From Gold Nuggets to Family Ties: The Endearing Charm of The Apple Dumpling Gang
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Written by Ken Hulsey
A couple of weeks back, I decided to start posting the trailers from some of my favorite movies. Being a child of the 70s, I naturally opted to start my new series in that decade. The first film that I went with was the 1976 action/comedy Silver Streak. Today I decided to feature The Apple Dumpling Gang from 1975, which holds the distinction of being the first film that I ever saw in a movie theater.
If you recall, the film is about a down-on-his-luck gambler named Russell Donovan who ends up stuck with three orphans whom he is trying to unload every opportunity he gets. When the three mischievous kiddos stumble upon a giant gold nugget and become instant celebrities, his opinion suddenly changes. The massive nugget draws the attention of two local gangs, one the bumbling Hash Knife Outfit and the other is the truly nasty Stillwell Gang.
As you can imagine, the bumbling burglars make several slapstick attempts at stealing the gold while the real robbers hash out their plan to extract it from the local bank vault. In the end, you mix together the gambler, the bumblers, the three kids, and a pretty stagecoach driver named Dusty who all join forces to thwart the criminals and save the day.
Since this is a Disney film, naturally Donovan and Dusty fall in love, get married, adopt the kids, and name their family The Apple Dumpling Gang.
... and they all lived happily ever after.
Though this is a family-friendly comedy about a gambler, a pretty stagecoach driver, and three adorable orphans who come together to form a family after finding a hunk of gold the size of Rhode Island, the real draw of the film is the comedic exploits of the Hash Knife Outfit, Theodore and Amos, played by comedy legends Tim Conway and Don Knotts. Conway, as you may remember, was a hot commodity at the time due to his success as a regular on the uber-popular Carol Burnett Show, while Knotts is his typical brilliant self. You may note that Don Knotts simply played the same character in everything he ever did. True, Theodore could be easily dismissed as Barney Fife or Mr. Chicken in the old west, but that would be an unfair critique. Knotts may have seemed to be typecast, but in actuality he just did his type of comedy so well that he always stole a scene no matter what. In the case of this film, the duo of Knotts and Conway worked so well organically that they literally steal the whole film as what I can only describe as a dynamic duo of laughter.
I honestly didn't intend for this piece to be a tribute to the late Don Knotts and Tim Conway, but in regard to their performance in this movie, it would be almost impossible not to do so.
In regard to the trailer that was promised, I'm afraid that there simply isn't a decent copy of The Apple Dumpling Gang promo out there, so I have opted to post a couple of clips that feature both Knotts and Conway at their best as Theodore and Amos.
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Here is the official synopsis for The Apple Dumpling Gang from our friends at Disney:
Apple Dumpling Gang, The (film) In 1879, gambler Russel Donavan arrives in Quake City, California, always looking for a profitable poker game. But despite his frequent losses, he ends up with a shipment of valuables consigned to a local ne’er-do-well who has lit out for San Francisco. The “valuables”—the Bradley orphans Bobby, 12, Clovis, 7, and Celia, 5—arrive aboard a stagecoach driven by pretty “Dusty” Clydesdale. Desperate, Russel tries to unload the brood, who discover a huge gold nugget in a nearby mine, causing unwelcome interest by the bumbling Hash Knife Outfit. As Russel rewards the now-famous orphans with their favorite meal of apple dumplings, the numbskull desperadoes try to steal the gold, but, as usual, are caught. However, the dangerous Stillwell gang also plans a bank heist, but are undone when the children and the Hash Knife Outfit, aided by Russel and Dusty, break into the holdup. Russel and Dusty marry, uniting the happy new family now known as “The Apple Dumpling Gang.” Released on July 4, 1975. Directed by Norman Tokar. 100 min. Stars Bill Bixby (Russel Donavan), Tim Conway (Amos), Don Knotts (Theodore), Susan Clark (Magnolia), David Wayne (Col. T. T. Clydesdale), Slim Pickens (Frank Stillwell), Harry Morgan (Homer McCoy), John McGiver (Leonard Sharpe), Don Knight (John Wintle), Clay O’Brien (Bobby Bradley), Brad Savage (Clovis Bradley), Stacy Manning (Celia Bradley). The story was based on the book by Jack M. Bickham. The song “The Apple Dumpling Gang” was written by Shane Tatum and sung by Randy Sparks and The Back Porch Majority. While planning the sets for the film at the Disney Studio, the set designers decided that three copies of the bank had to be built. One was indoors on a sound stage (featuring exterior and interior sets), and two matching exteriors were built outdoors on the backlot, one of them roofless and with burned beams exposed, showing the aftermath of an explosion. Location filming took place at the Tropico gold mine in Rosamond, California, and in the Los Padres and Deschutes National Forests in Oregon. The pairing of Tim Conway and Don Knotts worked so well that they were teamed in several later Disney films. The great popularity of the film spawned a sequel in 1979, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. Released on video in 1980, 1985, and 1992. See Tales of the Apple Dumpling Gang for a television remake, along with the series Gun Shy.
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