Themes: Mischievous Children, Assassination Plots, Heads of State
Main Cast: Ernest Borgnine, George Kennedy, Elke Sommer, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Lyle Alzado
Release Year: 1979
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Alfred Hitchcock fans need not be reminded that "The McGuffin" is Hitchcock's term for the gimmicks (missing papers, stolen gems, uranium deposits) that motivate the plots of his thrillers. This much is explained by narrator Orson Welles at the beginning of the family-oriented The Double McGuffin. Hitchcock in-jokes abound in this innocuous adventure yarn, which stars Ernest Borgnine as an international terrorist (it's that kind of film). A bunch of kids in a sleepy Southern town tumble to Borgnine's scheme to assassinate a foreign prime minister, but of course the authorities don't believe a word. The kids decide to take matters into their own hands, which includes staging their own kidnapping to arouse the attention of the police. The film comes to a noisy climax during a school assembly, where the targeted prime minister is a keynote speaker. Like Ernest Borgnine, co-stars George Kennedy and Elke Sommer play their scenes straight, allowing full scope to the Saturday-matinee antics of the younger actors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Dion Pride - Specks; Lisa Whelchel - Jody; Jeff Nicholson - Billy Ray; Michael Gerard - Arthur; Greg Hodges - Homer; Rod Browning - Moras; Vincent Spano - Foster; Orson Welles - Narrator
Credit
Ed Richardson - Art Director, Joe Camp - Director, Leon Seith - Editor, Euel Box - Composer (Music Score), Harland Wright - Production Designer, Don Reddy - Cinematographer, Joe Camp - Producer, James J. Sabat - Sound/Sound Designer, Joe Camp - Screen Story, Richard Baker - Screen Story, Joe Camp - Screenwriter
The Double McGuffin was a 1979 children's film directed by Joe Camp. It starred Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy, alongside a group of young actors, some of whom would later become quite famous, including Lisa Whelchel, who would go on to star in the sitcom The Facts of Life. Elke Sommer and NFL stars Ed 'Too Tall' Jones and Lyle Alzado also appear in smaller roles. An opening narration is provided by Orson Welles. The film also included a young Vincent Spano (Alive) as well as Dallas actors Dion Pride (son of country singer Charley Pride), Greg Hodges and Jeff Nicholson and Chicago native Michael Gerard.
At the beginning of the film, the narrator (Welles) informs the audience that a MacGuffin (or McGuffin) is an object that serves as the focal point of the plot in the thriller genre. This film has two such objects.
The plot follows a group of boarding school students who discover, in succession, a suitcase full of money, a dead body, and a dismembered hand. They are unable to convince the local police to take them seriously, because they have not secured any evidence, and because the police chief (played by Kennedy) is suspicious of them due to their past misbehavior. They follow the evidence themselves and realize that a political assassination is planned at a school event. They foil the plot themselves.
