The Shaggy D.A.

The Shaggy D.A.
1976 movie poster
Directed by	Robert Stevenson
Produced by	Bill Anderson
Written by	Don Tait based on the novel by Felix Salten
Starring	Dean Jones Suzanne Pleshette Tim Conway Keenan Wynn Jo Anne Worley Dick Van Patten
Music by	Buddy Baker
Cinematography	Frank V. Phillips
Distributed by	Buena Vista
Release date(s)	December 17, 1976
Running time	91 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Preceded by	The Shaggy Dog

The Shaggy D.A. is a 1976 film sequel to The Shaggy Dog (1959). Both are live-action films produced by Walt Disney Productions. It was directed by Robert Stevenson and starred Dean Jones, Suzanne Pleshette, Tim Conway, Keenan Wynn, Dick van Patten, Jo Anne Worley and Shane Sinutko. It was written by Don Tait and inspired by the novel by Felix Salten.

Background

The Shaggy Dog had been at that point the most profitable film produced by Walt Disney Productions and heavily influenced the studio's live-action film production for the next two decades. Using a formula of placing supernatural and/or fantastical forces within everyday mid-twentieth century American life, the studio was able to create a long series of "gimmick comedies" (a term coined by Disney historian and film critic Leonard Maltin) with enough action to keep children entertained with a touch of light satire to engage their adult chaperones. Using television actors on their summer hiatus who were familiar to audiences but did not necessarily have enough clout to receive over-the-title billing (or a large fee) from another major studio was one way these comedies were produced inexpensively; they also tended to use the same sets from the Disney backlot repeatedly. This allowed Walt Disney Productions a low-risk scenario for production, any of these films could easily make back their investment just from moderate matinee attendance in neighborhood theatres, and they could also be packaged on the successful Disney anthology television series The Wonderful World of Disney (some of these films were expressly structured for this purpose).

Occasionally Walt Disney Productions would find one of these inexpensive comedies would become a runaway success and place at or near the top of the box office for their respective release year (The Absent-Minded Professor, The Love Bug). The initial release of The Shaggy Dog grossed over nine million dollars on a budget of less than one million dollars—an almost unprecedented return on a film investment, making it more profitable than Ben-Hur (released the same year). It also performed very strongly on a 1967 re-release.

In the original film, young Wilby Daniels (played by prolific Disney actor Tommy Kirk) discovers a ring reputed to have belonged to Lucrezia Borgia. After chanting an inscription on the ring (in canis corpore transmuto) he finds himself repeatedly shape-shifting into a large, shaggy dog. Many comic scenes were built from the concept of a dog acting like a human, brushing his teeth, driving a car etc. and from the comic situation of the hero transforming into a dog at inopportune times. Eventually, he manages to break the spell and returns to a normal life.

Plot

Wilby Daniels is now an adult; a successful attorney who is married to Betty, and they have a son called Brian. Returning from a vacation, his family discovers that they have been robbed of all their possessions and Wilby blames the local district attorney John Slade, who is reputed to have connections with organized crime, particularly with warehouse owner Edward "Fast Eddie" Roshak (Vic Tayback) . Wilby vows to run for district attorney to make his town safe again.

Meanwhile, two thugs, Freddie (Richard Bakalyan) and Dip (Warren Berlinger), observe the Borgia ring at the local museum and assume it might fetch a large sum so they steal it. The ugly ring with a scarab on it can only be pawned off to local bumbling ice cream salesman Tim, who is the owner of a large Old English Sheepdog named Elwood. Tim figures he will give the ring to his girlfriend Katrinka, a local roller derby star and pastry assistant.

While dressing himself in preparation for a live television broadcast to announce his candidacy, Wilby hears a report of the Borgia ring being stolen. He freezes in terror, then reveals his former shape-shifting secret to his wife who is certain his story cannot be true; he warns her that if the inscription on the ring ("In canis corpore transmuto") is spoken aloud he will turn into a shaggy dog. Soon afterwards, Wilby is moments before his live television debut as Tim discovers the inscription on the ring and reads it aloud, causing Elwood to disappear – only to reappear moments later as he takes over Wilby’s body. Moments before the cameras roll, Brian notices that shaggy hair is growing all over his father who reacts in horror as he realizes he is turning into a dog. He rushes from the house and cameras in his dog form and briefly confounds Tim who can’t understand why his dog Elwood suddenly can speak. The spell wears off and Wilby is now in his human form again and determined to find the ring as he faces the prospect of being a candidate in the public eye who never knows when he might turn into a dog.

Soon, Wilby’s fears come true as Katrinka receives the ring and once again the inscription is read, just as Wilby is giving a public address at a ladies garden club (The Daisies). Betty warns him of his shaggy condition a split-second before his canine form would become apparent to all gathered and creates a near riot while trying to escape. Once again, Tim finds Wilby in Elwood’s form and in convinced that his talking dog could make millions; when Tim wanders off momentarily Wilby returns to his human form, leaving a silent Elwood to confound Tim further. Meanwhile, the agents of Wilby’s rival John Slade get suspicious as to why Wilby keeps disappearing.

Desperate to find the ring, the hunt leads to Katrinka who seems to have lost it in a vat of pie filling intended for a John Slade fundraiser. Offering a reward to whoever finds the ring Katrinka and her colleagues go into a mad dash to find it, eventually escalating into a large-scale pie fight. In the pandemonium, the ring once again finds itself in the hands of the local thugs who this time attempt to pass it off to an undercover police detective. Once again in the hands of the museum, the inscription is read aloud as a point of reference; in the middle of the police station, Wilby (who had arrived to confirm the ring had been recovered) finds himself turning into Elwood once again. This time, one of Slade’s agents puts two and two together when he overhears the museum’s curator explaining the ring’s reputed power. Slade is informed of this weakness in his rival, is dubious at first and then invites Wilby to his office to test out the theory.

A confident Wilby bounds into Slade’s office, and then finds himself terrified when he sees Slade now controls the ring. With a reading of the inscription, Slade is thrilled to see Wilby Daniels turn into a shaggy dog right before his eyes and makes a call to the local pound. Wilby escapes hearing Slade repeat the inscription several times, which guarantees that the spell will not wear off and he will be trapped in a dog’s form for some time to come.

Wilby eventually disguises himself as a female roller-derby competitor to elude Slade, who as district attorney has the entire police force and animal control at his disposal. Eventually, Wilby is caught and taken to the local dog pound where he is able to understand the other dogs, who band together to help him escape.

With the help of Tim (who still thinks his dog Elwood can speak) and Brian, Wilby gets evidence that John Slade is connected to organized crime. With the help of his dog friends from the pound, he also manages to retrieve the ring from John Slade, who unfortunately has read the inscription so many times aloud that the curse has now passed onto him as he transforms into a bulldog. A happy ending for all as Wilby gets elected district attorney, Slade is jailed and Tim gets engaged to Katrinka; together they adopt Wilby’s dog friends from the pound.

Cast

Notes

This film has been seen as a light satire of American politics in the post-Watergate era, with politicians being depicted as tied to crime, and not being what they appear to be.

Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette were frequently paired in other Disney gimmick comedies, such as Blackbeard's Ghost and The Ugly Dachshund. Keenan Wynn had played villainous Alonzo Hawk in many other Disney comedies before taking on the role of John Slade.

The story was set in fictional Medfield, a town (along with its eponymous Medfield College) that was the setting for many other Disney gimmick comedies, including The Absent-Minded Professor and the “Dexter” comedies (The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Now You See Him Now You Don’t, The Strongest Man in the World).

The mythology of the Borgia ring was changed from the first film, in which young Wilby read the inscription on the ring once and then was the victim of random transformations which could only be stopped if he performed a heroic deed. In this sequel, he simply turned into a dog whenever the ring’s inscription was read aloud, and the spell would generally last from five to ten minutes. In the television movie The Return of the Shaggy Dog (1987), which takes places between the events of the original film and this sequel, the mythology changes once again: now, once the inscription is read, Wilby is trapped in dog form until it is read again. The 2006 “remake” with Tim Allen scrapped the situation and characters of the three initial films (and also a 1994 television remake) and opted instead for a science fiction device of a man being bitten by a viral dog that infected him with a serum that affected his DNA.

The first film and all of its subsequent sequels and remakes are “inspired” by the long out-of-print novel The Hound of Florence by Felix Salten (who also wrote the novel on which the Disney animated film Bambi was based ). None of the adaptations bear more than a fleeting resemblance to the original novel, save for a basic concept of an adolescent boy being transformed into a dog by means of an enchanted ring.

This is the last of 19 films Robert Stevenson directed at Disney that spanned nearly 20 years. His first was Johnny Tremain in 1957, he also directed a number of episodes for the series Disneyland.

The film has recently been satired on the Howard Stern Show by Artie Lange.

References

• The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin
• The Art of Walt Disney by Christopher Finch

External links

• http://www.UltimateDisney.com
• The Shaggy D.A. at the Internet Movie Database
• The Shaggy D.A. at Allmovie