Review: The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (DMC #69)
Don Knotts and Tim Conway are back in The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again! This sequel to The Apple Dumpling Gang marks the sixty-ninth movie in the Disnerd Movie Challenge. If you need a refresher, we’ve got you covered with our synopsis below. If you’re familiar with the film, however, you can jump straight to our review!
Synopsis
Amos Tucker and Theodore Ogelvie have left their jobs on Russell Donovan’s farm to start a new life. They ride on their mule, Clarice, to a boom town named Junction City. Meanwhile, a runaway wagon has been set ablaze and its horses race to Fort Concho just outside the city. There, Maj. T.P. Gaskill, Sgt. Slaughter, and Lt. Jim Ravencroft inspect the wagon and discuss the numerous recent raids that have been going on. Gaskill expresses concern that if the raids don’t stop he will no longer be in command, to which Jim says he understands. The next morning, Amos and Theodore discuss “going straight” and increasing their stakes. Gaskill’s daughter, Millie, arrives in town and Pvt. Jeff Reed is assigned to escort her, but Millie is annoyed to be taken care of by a low-ranking officer. Amos and Theodore get spiffed up by buying fancy new clothes and attempt to have their pictures taken. Clarice barges into the photographer’s studio and ruins it after being frightened by the camera flash. Theodore later admonishes Amos for having revealed they are the Apple Dumpling Gang and tells Amos not to further reveal any details about who they are. A ruckus occurs outside the saloon and Marshal Woolly Bill Hitchcock breaks it up. Theodore and Amos decide to open a bank account, but unfortunately arrive just as two criminals are robbing the bank. One of the crooks pretends to be a teller and swindles Amos and Theodore into giving up all their money to the robbers, who promptly take off with the entire stash of money. Outside the bank, Old Tough Kate, aka “Granny”, sounds the alarm that the bank has been robbed. She fires back at the robbers after one of them attempts to shoot her, and the robbers end up leaving some of the money behind. As the robbers race through town, Jeff tackles Millie to save her from being trampled by the robbers’ horses. Millie, however, is enraged that her new outfit is covered in mud. Hitchcock arrives on scene and marches into the bank where he confronts Amos and Theodore. The pair accidentally “outgun” the Marshal after dropping their guns. The pair escape the bank while the townsfolk question Hitchcock’s effectiveness in handling the situation. Hitchcock becomes determined to find Amos and Theodore. While hiding out in a barn, Theodore tells Amos that they need to keep away from Hitchcock. Just then, Clarice enters the barn, and Theodore realizes that Hitchcock can link Clarice to the two of them. He decides that they need to get rid of Clarice and return the leftover stash of money the robbers left behind. The next day they attempt to return the money bags by swinging them across a roof into the bank, but Theodore accidentally falls and crashes into the bank, catching Hitchcock’s attention. The pair manage to escape and realize they need to leave town before they get into any more trouble. The hide in a cart carrying champagne driven by Jeff, who is taking Millie to the fort to meet with her father. The rough ride causes several champagne bottles to burst open, and Amos and Theodore drink the bottles to stem the overflow.
At the fort, Jim uncovers the wagon and finds Theodore and Amos sleeping. They are woken up and drunkenly wave off Sgt. Slaughter’s questioning. The sergeant regains his composure and takes the men away so he can have them join the military. A trapper arrives at the fort with a couple of dead soldiers. The trapper and Jeff seem to share a knowing look with each other. Jim takes the trapper’s evidence to Gaskill, who laments that the soldiers were likely killed by Shoshone natives and that he still cannot get the situation with the natives under control. Jeff sneaks into the evidence room and steals an arrow for unknown reasons, but is caught byJim and Sgt. Slaughter and jailed. The next morning, Amos and Theodore are dressed as soldiers and stand in line for inspection. After some mishaps with their rifles and talking back to Sgt. Slaughter, they are assigned to kitchen and stable detail. A party is held that evening at the fort, where Jim is expected to announce his engagement to Millie. Amos and Theodore are ordered to take a large bowl of punch out to the guests, but Hitchcock arrives with Clarice, having used her to track the two down. He orders them to stick their hands up, causing the pair to drop the bowl and send cake flying at the Marshal. Enraged, Hitchcock begins firing at random. The officers attempt to subdue him, but not before one of Hitchcock’s bullets hits a chandelier and causes the building to catch fire. Everyone escapes unharmed while the soldiers attempt to put the flames out. Theodore and Amos lock up the gunpowder, but some of the powder falls to the ground. Amos mistakes kerosene for water and Theodore dumps it on the flames. An inferno rages and ignites the gunpowder on the ground, causing the building where the party was held to explode. Jeff purposely uses the fire outside to ignite his jail cell to force the guard to let him out. Jim tries to take Millie to safety, but Jeff climbs aboard the wagon and throws Jim off, riding off with Millie. The next morning, Gaskill is frustrated that after so many years of the fort standing strong it has managed to fall in one night thanks to Amos and Theodore. The pair are strapped to a couple wagon wheels, where Sgt. Slaughter tells them they will be responsible for rebuilding the entire fort. Hitchcock emerges from the burnt ruins of the fort and approaches the two men, promising them that he will execute them for their “crimes.” He spins the wagon wheels and attempts to shoot the crooks, but is stopped and restrained by Sgt. Slaughter and a corporal. Meanwhile, Jeff tells Millie he did not mean to kidnap her, and she tells him he’s likely going to be shot for what he’s done. Jeff shrugs it off and takes Millie to the home of Martha Osten, a blind woman. As thanks for her hospitality, Jeff has Millie help him attend to some work around the home. Back at the fort, Gaskill reveals he has been relieved of his position and Jim will be his successor in two weeks. Theodore and Amos are taken to prison while Hitchcock, wearing a straightjacket, laughs maniacally and claims he will someday get the duo. At Martha’s house, Millie and Martha talk. Millie asks why Martha is friends with someone like Jeff. Martha assures Millie that Jeff is a good man, and also reveals that he loves Millie. Jeff meets with the trapper and it is revealed that Jeff is working undercover—he is actually Captain Jeff Philips of U.S. Army Intelligence and he has been investigating the thefts going on at the fort. Jeff returns to Martha’s house and learns that Millie has left for the fort.
Amos and Theodore are imprisoned and taken to join the other inmates. Theodore reminds Amos that they inadvertently gained a reputation as fast and deadly gunslingers. Amos roughly asks one of the inmates who the “number one cock-a-doodle” is around and the inmate tells the pair about “Big Mac.” Theodore tells the inmate to tell Big Mac that the Apple Dumpling Gang wants to see him. Gaskill tells Jim he’s sorry that he couldn’t stop the raids, though Jim assures the Major he did everything he could. Millie arrives and Gaskill tells his daughter he’s also sorry that her wedding plans were ruined. Amos and Theodore take a cart of pots and pans to a cellar and come across a dead end. Theodore inspects it and accidentally pushes a brick which causes the wall to rotate. The two stumble upon a hidden room, where Big Mac is having a meeting with his gang to discuss an upcoming train robbery. The two learn that the jail is just a front for Big Mac’s robberies. Amos and Theodore catch Mac’s attention. Though at first deciding to shoot them, Mac decides he could use a couple extra people on the job. He tests their marksmanship, and Amos clumsily manages to hit a precise shot at Mac’s cigar, winning over the baron. Mac shares the details of his operation with Amos and Theodore, explaining that he has an outside man who helps coordinate the robbing of the army’s possessions. They are told to meet up with the gang in town at noon sharp. Still determined to go straight, Amos and Theodore go to speak with the local sheriff, but the sheriff is not in town. They’re told they can speak with the Marshal, who turns out to be a drunken, crazed Hitchcock. The pair stay away from him and find Mac and his gang wandering the town. They sneak into a room and find some dresses and wigs and decide to dress as show girls to escape. Clarice arrives and this makes Hitchcock instantly realize that the women are really the Apple Dumpling Gang in disguise. They manage to escape and trade Clarice for a couple of blankets, which they use for cover as they board a train. Jeff has snuck aboard the train and walks along its roof. He sees Millie and engages her in conversation. When he learns that her wedding has been delayed, Jeff kisses her. He then tells her about his mission and asks her to return to her seat while he takes care of the robbers. Mac meets with Jim, who we learn is the outside man that has been helping Mac with the robberies. One of Mac’s men spots Jeff on the roof of the train and sneaks up behind him, knocking him out. Millie sees the man go after Jeff and follows behind. She manages to push the man off the train before he can further harm Jeff. Meanwhile, some of Mac’s other men begin a takeover of the baggage car so they can steal the money. Suddenly, Shoshone natives arrive and ambush the train. A few others confront Jim and Mac before they can escape. All the commotion aboard the train causes the robbery to fail. The train comes to a stop and Mac asks the natives what they’re up to. One of the natives angrily points at Amos and Theodore and says they tricked them; they traded Clarice for the blankets but Clarice ran away soon after! Mac says everyone can get down to business and Jeff takes the moment to reveal himself to the crowd. Jeff says Mac, his gang, and Jim are all under arrest. Two of Mac’s gang members attempt to shoot Jeff but are thwarted by Theodore. He and Amos assist in capturing Mac and Jim. The two get Clarice back and ride off, intending to return to Donovan and Dusty’s farm.
Thoughts Before Watching
Megan: I’m hoping this is at least close to as good as the first film, The Apple Dumpling Gang, but judging by the way things have gone with previous Disney sequels in this challenge, I’m not going to hold my breath. I’d really like to see Dusty make a reappearance in this film, but I’m not seeing her in the promo images so I might be disappointed there.
Kevin: Since watching the original movie, I heard lots of folks say that the sequel was even better. This sounds promising, as I got a huge kick out of the first movie—though I will admit that as the weeks have gone by I don’t find myself wanting to watch it nearly as much as I did upon my first watching. I’m being cautiously optimistic about this one; after all, as Megan said, these last several Disney sequels don’t seem to be as good as the originals. Still, the sequel to one of the funniest movies I’ve seen so far in this challenge can’t possibly be too much of a disappointment, right?
Thoughts After Watching
Typical sequel for this era
Megan: This may come as no surprise to those who’ve been watching this era of Disney films with us, but this sequel follows the same formula as previous sequels like Return from Witch Mountain, The Strongest Man in the World, The Shaggy D.A., or literally any of the Herbie sequels. While all these sequels contain small hints at the original films in each franchise, there is almost no carryover between one film to the next. It’s very similar to watching an episodic TV show, where viewers could tune in to any episode of a show like I Love Lucy and it wouldn’t matter if they missed five weeks of episodes in between—they’d still be able to enjoy the episode on its own. Perhaps that was the goal of filmmakers in this era. Perhaps they were so worried that people who hadn’t seen the first film in the series wouldn’t show up to see the sequel, and so to increase their chances they made sequels feel more episodic so that anyone could enjoy them. While that might have worked then, audiences today have streaming services and DVRs. They crave a more serialized story, whether it’s from TV shows or film series. As someone who does prefer serialized storytelling, I found The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again to be a bit of a disappointment. Sure, we had Amos and Theodore again, but they weren’t my favorite characters from The Apple Dumpling Gang. I wanted to see Dusty again, and the hilarious little girl, Celia. How was this new family doing in their new life on a farm together? The only hint of news about these characters comes from Amos and Theodore’s conversations that bookend the film. I wanted so much more than that.
Kevin: When I watched The Apple Dumpling Gang I was far more interested in the unfolding story of Donovan and Dusty and their coming together as guardians of the Bradley children. That plot is what was really at the heart of the first movie. Amos and Theodore were bonus highlights whose ineptitudes provided the bulk of the comedy. The combination of these two things made the original film so enjoyable to watch. What I was a bit confused about is why the filmmakers decided that Amos and Theodore were the stars they needed for the sequel. Is there a reason the movie couldn’t have focused on Dusty, Donovan, and the children? (I mean, it was the children who were the original Apple Dumpling Gang, after all.) I think it would have been great to see Amos and Theodore working on Donovan’s farm while still getting up to all sorts of trouble in Quake City, and we could’ve seen the furthering of the familial relationship between the two former crooks and Donovan, Dusty, and the children. A reasonable argument against this is that the first film already provided a definitive ending for all the characters we were introduced to. Honestly, it’s because of this that you kind of realize that this was a totally unneeded sequel, with unneeded being the operative word. The original film was a big hit when it first came out, so of course Disney was going to ride on that success and make a sequel. As Megan pointed out however, the sequel has very little to do with the story that came before it, nor does the writer seem to know what to do with Tim Conway and Don Knotts. I found their comedy less interesting this time around, which is a real shame because Conway and Knotts were brilliant comedians. The filmmakers seem to have watered down their leads as a way to bring the other characters up. Unfortunately, the other characters are also not as endearing as those we got to know in the first film. Interestingly, there’s one other returning actor in this movie. Harry Morgan returns alongside Conway and Knotts, although he plays a different character. In the first movie he was the sheriff of many hats Homer McCoy. In the sequel he plays Maj. Gaskill, Millie’s father. I was a bit underwhelmed at Morgan’s role here—he was so funny in The Apple Dumpling Gang, but his character in the sequel is more of a stick in the mud. Actually, he’s basically a carbon copy of his character Gen. Stilton in The Cat from Outer Space, also played by Morgan. It was truthfully difficult to separate McCoy from Maj. Gaskill because Morgan’s voice and mannerisms were just too similar. With all of this said, I’m glad that there are plenty of people who genuinely enjoyed this one and prefer it over the last film. It isn’t my preference in the tale of the Apple Dumpling Gang, though it’s good to see others liked it.
The problematic relationship between Jeff and Millie
Megan: Honest question: are we supposed to like Private Jeff Reeves (a.k.a., Captain Jeff Phillips)? Truly, I’d like to know, because for a character who’s supposed to be a “good guy” I absolutely hate him! He is such an ass! And to the woman he’s supposedly in love with no less! Okay, sure, he’s undercover and so he has to be careful about revealing his true intentions, but does he have to be such a jerk about it? I mean, he kidnaps Millie, holds her against her will, later kisses her against her will, and implies that he and Millie are going to get married—without even asking her first!
JEFF: I don’t want you shot before we get married.
MILLIE: Married?
JEFF: Now get in there and stay put.
Now, I’m not exactly a huge fan of Millie here, either. For one thing, she seems to care too much about status. When Jeff first introduces himself as “Private Reed,” Millie is insulted that a higher ranking officer wasn’t sent to meet her at the stagecoach. Later, when Jeff reveals that he’s really “Captain Phillips,” the title “Captain” is what starts to change Millie’s mind about him (even though by this point he’s proven himself to be a man who’s willing to take what he wants from a woman without her consent). In a similar vein, the film portrays her as someone who’s a bit…well…spoiled. She makes Jeff hold her belongings while she goes shopping, and she seems to care more about the mud on her new dress than being rescued from a near-death experience (although, to be fair, I would be similarly ticked off if the brand new outfit I just bought was immediately ruined with mud). When Jeff takes her via carriage to the fort, Millie complains the whole way about how uncomfortable it is. (To be fair, those carriages were uncomfortable, but I take it Millie was not a character who would have been happy walking all the way to the fort.)
Megan: In spite of these flaws, however, Millie does have some things going for her. For one thing, she is quick to seek help from Martha, unafraid to tell the woman that she’s being held against her will. When it appears Millie will be getting no help from Martha or Jeff, she takes what information she can glean from Martha to make her escape back to the fort on foot (which, I might add, is rather daring of her seeing as she was previously acting so spoiled). Near the end of the film, Millie even joins the fight by climbing atop a moving train and throwing one of the villains off the train car roof—to save Jeff, of all people! After watching the entire film, I just can’t see Millie and Jeff working out as a couple. Though Martha seems to extol Jeff’s virtues, it would seem that Martha’s affection for Jeff, not her medical blindness, has blinded her to his true nature. Millie, on the other hand, has seen Jeff on his worst behavior. She has no reason to fall for him, yet the male filmmakers created a scenario in which Millie starts to develop an attraction for the guy who kidnapped and assaulted her. Sexism much? The one small consolation here is that we do not end the film with Millie and Jeff getting married, so we are left with some hope that perhaps Millie will be able to escape this man.
Kevin: The “romance” between Jeff and Millie is partly why I don’t think this film works as well as the first. Frankly, this movie would have done a lot better had it nixed the romance completely and just focused entirely on Amos and Theodore. The comedic elements are taken down too much because the story focuses on this forced relationship. Donovan and Dusty came together out of mutual concern for the Bradley children and their relationship grew naturally. Jeff and Millie, on the other hand, come together sporadically and it doesn’t help that as characters they are rather unappealing. We are given no reason to believe they have any mutual attraction other than the plot dictating it. Their relationship is another example of unnecessary romance being forced into a film. I don’t really know why studios were so preoccupied with this, but I presume it may be because it was the most common way to get the appeal of teenage audiences. With that in mind, was it adolescent boys and girls that the writer was trying to appeal to here? I very much hope not given how toxic Jeff and Millie are shown to be. There are far better examples of a romance than this one.
Martha, Martha, Martha!
Megan: When we first met Martha, I was totally on board for her to be a true ally to Millie (and for the potential Bechdel test wins that would come from that), but I was immediately disappointed. For one thing, the first interaction between Millie and Martha hardly even passes the Bechdel test (unless you ignore half of Millie’s sentence and ignore the implied male character in Martha’s sentence). But more importantly, it’s a huge slap in the face:
MILLIE: Well, I’m not his friend, I’m his prisoner, and I plead to you as another woman to help me.
MARTHA: Lot of women wouldn’t be all that upset over your predicament. Come on in.
I’m sorry, Martha, but…WHAT?! This woman just told you she’s being held against her will, and you’re basically telling her that’s a desirable situation?! Um, gaslighting much? Things don’t improve much from there. The lone exchanges between the women that don’t involve Jeff or another male character are this one:
MARTHA: How ‘bout you, Miss Gaskill?
MILLIE: No, thank you. I’m thoroughly exhausted. I’d like to lay down, if I may.
MARTHA: Of course.
And this one:
MILLIE: My, how you manage by yourself I’ll never know. Don’t you get lonesome way out here?
MARTHA: The Norwoods live upstream a ways. They look in on me every once in a while. But I don’t miss anything. I’ve lived my life, and it’s been a good one.
That second exchange includes the collective “Norwoods” which likely includes male and female characters, but technically a film only needs one conversation to pass the Bechdel test, so this film passes either way. Still, the film sets up such a strange relationship between Martha and Millie, with Martha believing Jeff to be a “good man” and pushing Millie to be with him—even though Millie straight-up told Martha she’s his prisoner! I just don’t understand what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish here. If they were hoping we’d like Jeff better because Martha liked him, they were mistaken.
The feistiest old woman in the west!
Megan: If I had to pick a favorite character from this movie, it would be Old Tough Kate (aka Granny) played by Ruth Buzzi. At first you think she’s just some busybody old woman who’s sticking her nose in everyone’s business, but then when she realizes there’s a bank robbery in progress, she starts shooting at the criminals! I busted up laughing because the film totally flipped my expectations with this character! Not only that, but when Marshal Woolly Bill Hitchcock completely ignores her when she tries to tell him where the real criminals went, she happily celebrates the Marshal’s humiliation when Amos and Theodore outgun him. Sure, she doesn’t have the best eyesight and so she doesn’t recognize Amos and Theodore when they’re not in their fancy clothes. And, okay, she is yet another female character that is ignored or otherwise not listened to by the male characters, which makes her the butt of some of the jokes. However, even with all of that, I truly appreciated this outrageous comedic-relief character!
Another Western, another racist depiction of Native Americans
Megan: The depiction of Native Americans in this film may have been a smidge better than some of the other films (which perhaps explains why this film doesn’t have a cultural depictions warning), but it still isn’t great. For one thing, the Native American characters with speaking roles speak in caveman-like English. The other issue? The film suggests that these Native Americans would immediately jump into battle over a simple trade deal gone bad. Would that really have happened? I believe that they would’ve been ticked off if a white man traded them a mule that constantly ran away, but would they really have waged a full-on attack of a moving train in order to get back the two blankets they traded in exchange for the mule? It seems like overkill, and, honestly, lazy writing—relying on a racist stereotype of Native Americans that believes they’re willing to go to war over the smallest of slights rather than giving them a really good reason to attack the train.
Comedy works in this genre
Kevin: In our last review I said that comedy and science fiction just may not go well together. I’m sure I said this in another earlier review of ours, although I’m forgetting which one. In any case, I realize this is of course just my opinion, but I think I’ve honed in on why comedy doesn’t work well in science fiction, at least for me. Most story tropes in sci-fi are fairly grounded in reality, even if the story is exploring something we as a society don’t fully understand. We are able to connect what we’re seeing on screen to something that has a real-world logic behind it. Conversely, a story that uses science for the sake of laughs isn’t easy to get across. We intuitively realize that no one is going to gain super-strength from a formula laced cereal, or become a super-genius after an accident by lightning, or create a substance with unlimited kinetic energy (at least not yet, according to our current understanding of the universe). I’m not saying these earlier films didn’t make me laugh, because they did, even if only a few times. But it was definitely difficult to suspend my disbelief when the over-the-top wacky elements happened. On the other hand, films like The Shaggy Dog, Escape to Witch Mountain, and Return from Witch Mountain are a lot easier to digest when it comes to their not-so-Earth-like story elements. The Shaggy Dog is certainly a comedy but it doesn’t rely on science for its plot to work. Instead, it uses the supernatural. Although I don’t personally believe in the supernatural, it’s been used so often in storytelling and is purposely used to explain mysterious events, and we as the audience generally accept it as a logical rule of the film’s universe. This is the case for the Witch Mountain films as well, whose supernatural ideas are mixed with science fiction. Since those films are not remotely comedies, I find myself able to accept what goes on in those movies more easily.
We have now watched several Westerns since this challenge began. Like sci-fi, Westerns generally have specific tones, tropes, character arcs, and other story elements that define the genre. Of course, the setting helps as well. By their very nature, Westerns are totally grounded in reality and (almost) everything we see happen in a Western are things we know happen(ed) in real life. As a result, comedy feels right at home. The Apple Dumpling Gang was different from the other Westerns we watched because it incorporated so much good humor, even if a lot of it was the slapstick kind. As bumbling, inept crooks, Amos and Theodore’s antics might be over the top, but we don’t think even for a second that they are out of place in their environment. The same thing carries over into the sequel. Although the comedy feels more subdued in the sequel compared to the original film, it’s still there nonetheless. From watching the comedic duo get mistaken for bank robbers to dressing in drag to being strapped to a couple of rotating wheels while being shot at, every moment these two are on screen still manages to get a laugh. While I know it’s over the top, it never actually feels like it. It all works in this type of film because The Apple Dumpling Rides Again doesn’t attempt to make its audience suspend its disbelief too far. Though I still can’t say I find this movie better than the first one, I’ll still take this kind of comedy any day.