Frustrated by the losing performances from their pro-football team the Atoms, owner Edward Asner and coach Don Knotts recruit a kicking mule from Yugoslavia to score the kind of field-goals no human athlete could dream of. This is strictly "The Absent-Minded Professor" minus the Flubber, though viewers didn't seem to mind, making "Gus" a big hit in 1976 with matinée audiences. However, the general pacing is very slow and all the actors look too old for their parts (with the exception of Asner, whose snide one-liners give the movie a little mule-sense). Knotts is still doing his Barney Fife shtick, while Liberty Williams is the perky token female. If you do watch, see if you can figure out why the faux-football footage at the beginning is run in slow-motion. In fact, the whole movie feels in slow-motion. * from ****
Review of Gus
