The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes1969

I have seen this movie dozens, maybe hundreds of times throughout my lifetime. There is something so fun and effortlessly charming about these 60s/70s live-action Disney films. And they are some of my favorites, and this one is at the top among them. The casting of Cesar Romero in the three Dexter Reilly films is absolutely fitting, as there definitely is an Adam West Batman feel to the whole thing, though obviously toned down.  There is an absurd surrealism to the idea that someone could get electrocuted by a computer and become as smart as one, even so far as storing information already on the computer into your brain. And the silliness of that idea is inherent and made apparent when a doctor looks inside Dexter’s ear and doesn’t see code or circuit boards or blips and dots, let alone an ear canal, but the blinking lights, buttons, and spinning reels on the surface of a vintage computer’s control system.  It’s silly. And gosh darn it, just plain fun.  It’s the type of movie that no one, especially Disney, could make today, as it’s the kind of goofy, sincere, youthful adventure that would be deemed corny, out of touch, or just bad by the current world’s postmodern sensibilities. As if postmodernism isn’t dated and out of touch.  I’m sure you could read into this movie and find some depth. Some commentary on youth culture or perceived youth culture in the 60s/70s or the prophetic nature of a computer infesting your brain until it changes and corrupts who you are as a person. But for me, it is an experience. A time capsule. And a good time.