Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

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

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Gee, why not do a 70's version of Mr. Ed, but instead of a horse, get a talking dog? Make it obvious, as in close-ups, where the talking dog is a puppet, with only the mouth moving! Put a young Broadway star, never mind if he doesn't sing here and he's so uncomfortable, his acting ability questionable? Finally, put in an old reliable, Gordon Jump (pre-WKRP), and make sure he always gets his comeuppance (Jump is the bad guy here) by landing on water (sometimes with his lackey). Watched this as a kid, and despite my tolerance level, it still sucked.