The Apple Dumpling Gang (film)

The Apple Dumpling Gang is a 1975 Disney film about a slick gambler named Russell Donovan Bill Bixby who is duped into taking care of a group of orphans who eventually strike gold during the California Gold Rush.

Set during the California Gold Rush, a slick gambler named Russell Donovan Bill Bixby arrives to town and finds himself duped into taking care of a trio of orphans with the towns sheriff, barber, Justice of the Peace, and judge Homer McCoy Harry Morgan telling him that he is legally obligated unless he can have someone else take custody of the children. By chance, the Bradley children end up finding gold with everyone in the town attempting to adopt the children from Donovan. Fearing they would not have the childrens intentions in heart, he arranged a marriage with the stagecoach driver Magnolia Dusty Clydesdale Susan Clark so they can keep custody of the Bradley children. However, things become complicated when their legal guardian returns. At the same time, a pair of bumbling holdup men named Amos Tucker Tim Conway and Theodore Ogelvie Don Knotts attempt to steal the Bradleys gold before their former boss Frank Stillwell Slim Pickens kidnap the children while stealing the gold. But it ends with the gold nugget blown to bits, Stillwell arrested, and Donovan and Dusty keeping the Bradley children as they use the reward money for Stillwells arrest to buy a farm and on their way a reformed Amos and Theodore catches up with the newfound family asking for work as farmhands.The film was a hit at the box office and was the most successful Disney film of the 1970s earned 13.5 million in theatrical rentals but gained mixed reviews from the critics. In October 1980, it became one of the first Disney movies to be released on videocassette. It is also known as being the first film to feature the comedy duo of Don Knotts and Tim Conway. Knotts and Conway developed different styles of pulling off their comedy Conways characters were usually the dumber of the two, which made Knotts usually the brains of the group, though they were both equally inept. Both The Apple Dumpling Gang and its sequel, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again, have been released on Disney DVD in t

Source: Wikipedia