Steven Post (Kurt Russell), an ambitious mail clerk at the fictional struggling UBC (United Broadcasting Corporation) Network, discovers that a chimpanzee named Raffles in the care of his girlfriend Jennifer Scott (Heather North), has the uncanny ability to choose which television programs will succeed or fail with audiences by blowing raspberries at shows he hates and claps his hands at shows he likes. Through a series of shenanigans, Post convinces executives Wilbanks (Joe Flynn) and Crampton (Harry Morgan) that Post actually has the abilities and his usage of the chimp eventually results in UBC becoming the top rated network. Wilbanks and Crampton soon grow suspicious of Post's overnight success and fearing their future in the company is at stake set out to discover Post's secret.
After the success of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoe's Disney reunited star Russell and director Robert Butler as well as a few supporting players for The Barefoot Executive. Like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoe's, the movie follows Kurt Russell as simple everyman but unlike his previous film the movie adds more weight to itself and feels like an actual movie rather than an extended sitcom plot. The movie builds it's premise on the framework of working one's way to the top and incorporates the gimmick premise of a Monkey that can pick successful TV shows. While the satire in The Barefoot Executive isn't the most cutting or acerbic about entertainment or corporate culture (save for the rather obvious satire of a Monkey understanding the public better than highly paid executives do) the movie is a pleasant enough sit thanks to Russell playing a more tangible level than Dexter Riley and Butler having honed his skills improving his timing and use of comedic friction. The story is fairly predictable and you'll be able to tell what story beats you're approaching well in advance of when the characters get to them but luckily the movie has enough amusing gags that it's familiar story doesn't make them stumble.
The Barefoot Executive isn't especially memorable and doesn't reach the highest points of Disney Gimmick Comedies like That Darn Cat, Blackbeard's Ghost or The Love Bug, but it is a well made film with good comic work from talented actors that's an amusing albeit not all that memorable sit.
