THE SHAGGY DOG (1959)
Article #1781 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-29-2006
Posting Date: 6-28-2006
Directed by Charles Barton
Featuring Fred MacMurray, Jean Hagen, Tommy Kirk

A teenager puts on a ring that places a curse upon him so that he will sporadically turn into a dog. His father is a mailman who hates dogs. Hilarity ensues.

Witness, if you will, the birth of the shopping cart movie. It’s relatively subdued for the form; it even takes itself a little more seriously on occasion than they normally do. It’s a little sluggishly paced and runs on a bit too long, but it has an amusing cast that features Fred MacMurray, Jean Hagen, Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Cecil Kellaway, Paul Frees, Strother Martin, Jack Albertson, Jim Bannon and Gregg Palmer. It’s pretty predictable, and most of the humor revolves around people reacting to a dog talking, driving, getting out of locked rooms, etc. Later shopping cart movies would perfect the formula but would get quite a bit sillier in the process. Good trivia question to ask about this one: In which movie does Fred MacMurray chase his son with a shotgun?