The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is a Walt Disney film from 1969, starring Alan Hewitt, Kurt Russell, Frank Webb, and Joe Flynn.

Plot and Synopsis

The film is about a student, Dexter Riley (Kurt Russell), as well as his alma mater Medfield College, a struggling private college that receives a computer from its sponsor, the A.J. Arno company. The trade between the company and Medfield seems harmless, until we find out that the A.J. Arno company's namesake and founder (Cesar Romero) is really the headmaster of a gambling ring with illegal operations all over the state. The computer that the company has given to the school is loaded with illegal information, which is put into Dexter Riley's head after he receives a huge shock while installing a new part into the computer.

Dexter is now a human computer, able to complete the toughest exams in a minute, capable of speaking in other languages, and answering the hardest questions from highly trained and educated professors. He is so good that he and three other students from Medfield are put in a televised quiz tournament against other colleges for a grand prize of $100,000.

As the information flows out of Dexter's mouth, pride goes into his head. He starts working for A.J. Arno, travelling the country, gambling for horses, and avoiding his friends. It all comes to a head after (while at a wild party) Dexter, one of Arno's henchmen, the Medfield dean Eugene Higgins and another dean from a competing school are arrested and incarcerated. Dexter realizes what a fool he's been, especially when his college friends bail him out of jail. As a result of this kindness, Dexter hangs around his friends more often, and resumes playing for Medfield at the quiz tournament.

Everything seems back to normal for Dexter, until a certain point in the quiz when the moderator asks a question with a one word answer (given by Dexter) that triggers Dexter to mechanically and orrally read off a list of gambling information that we hear earlier on in the film. Even worse, A.J. Arno is watching the tournament on television, and when he hears his information being inadvertently publicised, he vows to silence Dexter with death!

That night, Dexter is kidnapped by Arno's henchmen and taken to their hideout (an old, rundown farmhouse), where Dexter is locked inside. But he is not alone; two of his best college peers, Pete and Annie, find out where Dexter has gone. The two of them manage to secretly follow some of Arno's workers to the hideout and (by looking through an open window) find Dexter. They also find out that Dexter is going to be locked into a trunk and dumped into a lake to suffocate and drown sometime the next day.

When the rest of Dexter's friends hear what has happened the following morning, they split up into two groups. One of them will quiz at the tournament (with a substitute for Dexter); the other group will go to the hideout (using Pete and Annie's accumulated information) disguised as painters to secretly rescue Dexter and bring him back to Medfield...

Arno's four henchmen get up from their bedrooms at the hideout to hear cheerful whistling. They go outside and find the student "painters" wiping away at the white house, painting it a meloncholy orange and green. Pete manages to hold off the henchmen and stall them, while the rest of the students secretly peek through the windows looking for Dexter. Finally, one of them goes to Pete and replies that he has found Dexter...locked in a trunk!

Pete decides to take action. Immediately, he sneaks into the house upstairs with a couple other students, hiding in the doorways. They go up just in time; two henchmen are lugging Dexter through the hallway, taking him down to their truck to go to the lake. But just at the right time, Pete leaps out and slugs the henchmen with a paint roller, sending him down the stairs. Dexter is hauled into one of the bedrooms, and awaits his escape locked in a trunk. Will his friends manage to save Dexter in time? Yes, Dexter's trunk, however, slips down the lower roof, landing outside. Meanwhile, Dexter's friends have put paint into the gasoline of the henchmen's cars, putting them out of commission. When the henchmen realize that their cars won't start, they use Dexter's car to chase those college friends. When the paint sprays from the truck into A.J. Arno, the car crashes into the fence of a meadow, temporarily defeating Arno. Dexter does return to the TV studio, just in time to help the Medfield College team to win the big prize money. However, the computer inside his head is slowing down, until it dies, breaking Dexter's computerized spell. His friend does answer the final question correctly, and wins the competition by 1 point!!! Arno arrives at the studio, still after Dexter, causing Dexter to leave the premises. When Arno and his men attempt to chase Dexter, they hear a police siren and try to flee, however, Arno's car crashes head on into the cop's car, and are immediately arrested and sent to jail. Dexter is back to being a normal student. The students listen to the dean, talking, via a secret radio, about having to raise funds again for Medfield College, instead of proposing to teach the students about plumbing!!!Dexter reunites with his girlfriend as the film ends.

Sequels

• Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972)
• The Strongest Man in the World (1975)

TV remake

• The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1995)

Quotes

• (Dexter and Dean Eugene Higgins as the computer is set up)

Dexter (casually): Hiya, Dean-o.

Dean Higgins (bewilderment): Dean-o?

• (A.J. Arno and Chillie Walsh at the hideout)

Arno (forcefully): What are all those kids doin' out there?

Chillie: Oh don't worry, boss; they're painters. I checked 'em out; it's okay.

Arno (angrily): So you checked them out? They're not painters, you idiot! They're a bunch of his school buddies!

• (Arno and Chillie in a haystack in a cow field)

Cow: MOOOOO!!!

Arno: Aw, shaddup!

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