''The Biscuit Eater'' is a 1972 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Vincent McEveety Vincent Michael McEveety (August 10, 1929 – May 19, 2018) was an American film and television director and producer. Career Vince McEveety directed numerous Emmy Award-winning television series, including ''The Untouchables'', '' Gunsmoke ...

and starring

Earl Holliman Henry Earl Holliman (born September 11, 1928) is an American actor, animal-rights activist, and singer known for his many character roles in films, mostly Westerns and dramas, in the 1950s and 1960s. He won a Golden Globe Award for the film ' ...

Pat Crowley Patricia Crowley (born September 17, 1933) is an American actress. She was also frequently billed as Pat Crowley. Early life Crowley was born in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Helen (''née'' Swartz) and coal mining foreman Vincent Cr ...

Lew Ayres Lewis Frederick Ayres III (December 28, 1908 – December 30, 1996) was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film '' All Quiet on the Western Fr ...

, and

Godfrey Cambridge Godfrey MacArthur Cambridge (February 26, 1933 – November 29, 1976) was an American stand-up comic and actor. Alongside Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, and Nipsey Russell, he was acclaimed by ''Time'' in 1965 as "one of the country's foremost celeb ...

. Based on a short story of the same name by James Street, it was released by Buena Vista Distribution. It is the last 'One Boy and his Animal' themed film made by Disney, as this subgenre eventually grew out of fashion. The 1972 film is a remake of a 1940 film starring

Billy Lee Billy Lee is a former Gaelic footballer and former manager of the Limerick county football team. He is from Newcastle West. Player Lee played for Limerick. He became a selector when Liam Kearns managed the team between 1999 and 2005, and t ...

as Lonnie.

Plot

The story revolves around a

German Wirehaired Pointer The German Wirehaired Pointer is a medium to large-sized griffon type breed of dog developed in the 19th century in Germany for versatile hunting. It became a leading gun dog in Germany in the later part of the 20th century. It is the result of ...

named Moreover who has a strong relationship with a boy named Lonnie (

Johnny Whitaker John Orson Whitaker, Jr. (born December 13, 1959) is an American actor notable for several film and television performances during his childhood. The redheaded Whitaker played Jody Davis on ''Family Affair'' from 1966 to 1971. He also originated ...

). Moreover is given away to Willie Dorsey (

), a gas station clerk, but Lonnie and his best friend Text gain possession of the dog through somewhat deceitful bargaining, securing the reluctant respect of Willie. The boys train Moreover to be a prize-winning

bird dog Pointing dogs, sometimes called bird dogs, are a type of gundog typically used in finding game. Gundogs are traditionally divided into three classes: retrievers, flushing dogs, and pointing breeds. The name ''pointer'' comes from the dog's i ...

, entering him in a

field trial A field trial is a competitive event for gundogs. Field trials are conducted for pointing dogs and setters, retrievers and spaniels, with each assessing the different types various working traits. In the United States, field trials are also co ...

. The dog was initially raised by Lonnie's father, Harvey McNeil, who is an award-winning dog-trainer. Although Lonnie viewed Moreover as a personal pet and a close friend, his father considered the dog to be untrainable and a lackluster hunting dog due to his predilection to eat chicken eggs and biscuits instead of learning to train to be a bird dog. As he did not wish for Moreover to negatively influence the other hunting dogs on the farm, Harvey gifts the dog to Willie, who had previously asked Harvey for a dog to keep as a companion. Lonnie, distraught over the loss of his pet, conspires with his best friend, Text, to trick Willie, who infamously loves to engage in various trades with local individuals, to regain possession of the dog by having Willie trade them the dog for assistance with manual labor. Text, who lives on a farm, takes several eggs from his family's chicken coop to Willie's gas station and gives them to Moreover. Willie, who had initially been hesitant to take possession of the dog due to its reputation of eating eggs, finds Moreover eating the eggs, which he believes to be from his personal stash of eggs, and becomes irate at the dog's behavior. Lonnie and Text are overjoyed that their plan to deceive Willie worked and quickly offer to trade the dog in return for helping Willie carry firewood to his home. Willie agrees to the trade, and the boys decide to secretly train the dog together to become a prize-winning bird dog. Much to the chagrin of Lonnie's father, Lonnie and Text decide to enter Moreover in the state championship field trial. Moreover does well and an incident makes the boys think that Lonnie's father (

) will lose his dog training job if his dog, last year's champion SilverBelle, loses to their dark horse entry.

Cast

Home media

It is a very little-known film, with availability restricted to the American Region 1 and German Region 2 DVDs. On November 12, 2019, Disney made ''The Biscuit Eater'' available for streaming as part of the launch line-up of its

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

service.

Reception

A review in ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' faulted a "weak screenplay" but found that Whitaker and Spell "display confidence and surety, and delineate clear characterizations that make almost plausible the sugary events." Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called it "a fine Disney family film" with "a first-rate cast." Gene Siskel of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' gave the film one star out of four and asked, "What we want to know is, where in the world of space and time is 'The Biscuit Eater' supposed to take place? My preliminary guess is just outside of Never-Never Land sometime between 1850 and 1950 ... I acknowledge that the Disney people prefer to keep their films timeless to permit their perpetual release without being dated. But this time the temporal confusion is downright insulting."Siskel, Gene (June 27, 1972). "Biscuit Eater". ''

''. Section 2, p. 4.

References

External links