Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

They were not crooks but it was gambling. Basically a church member gambles part of a church fund and the pastor and parishioner help the police close down the gamblers. Then they take money from the final apprehension to put back in the church fund which I always thought odd. It was funny a thing at the time.

Not long before Disney faded out for a time in the early 80s,they made a few good "family films". This certainly is one of them. The plot (which was not over my head even at 10) is simple. The town Reverend recruits the neighborhood ladies to try and uncover illeagal gambling going on in their area.The ladies are hilarious as they try to keep their cool while (I'm, guessing) trying to be like crime solvers they've seen on TV. One car chase happens when one of them has just come from the grocery store with her kids. Nothing stranger or funnier than an action car chase w/ a station wagon! It's like being pursued by The Bradys! Another scene,one of them is asked to describe a car making a getaway and she says,"It's green". "Maybe olive green or avacado green etc. & so on!It was great to see the late Alan Hale Jr. in the film too,playing something besides "Skipper". I may be 27 years older but none of it seems dated to me. If it feels so to others,I can only assume they've lost their inner child somewhere. For families and even those who look back fondly on being a kid....enjoy! ...and check your "21st century mind" at the door! (END)

This film is very entertaining and definitely for all audiences. A group of elderly ladies forms a "neighborhood watch", or better a "neighborhood clean-up crew". They join forces to rid their formerly "nice neighborhood" of the trash that gives it a bad name.Fearless and determined, the "North Avenue Irregulars" (played by many familiar comediennes) show the bad guys who's boss and reclaim their "turf". Many laughs, and a timely message: Don't let the scum take over your neighborhood! This kind of story was more timely during the 70s and early 80s, when serious gang violence plagued most of America. In the 21st Century, this once hopeless situation has become much less of a problem. Much of the credit for the "cleaning up" of our streets indeed goes to the countless local "neighborhood watch" efforts, telling the bad guys to clean up their act or be hauled away. Kids will still enjoy this film for its "Home Alone" methods of dealing with "bad guys".

Disney just doesn't make fun films of this sort anymore. And the all-star-cast movie days seem to be over. I'm glad we have films like this to watch and remember. Everyone has their moments to shine here, but Cloris Leachman IMHO takes the cake! The scene at the end with the fingernails is a scream. This used to be very hard to find, but now it's out on DVD. If you haven't seen it yet, give it a try. It was made in '79, which adds to it's charm - all those bell bottoms & hip phrases of the time. You'll love the crash-up derby at the end. This is just a great family film.