from the events of the original movie, now adult Wilby Daniels is now a successful lawyer, his dog morphing days behind him. However, the ancient cursed ring which turned him into a Bratislavian Sheepdog has been stolen from a local museum by some crooks in the pay of unscrupulous politician 'Honest' John Slade. With incredibly unfortunate timing, this occurs just as Daniels is about to run against Slade in a local election for the position of District Attorney (Hence the The Shaggy D.A., for those who thought the movie's title referred to an unkempt hairdo). Daniels must run his campaign and try to get the ring back from Slade, whilst proving him corrupt. All the time running the risk of inadvertently turning into a sheepdog!
As is often the case with Disney movies of the era, a talented cast of veteran performers was assembled for The Shaggy D.A. Replacing Tommy Kirk in role of Wilby Daniels from the original movie is Disney regular Dean Jones. Jones is appealing as ever, displaying his considerable talent for quirky comedy. Reunited with Jones in their 3rd film together is the equally appealing Suzanne Pleshette. With less to do than Jones, she still makes a good impression as the understanding Mrs Daniels. The remaining cast is, likewise, made up of faces familiar to fans of 70's Disney movies. Keenan Wynn had a nice line in comic bad guys. His criminal aides here are Dick Van Patten and, as always, Richard Bakalyan in one of his countless appearances as a small time hood. Tim Conway puts in an appearance as a dim-witted ice cream salesman and John Myhers has some neat comedy business as the Daniels' bluff neighbour Admiral Brenner.
Generally, I love that Disney employed the same performers in their movies. It gives the feeling of a rep company and adds to the notion of a 'Disney family'. But I feel in this instance it is slightly detrimental to the movie. So often have we seen the same faces playing the same characters that a certain amount of over familiarity has set in. Dean Jones was a dependable leading man at the studio, but by his 9th appearance in a Disney movie it is becoming difficult to distinguish this role from his similar roles in The Million Dollar Duck (Vincent McEveety, 1971) or Snowball Express (Norman Tokar, 1972). Likewise, Keenan Wynn; as bad guy 'Honest' John Slade the talented actor gives an assured comedy performance. However, it is virtually the same performance he gave as Alonzo Hawk in Disney's The Absent-Minded Professor (Robert Stevenson, 1961) and Herbie Rides Again (Robert Stevenson, 1974).
I suppose the root of the problem is Don Tait's screenplay, suggested by the Felix Salten novel The Hound of Florence. This was Tait's 5th screenplay for the studio and adheres rigidly to the cookie cutter approach adopted by Disney in this era. True to form, we have some broad slapstick humour, the inevitable car chase and the expected police car pile up. All achieved by some unconvincing back projection. Director Robert Stevenson had a 20 year association with the studio and this was to be his last feature before retiring. Responsible for classics such as Old Yeller (1957) and Mary Poppins (1964), The Shaggy D.A. must be regarded as one of his lesser works.
Viewed in isolation, The Shaggy D.A. is by no means a bad movie, in fact it is probably one the more consistently funny 70s Disney comedies. The performances are fine, the production is good and it has an innocent charm. The effects, which see Daniels turn sheepdog, are neat and recall the scenes where Spencer Tracy turns from man to monster in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Victor Fleming, 1941). Its biggest flaw is over familiarity and its doggedly formulaic structure.
Still, I enjoyed this film as a child and get a nostalgic kick out of it as an adult. It doesn't quite live up to the weird and wonderful original but is certainly worth a watch if you like this sort of thing and clearly people do, as evidenced by the made for TV sequel The Return of the Shaggy Dog (Stuart Gillard, 1987) and Disney's reboot of the series two decades later with The Shaggy Dog (Brian Robbins, 2006). Not quite Best in Show then, but a likeable mutt of a movie nonetheless.
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