The Shaggy Dog (1959 film)

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The Shaggy Dog

Directed by	Charles Barton
Produced by	Walt Disney Bill Walsh
Written by	Lillie Hayward Bill Walsh from the novel by Felix Salten
Starring	Fred MacMurray Jean Hagen Tommy Kirk Annette Funicello Tim Considine
Music by	Paul J. Smith
Cinematography	Edward Colman
Distributed by	Buena Vista
Release date(s)	March 19, 1959
Running time	104 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
Followed by	The Shaggy D.A.
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The Shaggy Dog is a black and white 1959 Walt Disney movie about a teenager who is transformed into a sheep dog by a magic ring, and was the first ever Walt Disney live-action comedy. It starred Fred MacMurray, Tommy Kirk, Jean Hagen, Kevin Corcoran, Tim Considine, Roberta Shore, and Annette Funicello. The movie was originally advertised as "the funniest shaggy dog story ever told", although it is not in fact a story of that genre. The director was Charles Barton, who also directed Spin and Marty for The Mickey Mouse Club. Veteran screenwriter Lillie Hayward also worked on the Spin and Mary serials, which featured several of the same young actors as The Shaggy Dog. Veteran Disney voice actor Paul Frees had a rare on-screen appearance in the film – for which he received no on-screen credit – as Dr. J.W. Galvin, a psychiatrist who examines Wilby's father (MacMurray).

The Shaggy Dog was one of the top movies of 1959, and actually grossed higher than Ben-Hur.

Walt Disney Productions filmed a sequel in 1976 called The Shaggy D.A. which starred Dean Jones, Tim Conway, and Suzanne Pleshette. Sadly, this movie did not do very well. In 1988, a made for TV movie called The Return of the Shaggy Dog continued the adventures of the boy turned sheepdog.

In 2006, Disney released a very loose "remake" of the movie with an entirely different story and characters, unrelated to the original trilogy. To tie-in with the theatrical release of the 2006 film, the original 1959 movie was re-issued in the USA as a special DVD labelled THE WILD & WOOLLY EDITION, which featured the movie in two forms; one in the original black and white, the other a colourised version. However, in the UK, the 1959 movie has only ever been made available on Disney DVD in black and white.

Tagline: The Funniest Shaggy Dog story ever told! Hello Dad... the funniest thing happened!