The Absent-Minded Professor

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The Absent-Minded Professor
Directed by	Robert Stevenson
Produced by	Bill Walsh
Written by	Samuel W. Taylor Bill Walsh
Starring	Fred MacMurray Nancy Olson
Music by	George Bruns
Cinematography	Edward Colman
Editing by	Cotton Warburton
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution Co. Inc.
Release date(s)	March 16, 1961 (US)
Running time	97mins
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Absent-Minded Professor is a 1961 Walt Disney Pictures film based on the short story A Situation of Gravity, by Samuel W. Taylor.

The film was reissued to theaters in 1967 and 1975, and released to video in 1981, 1986, and 1992. The film, shot in black-and-white, was one of the first Disney films to be colorized, for the 1986 video release.

This film was followed by a sequel Son of Flubber, released in 1963.

This film was remade in the 1997 movie, Flubber, starring Robin Williams.

1 Plot
2 Confusion
3 Cast
4 Trivia
5 Remakes
6 References

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Professor Brainard is an absent-minded professor of physical chemistry at Medfield College who invents a substance that gains energy when it strikes a hard surface. This discovery follows some blackboard scribbling in which he reverses a sign, reflecting the dispute between chemists vs. physicists and engineers over whether negative work is done on vs. by the system. Brainard names his discovery Flubber, for "flying rubber". In the excitement of his discovery, he misses his own wedding to Betsy Carlisle -- and not for the first time. Subplots include another professor's wooing the disappointed Miss Carlisle, Biff Hawk's ineligibility for basketball due to failing Brainard's class, Alonzo Hawk's schemes to gain wealth with Flubber, the school's financial difficulties and debt to Mr. Hawk, and Brainard's attempts to interest the government and military in uses for Flubber.

Looking for backers, he bounces his Flubber ball for an audience, but his investment pitch proves so long-winded that most of the crowd has left before they notice that the ball bounced higher on its second bounce than on its first. For a more successful demonstration, he makes his Model T fly by putting Flubber in the mechanics. Other adventures and misadventures result as Flubber is used on basketball players (in a crucial game), Brainard (at a school dance), and the scheming businessman (who must be tackled by a full team to bring him down). Eventually, Brainard shows his discovery to the government and also wins back Miss Carlisle, culminating in a successful wedding at last.

[edit] Confusion

Because it heavily influenced the Jerry Lewis picture The Nutty Professor, it is often confused with the latter, especially by children who have seen it on The Disney Channel. Because the film often has heavy rotation on the channel (especially in the early years), children mistake it for the classic Lewis picture. However, the Disney film lacks Lewis's sexual themes and Lewis's own dark portrayal of his "ladies man" alter ego, and is therefore more family friendly.

The film's sequel, Son of Flubber (1963), also features MacMurray, Olson, Wynn, and Kirk.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Fred MacMurray	Professor Ned Brainard
Nancy Olson	Betsy Carlisle
Keenan Wynn	Alonzo P. Hawk
Tommy Kirk	Biff Hawk
Leon Ames	President Rufus Daggett
Elliott Reid	Professor Shelby Ashton
Edward Andrews	Defense Secretary
David Lewis	General Singer
Jack Mullaney	Air Force Captain
Belle Montrose	Mrs. Chatsworth
Wally Brown	Coach Elkins
Wally Boag	TV Newsman
Don Ross	Lenny
Forrest Lewis	Officer Kelley
James Westerfield	Officer Hanson

[edit] Trivia

Medfield College was also the setting of a trio of Disney Studio films from 1969-1975 starring Kurt Russell as Dexter Riley, Joe Flynn as Dean Higgins, Cesar Romero as A.J. Arno and Michael McGreevey as Shuyler: The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Now You See Him, Now You Don't and The Strongest Man in the World.

Father and son Ed Wynn and Keenan appear together in this film; the elder Wynn plays the Fire Chief. Keenan Wynn also played Alonzo Hawk in Herbie Rides Again (1974).

Hubert Alyea (1903-1996) a former professor of Chemistry at Princeton University has been cited as the inspiration for this character.

[edit] Remakes

It was remade in 1988 as a TV movie with Harry Anderson and Mary Page Keller as the renamed characters Prof. Henry Crawford and Ellen Whitley; and in 1997 as the theatrical motion picture Flubber, starring Robin Williams as the slightly renamed Prof. Philip Brainard and Marcia Gay Harden as his love interst, Dr. Sara Jean Reynolds.