Explore Movies TV Shows Live TV

The World's Greatest Athlete

From the JUNGLE to the GYM...He's the Greatest!

5.3

1973•1h 46m

Stuck with a feeble sports department, college coach Sam Archer (John Amos) faces the ax unless he can reverse the school's athletic fortunes. An African vacation with his assistant (Tim Conway) answers Archer's prayers when he spots the athletically gifted Nanu (Jan-Michael Vincent). Sam counts on Nanu's remarkable abilities to put the team back on the winning track. This upbeat farce boasts an impressive cast of comedians.

Production

Production

Cast

Photo of Jan-Michael Vincent

Jan-Michael Vincent

Nanu

Photo of Tim Conway

Tim Conway

Milo Jackson

Photo of John Amos

John Amos

Coach Sam Archer

Photo of Roscoe Lee Browne

Roscoe Lee Browne

Gazenga

Photo of Dayle Haddon

Dayle Haddon

Jane

Photo of Billy De Wolfe

Billy De Wolfe

Dean Maxwell

Photo of Nancy Walker

Nancy Walker

Mrs. Petersen

Photo of Vito Scotti

Vito Scotti

Games spectator

Photo of Howard Cosell

Howard Cosell

Himself - Announcer

Photo of Frank Gifford

Frank Gifford

Himself - Announcer

Photo of Liam Dunn

Liam Dunn

Dr. Winslow

Photo of Clarence Muse

Clarence Muse

Gazenga's Assistant

Photo of Al Checco

Al Checco

Dr. Checco

Photo of Danny Goldman

Danny Goldman

Leopold Maxwell

Photo of Don Pedro Colley

Don Pedro Colley

Morumba

Photo of Leon Askin

Leon Askin

Dr. Gottlieb

Photo of Joe Kapp

Joe Kapp

Buzzer Kozak

Photo of Leigh Christian

Leigh Christian

Photo of Virginia Capers

Virginia Capers

Native Woman

Photo of Philip Ahn

Philip Ahn

Old Chinaman

More Like This

Backdrop for The Lion in Winter

74% Match1968HD

The Lion in Winter

Henry II and his estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, battle over the choice of an heir.

Backdrop for Who's Minding the Store?

69% Match1963HD

Who's Minding the Store?

Jerry Lewis plays Norman Phiffer, a proud man in a humble life, who doesn't know that his girlfriend, Barbara, is heir to the Tuttle Department Store dynasty. Mrs. Tuttle, Barbara's mother, is determined to split the two lovers, and hires Norman in an attempt to humiliate him enough that Barbara leaves him. Will she ruin their love, or will he ruin her store?

Backdrop for Snowball Express

67% Match1972HD

Snowball Express

When John Baxter inherits a ski resort in the Rocky Mountains, he quits his job in New York and moves the family west to run it. Only to find that the place is a wreck. But together they decide to try to fix it up and run it. But Martin Ridgeway, who wants the property, does everything he can to ensure it will fail.

Backdrop for Sinners

75% Match2025HD

Sinners

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

Backdrop for Titanic

79% Match1997HD

Titanic

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.

Backdrop for Pulp Fiction

85% Match1994HD

Pulp Fiction

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.

Backdrop for Oppenheimer

80% Match2023HD

Oppenheimer

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

Backdrop for 12 Angry Men

86% Match1957HD

12 Angry Men

The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.

Backdrop for Joker

81% Match2019HD

Joker

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.

Backdrop for Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

74% Match2019HD

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…

Backdrop for The Shawshank Redemption

87% Match1994HD

The Shawshank Redemption

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

Backdrop for PK

77% Match2014HD

PK

A stranger in the city asks questions no one has asked before. Known only by his initials, the man's innocent questions and childlike curiosity take him on a journey of love, laughter and letting go.

Backdrop for Shutter Island

82% Match2010HD

Shutter Island

World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.

Backdrop for The Breakfast Club

77% Match1985HD

The Breakfast Club

Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal. The disparate group includes rebel John, princess Claire, outcast Allison, brainy Brian and Andrew, the jock. Each has a chance to tell his or her story, making the others see them a little differently -- and when the day ends, they question whether school will ever be the same.

Backdrop for Parasite

85% Match2019HD

Parasite

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

Backdrop for Eden Lake

68% Match2008HD

Eden Lake

When a young couple goes to a remote wooded lake for a romantic getaway, their quiet weekend is shattered by an aggressive group of local kids. Rowdiness quickly turns to rage as the teens terrorize the couple in unimaginable ways, and a weekend outing becomes a bloody battle for survival.

Backdrop for The Truman Show

82% Match1998HD

The Truman Show

An insurance salesman begins to suspect that his whole life is actually some sort of reality TV show.

Backdrop for Bicycle Thieves

82% Match1948HD

Bicycle Thieves

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

Backdrop for American Beauty

80% Match1999HD

American Beauty

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

Backdrop for Ex Machina

76% Match2015HD

Ex Machina

Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.

Reviews

R

r96sk

6/10

Bang average.

'The World’s Greatest Athlete' feels like a mixture of stuff we've seen before in this era of Disney. It doesn't do enough to make an impact on me, not helped by silliness of the story and meh casting.

John Amos is the best part of this, I enjoyed what he brings to the table here. Away from him I'm struggling to remember any others already, Roscoe Lee Browne - who is in one of my favourite films, 'Treasure Planet' - is alright but I found his character boring.

I think there's actually potential there with the overall premise, but as usual with this studio's early decades they choose to make it dumb and silly rather than meaningful - it would take a load of tweaking, but I reckon this would make a better coming-of-age/underdog story with a more proper tone. That would make it a completely different film, admittedly.

Lastly, the score is surprisingly solid while the end scene is its most amusing moment. Those two things and Amos aside, this is a bland one.

You've reached the end.