The World's Greatest Athlete (1973)

Directed by

Robert Scheerer

Genre

comedy film, family film, athletics film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 33m

Rated

G

Rating

5.5 of 10 from 35 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two college coaches discover a young man raised in the jungle who has incredible athletic abilities. They recruit him to compete in track and field events where he unexpectedly dominates every race and contest.

lightheartedwhimsicalupbeatfungoofyenergeticfamily-friendlysend-up

What happens

The World's Greatest Athlete is a 1973 American sports comedy film directed by Robert Scheerer and starring John Amos, Roscoe Lee Browne, Tim Conway, Dayle Haddon, and Jan-Michael Vincent. Released by Walt Disney Productions, it is one of the few wide-release Hollywood sports films to look at the world of track and field. In the film, two coaches recruit a jungle boy who makes history by winning every event at the NCAA Track & Field Championship. The screenplay was by Dee Caruso and Gerald Gardner who also wrote a novelization of the film. This film was also one of Billy De Wolfe's final roles before he died the following year. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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