THE HORSE IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT (Theatrical Release USA 1968)

Ben Meyers’rating: 3.7|5.0 Starsììì

The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit—lovable, amusing, clean family movie—stars Dean Jones and Morey Amsterdam. Despite its box office failure and predictable storyline, the film provides a slower-paced Disney break to ramped up, adrenaline pumped, action-packed thrillers that dominate the current market. The film is rather refreshing for that reason.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

Fred Bolton (Dean Jones), an advertising executive, has a daughter, Helen Bolton (Ellen Janov), who needs a horse for her equestrian activities. Because the family cannot afford the type of horse she requires, Fred conceives of a way to get his daughter a horse when his employer asks him to develop a sophisticated advertising campaign for Aspercel, the company product. Fred develops an ad campaign for Aspercel that revolves around a horse named Aspercel, has his daughter ride for blue ribbons on the horse, and plans to use the resulting publicity to advertise the company’s product. Unfortunately, his daughter does not perform as well as expected in the competitions. Fred desperately needs blue ribbons and finally a solution presents itself that wins more than just blue ribbons.

Additional Thanks

Thank you to Director Norman Tokar for directing efforts. Thank you to Producer Winston Hibler for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Suzie Clemens (Diane Baker), Archer Madison (Lloyd Bochner), Tom Dugan (Fred Clark), Charlie Blake (Morey Amsterdam), Ronnie Gardner (Kurt Russell), Aunt Martha (Lurene Tuttle), Harry Tomis (Alan Hewitt), and Lorendo (Federico Piñero).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. While definitely not in the same class as National Velvet, for the young horse-loving enthusiast, this film provides satisfying entertainment.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers