A Fun Film, Made Better Through a Competent Production

Just watched this for the first time, and I must say that it's one of the better sequels to a Disney live action property. The plot is typical 1970s Disney goofiness, but the filming was executed with the class and polish that one would expect from the well-oiled WDP machine.

Particularly striking is the extensive location shooting undertaken for what could hardly be considered a heavy-hitter on WDP's 1979 slate. The Kanab Ranch is a familiar sight for fans of the Western, but it's never looked better in all its Technicolor brilliance.

The train sequence at the end of the film is a true highlight, and a love letter to a film genre that had all but vanished by the end of the 70s. Employing expert stuntwork, a surprising amount of train-top physicality by actor Tim Matheson (as the heroic protagonist), and NO process shots (that I could detect), it's a thrilling sequence for anyone who fancies a knockdown, drag out train ride climax in their Westerns. (Okay, so the whole thing with the "Indians" taking down the locomotive was kind of silly, but it's still well produced.)

Knotts and Conway (the titular "Apple Dumpling Gang") are, well, Knotts and Conway. If you don't like their brand of broad slapstick and comic pratfalls, this film won't convince you otherwise. I happen to enjoy their bumbling antics, which are largely incidental to the simplistic plot of the film.

Character actor Jack Elam doesn't have much to do as the primary antagonist of the film, while haughty lawman-turned-madman Kenneth Mars just sort of disappears before the end of the film after chasing the Gang for much of the movie. In spite of this disjointedness and a surfeit of unnecessary secondary characters, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again charms with its gentle humor and some great Western action sequences. Recommended.

Oh, and I would be remiss if I did not mention the lovely Elyssa Davalos, who is simply gorgeous as a haughty Southern belle torn between two suitors. Fortunately, the roguish charm of our bare-chested, mustachioed hero wins the day.