The Apple Dumpling Gang

• Directed by Norman Tokar
• July 1, 1975
• Based on the 1971 novel The Apple Dumpling Gang by Jack M. Bickham

A gambler is duped into taking care of a group of orphans that soon strike gold in their late father’s mine.

Just a mention of The Apple Dumpling Gang takes me back to late Sunday afternoons in my youth right after church. This was one of many movies that popped up on the regular and because of that it managed to get a place in my mind and in my heart. This is genuine comfort food for me. But it is also a genuinely good film that has aged very well. It’s family friendly without being bland.

Don Knotts and Tim Conway star as Theodore Ogelvie and Amos Tucker respectively. I say ‘star’ loosely. While they have their names at the top their characters are not the focus of the story here. They are the comic relief but nothing they do drives the story though they are the best remembered part of the story. They breeze in to be funny and breeze out. Their name is not even ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang’! Their characters refer to themselves as the ‘Hashknife Outfit’ after getting kicked out of the Stillwell Gang.

They have taken up residence in the dusty town of Quake City and serve as a local oddity despite viewing themselves seriously. If anything they are the local color. Knotts and Conway are just funny. These were masters of old-school comedy. Perhaps one of my favorite screen pairings. Equally stupid with Conway bordering on naïve yet never annoying. Truthfully at points they are more like padding to stretch out the movie than they are an actual part of the story.

This is a movie where the stars are supporting characters. Yet it does nothing to harm it. This is fun and entertaining. You know how it’s going to end but the treat is seeing how it gets to that end. How do Donovan and Magnolia finally end up together? How do Theodore and Amos not end up at the end of a hangman’s rope?

One of the actual main characters of The Apple Dumpling Gang is gambler Russell Donovan (Bill Bixby) who is duped by Quake City local John Wintle (Don Knight) into taking custody of the orphaned Bradley siblings-Bobby, Clovis, and Celia played by Clay O’Brien, Brad Savage, and Stacy Manning respectively.

We watch in several scenes as he desperately tries to figure a way to get rid of the kids. The harder he tries the more he gets stuck with them. Donovan portrays himself as a self-interested man but this is a Disney movie of old so he obviously is not. If he were he would have snuck out of town when at least two opportunities presented themselves in the movie. This is the tried-and-true narrative of a childish man that grows up when responsibility is forced upon him. Along the way his life intersects with stagecoach driver Magnolia Dusty Clydesdale (Susan Clark), and she begins to realize she’s missing something in her life.

Mercifully the kids are cute without being annoying. Their actions are not forced and unnatural. Even the running gag of Celia having to pee all the time is not run into the ground and maybe that’s why they work despite being the center of the story. Director Norman Tokar didn’t feel the need to continue reminding you how cute and sweet and innocent they were making them come off as normal. Tokar brought his skills developed on Leave It to Beaver and honed on other Disney projects to this.

Harry Morgan, here playing Homer McCoy, is quite possibly the perfect actor to cast as a grizzled sheriff no matter how old he was or in what film. His voice and mannerisms were perfect for that. He was a character actor’s character actor. A fine performer that was good in what he did. And a person that was born old much like John Carradine. A senior citizen from womb to death.

‘The Apple Dumpling Gang’ does not refer to Theodore and Amos though they are who people think of when it is spoken. It refers to Bobby, Clovis, and Celia who concoct a plan to NOT have to live with their greedy uncle who comes back to town to take custody of them after word of their discovery of a massive gold nugget reaches him. They want to stay with Donovan and Magnolia.

This movie, while funny, is ultimately safe. It is pretty cookie cutter if anything. There is nothing edgy or unpredictable about it with the plot something found in any number of forgettable movies. Yet Don Knotts and Tim Conway gave it a special bit of razzle (but no dazzle) that brought it up more than a few notches. Bill Bixby and Susan Clark along with the kids have enough likeable chemistry that this piece of fluff works. Together they made some magic.

While not perfect, The Apple Dumpling Gang is entertaining. It’s quality family entertainment that you can enjoy with everybody or by yourself. If you’re a fan of Westerns or are just looking for something you can watch with your kids, this is a better than most option that will not disappoint.