Hey everyone! How's it going? Did you all have a good weekend? I did. It was nice and quiet...except for Friday afternoon/evening, because it snowed and was freezing rain here for some bizarre reason. The perfect thing to top off an already bizarre week. Last night Katie and I watched the original 1976 movie adaptation of Freaky Friday which stars Jodie Foster. So that's what I'm here to talk about today. Not to worry though I'm still gonna do a review of Bedknobs and Broomsticks later this week. So without further ado, let's start the review.
Of course, I'm familiar with the Lindsay Lohan version from 2003, also produced by Disney, but this was the first time I've seen the original 1976 version. It just wasn't available when I was a kid. It's only really had four home video retail releases and even when it came out on DVD in time for the 2003 version to come out on VHS and DVD, I don't remember ever seeing it in stores. I probably saw it at one point on The Wonderful World of Disney or on Family Channel, I just don't remember it. Katie and I were originally going to watch it for her birthday last month, but it didn't end up happening. When she chose it though, it kind of surprised me as I thought she'd pick something more modern that she hadn't seen yet. It was a fun movie though.
The movie is based on the book by author Mary Rodgers, who also happened to write the script for the movie. That doesn't happen very often, with The Princess Bride being the only other example I can think of where that's happened. I've never read the book but I looked it up on Wikipedia, and comparing the synopsis of the book to the synopsis of the movie, the only real differences I could see, is that the book is more focused on Annabel in her mother's body, while the movie is split between Annabel in her mother's body, and her mother in Annabel's body. With the water-skiing scene being added to the movie in the script.
The cast in this movie is amazing. It felt like every few minutes I was saying to Katie, "that's so and so from this movie or TV show". Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris are the only main cast members I'm not familiar with while there are a few minor cast members that I'm also not familiar with. John Astin (The Addams Family, Batman), Marc McClure (Superman: The Movie), Sorrell Booke (The Dukes of Hazzard), Dick van Patten (Spaceballs), Al Molinaro (Happy Days), and Laurie Main (Winnie the Pooh and A Day for Eeyore, Welcome to Pooh Corner) all appear in this movie at some point.
The 70s is the era of Disney that I'm least familiar with when it comes to the live action movies. Mainly because outside of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Herbie Rides Again, and Pete's Dragon nobody really talks about the live action movies that Disney put out in the 70s. When Freaky Friday came out in 1976, Disney was in a weird period. The animated movies weren't doing quite as well as they had when Walt was alive, the TV shows were doing okay though they also aren't talked about, and Walt Disney World had just opened a few years earlier. Card Walker became the CEO of Walt Disney Productions the year this movie came out, replacing former CEO Donn Tatum, and not much else is really said about him. Disney had been making live action movies since the early 1950s, with a few live-action/animation hybrid films coming out in the 1940s. But in the 70s the majority of the live action films that Disney was putting out were comedies and Disney was putting them out more often than they were their animated movies.
I think the thing that shocked me the most about this movie is how sexist it is. John Astin plays Annabel's father, and his character treats his wife, Ellen (who is in Annabel's body for most of the movie), as if she's a 1950s housewife. I'm pretty sure the movie is supposed to be set in the 70s, and the book was published in 1972, but the Wikipedia page doesn't say whether the book is supposed to be set in the 50s or in the 70s. And because the author of the novel wrote the film's screenplay, it's really hard to tell. Yes, I realize that women were still somewhat treated this way in the 70s, but I honestly didn't think it would blatantly be in a movie made by Disney in the 70s, that was set in the then present day. Those scenes were a bit uncomfortable to watch, but they were few and far between (thankfully).
Freaky Friday was first released on VHS (possibly Betamax too) in 1983. Though the Disney Wiki doesn't give an exact date for the release, this original VHS release came out before 1984, when Disney was still mainly putting out their cartoon shorts and live action movies on home video, with the majority of the animated movies being held back with Dumbo, The Three Caballeros, Fun and Fancy Free, Alice in Wonderland, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh being the exceptions. I'll be talking about that a little bit more tomorrow when I do the final part in my history of Disney movies on home video series I've been doing. The movie wouldn't see another home video release until it was re-released on VHS and released on Laserdisc in 1992 as part of the Walt Disney's Studio Film Collection. It was released on DVD on June 1st, 2004, and wouldn't have another DVD release until 2019 when it was released in a 3-Movie Collection release along with the Lindsay Lohan version from 2003, and the Disney Channel Original Movie version from 2018. It was also released on Blu-ray through the Disney Movie Club in 2018.
Overall, this was an entertaining movie. It's not a great movie and I wasn't expecting it to be since it's a live action Disney movie from the 70s. It was fun though and both Katie and I had a good time watching it. For me the fun mainly came from playing "Spot That Actor" every time an actor I recognized came on screen. If you're looking for something entertaining to watch on the weekend, in between rewatching WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier or waiting for the next episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch to drop, I'd definitely recommend Freaky Friday. It's fun, it's funny, and it's entertaining in a classic 70s kind of way.
I think that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow with the final part of my overview of the history of Disney movies on home video. Then on Wednesday I'll have my review of the first episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch which drops tomorrow on Disney+. On Friday I'll have my review of Bedknobs and Broomsticks posted. As for Thursday, I actually don't know what I'm going do post that day. Maybe nothing. We'll see though. In the meantime I'll see you all tomorrow for the last part of my history of Disney movies on home video series. Until then have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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