The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973)

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There are a number of films with the word, “Greatest”, in the title. Does this necessarily mean that the film itself is great? No, no it doesn’t. But surely there are exceptions, right? Let’s find out! Read on for my review of the Robert Scheerer-directed Disney film, The World’s Greatest Athlete!

And remember, SPOILERS AHEAD!

As the film begins, we’re introduced to Coach Sam Archer, played by John Amos, as well as his assistant coach, Milo Jackson, played by Tim Conway. They coach various sports at Merrivale College, but unfortunately all their players suck resulting in them never winning a game.

This depresses Coach Archer so decides to take trip to Zambia to reconnect with his roots along with Milo. While exploring the African wildlife, Coach Archer comes across an extremely fast white guy named Nanu, played by Jan-Michael Vincent.

In a Tarzan-esque story, Nanu was the son of white missionaries who came to this part of Africa and then died, resulting in Nanu being raised by the local “witch doctor”, Gazenga, played by Roscoe Lee Browne. Having grown up in the African environment (or maybe due to potions from his godfather, who really knows?), Nanu has developed incredible skills of running, swinging, hurdling, and an overall heightened athletic capability. Coach Archer wants Nanu to come back to America with him so that he can train him to be the world’s greatest athlete, but Nanu refuses.

Not taking no for an answer, Coach Archer tries to think of a way to get Nanu to go back to America with him.

He finds his strategy in a local custom wherein if somebody saves someone else’s life, it becomes incumbent upon the savior to follow the one he saved where he may go for the rest of his life.

I find this an interesting premise because usually in fiction, the one who is saved becomes duty-bound to his savior for the rest of his life. I’ve never seen the opposite before. It kinda makes you not want to save anybody in the first place.

Anyway, Coach Archer tries multiple ways to get Nanu to save his life, but nothing works. The last thing he tries is to pretend to be in a coma and having Milo convince Nanu to run to Mombasa to get some aspirin. Nanu has a better idea though and takes Coach Archer to his godfather, Gazenga, to be cured.

So, Gazenga isn’t so much a “witch doctor” as he is someone who has studied both African herbal medicine as well as Western medicine. He definitely has an aspect of “witch doctor” to him, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not an uneducated, uncivilized ignoramus that many films would tend to portray.

He gives Coach Archer a concoction which really makes him sick and then sends Nanu to run to Mombasa to get the aspirin which he does. This act constitutes saving Coach Archer’s life and much to Nanu’s sadness, he’s forced to fly back to America with Coach Archer and Milo. Gazenga realizes that Coach Archer was playing a trick, but goes along with it so that Nanu can see how the West and their “civilized” people really are.

Not only does Nanu travel back with the coaches, but his pet tiger, Harri, does as well. What’s a tiger doing in Africa? Well, Nanu’s parents brought it over from India with them, duh!

When they get back home, they sneak Harri into their apartment by disguising him in clothes which fools their pretty much blind-as-a-bat landlady, Mrs. Petersen, played by Nancy Walker.

The next day, Coach Archer sets Nanu up with a fellow student, Jane Douglas, played by Dayle Haddon, to be his tutor in the academic subjects while he and Milo will train him in athletics.

Jane is smitten by Nanu as soon as she sees him and he’s quite taken by her too. But, I’m sorry, she’s just not an actress. I know this was probably her first film, but it’s very clear that they just got a model for this acting role. It makes it hard to watch her performance throughout the film, which is sad though because she’s legitimately trying.

Anyway, the athletic training goes well with Coach Archer and Milo training Nanu in football, basketball, and track-and-field. Nanu soon makes the news when he enters the NCAA Track and Field championships and Coach Archer is interviewed about it. This leads to the beginning of the appearances of a number of famous sports commentators throughout the film.

However, a student named Leopold, played by Danny Goldman, is jealous of Nanu for “stealing his girl”, Jane. We’ve never seen Leopold or Jane together prior to this nor have we even heard Jane mention him. So it’s more likely than not that Leopold has a crush on Jane and made her his girlfriend in his mind. Nevertheless, he wants revenge so he convinces the medical college to invite Nanu’s godfather as a guest speaker.

When Gazenga arrives in America, Leopold lies to him that Coach Archer and Milo are evil people who want to exploit Nanu. Gazenga doesn’t fully believe this and is even suspicious of Leopold, but in the end he decides to check up on the situation.

When Milo sees Gazenga, he’s convinced that he’s come to take Nanu back home with him, so he doesn’t tell him anything. In return, Gazenga shrinks Milo resulting in a few comedic scenes with Tim Conway interacting with huge props.

Gazenga then meets Coach Archer who sends him off on a wild goose chase looking for Nanu. Meanwhile Coach Archer accidentally admits to Nanu that the whole “saving his life” thing was a trick which upsets Nanu and prompts him to run away. Coach Archer along with Milo (who has now returned to his normal size) run after him and find him hiding in a zoo.

They convince Nanu to come with them to the Championship as he was gonna try to win every single event at the track meet which has never been done before. At the track meet, Nanu starts to perform well, but Gazenga uses a voodoo doll of Nanu to cause him to do poorly. Coach Archer and Milo try to find Gazenga in the audience to stop him, but can’t. However they make their own voodoo doll of Gazenga and eject him from the audience into a swimming pool.

With Gazenga no longer interfering, Nanu is able to excel having been given three tries to perform each event resulting in him winning. Leopold tries to complain, but Harri chases him which shuts him up.

Nanu decides to return to Zambia along with Harri and Jane and bids Coach Archer and Milo farewell. Sad to lose his greatest player, Coach Archer takes a flight to China along with Milo. There he meets another extremely fast runner named Chin Yang and runs after him trying to convince him to return to America with him and allow him to coach him.

And that was The World’s Greatest Athlete! While it’s not a “great” film, per se, it’s honestly not that bad. It’s quite enjoyable and very funny at times! I would argue that this is the funniest I’ve ever seen Tim Conway! The acting is great by him, John Amos, and Roscoe Lee Browne. Jan-Michel Vincent and Dayle Haddon were the worst of the actors as probably could be expected.

Many of the gags are funny and executed well such as the voodoo doll scenes, while others serve mostly as filler such as the shrunken Tim Conway scene. Some things also didn’t make sense such as Gazenga not believing Leopold, but then believing him and then not caring after Nanu won. Leopold’s whole character was also just a MacGuffin to get Gazenga to come to America. Besides that, he didn’t serve any purpose.

Still, I enjoyed watching this film and I think many of you will too.

So, my final score for this film is 26/35 = 74.29% (C) !

The next review will be posted on November 28, 2023.