Moon Pilot (1962)

You won't be disappointed!

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Bearing in mind that this was a made-for-TV-movie, Moon Pilot isn't bad. Disney didn't blow their budget on it, but the production and effects were serviceable if spare. The actors try to inject as much into their bland dialogue as they can, but the writing isn't Disney's cleverest.The genuine highlight of the film is the parade of loony beatnik girls toward the end of the movie, as the military tries to identify their astronaut's supposed space-chick -- Very funny. Dany Saval is adorable. To the best of my knowledge, I've never seen her before. She shows off to advantage the cute outfits designed for her. What a doll.

I never did get around to seeing Moon Pilot back when it was in theaters when I was a lad. Looking at it now, I'm sure glad I didn't waste the money.By 1962 the NASA Program for sending someone to the moon was launched and the public generally familiar with it. I can't believe that even the Disney Studios could have worked within the parameters that were known to the public, even for this innocuous comedy.Tom Tryon before Otto Preminger tried to make him a major star in The Cardinal was a Disney contract player and best known for the Texas John Slaughter films on television. Instead of going through the exacting selection process to be an astronaut, Tryon gets to be the first man to go to the Moon because the chimpanzee who had made the trip previously had stuck a fork in him, causing him to jump and make General Brian Keith think he volunteered.But that isn't all for our intrepid astronaut, this mysterious woman with a French accent played by Dany Saval keeps trying to contact him to make sure a special coat of paint is used on the space ship. Otherwise Tryon will exhibit the same behavior as the chimpanzee. And that wouldn't be good because Saval's getting a thing for him.Saval's not an American, but she isn't French either. She's from a faraway planet called Beta Lyrae and Tryon's attempts to at first shake her involve the Air Force as personified by Keith and the Federal Security Agency as typified by Edmond O'Brien. Due to reasons of national security these two keep working at cross purposes and of course neither are solving anything.I have to hand it to Keith and O'Brien. Both these veterans realized this film was a turkey and then they proceeded to enjoy it the best they could with one of the great blustering contests of all time. You have to be your own judge to determine which one you think is overacting more. Please note that the euphemism Federal Security Agency was used for the FBI. No one, least of all at Disney Studio was going to make fun of them in 1962.Moon Pilot was one of the least successful of Disney films, it certainly hasn't aged well. All of the cast did better things, even at the Magic Kingdom.

The Eagle has Landed.Back in the good ol' days of Disney Live action films (before the 1980's) Disney produced quite a few wholesome if not entertaining family films. Back then you didn't have to worry about dad sleeping with his kids tutor, or some wacky comic villain, hero, or sidekick getting hit in the nuts. There were hardly any poop jokes for kids to wet their paints laughing so hard. Sadly some smoked cigarettes, which is the greatest evil known to mankind next to the destruction of polar bears in the arctic due to global warming. Some even drank beer and perhaps ate some sweets like cookies. Sesame Street realized this evil and transformed Cookie Monster into the Vegetable Monster (I think) This brings us to my short but not fully formed review of Disney's 1962 comedy Sci-Fi film "Moon Pilot". It chronicles the space program sending a man to orbit the moon before such events have taken place. Some chick from an alien planet has come to help out the pilot so his brain doesn't become scrambled like the chimp they sent up before him. Disney had a lot of chimps and chumps in this film, and this monkey does a great acting job if a monkey ever did one.There is the usual Disney army general yelling at the main bumbling astronaut played by Tom Tryon. You all know Tom Tryon form, you know, those films he was in. There is also a security chief yelling at him a lot. Wish I could help you in this review and tell you who they are, but unless you're a wiz at movie triv you might not know who they are if I told you.Some interesting and harmless scenes with French actress Dany Saval. Capt. Richmond Talbot (Tom Tryon) teaches the chick from outer space who earthlings exchange affection. She is so fascinated by she just has to try it again and again. In her culture they bite each other on the ear. In her culture when they predict the future they can bring a living thought into reality for just a moment. Her prediction of the future provides a future for her and her hunky moon pilot.This is a fun little entertaining comedy with some lite sci-fi touches. Overall there is nothing particularly memorable about the film, but could be fun for the kids and the Disney die hard fan. 'The Cat from Outer Space', is a better Disney Sci-Fi comedy but there are plenty of other great family comedies out there to see in general. Wouldn't own it in a collection but it might be worth a rental.The Eagle is now lifting off.

While the technical aspects of this "space age" comedy from the early 1960's are understandably dated, the major problem with watching "Moon Pilot" now lies in its slow pacing. Virtually every scene runs longer than it should and the conversations within each scene are too often marked by needless pauses and languid delivery. The result is a 70-minute story that's been s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d into a 98-minute movie.Tom Tryon seems an unusual choice for the title role. His dark, brooding, sexually-ambiguous looks would qualify him to play "Heathcliff" but "Moon Pilot" is virtually his only foray into farcical comedy. However, his innately serious quality helps him to anchor the movie more securely than would a Dick Van Dyke or a Dean Jones, but he really doesn't shine in this kind of material. His image as a juicy slab of "beefcake" remains intact, however, since even this family-oriented Disney comedy finds an excuse to strip him down to his boxer shorts in order to display his hairy chest in two separate scenes.