FOLLOWING HIS SUCCESS as show stealing character, "the Fonz" in the hit ABC Television Series HAPPY DAYS, Henry Winkler embarked on a series of starring motion vehicles. Taking a break from the more dramatic, Henry chose to do this Carl Reiner directed affectionate look at the early video days of guys with names like Gorgeous George, Count Billy Varga and Lou Thesz.
DURING THIS PERIOD and for some years to follow, the mere mention of the Pro Wrestling game would never fail to bring a smile to the face of whomever one was conversing. The appeal of the medium where sport & athleticism intersected the dramatic & theatrical had a very wide degree of aficionados from the blue collar to professional, from the laborer to the MD.
SO JUST WHO are these guys who get into the "business"? As in most rackets, there is no one single answer. There is not one single slot in which the "typical" grappler fits. Any attempt to pigeon hole the pro wrestler will find himself unhappily frustrated.
THE STORY LOOKS at how guys with disparate backgrounds are united in their interest and pursuit of success as a performer. Some are athletic, some are not. Some were football players, others dancers. Bodybuilders and the physically unusual all join with some who have no obvious outstanding bodily attributes. Some were even the products of a solid background in Amateur Wrestling!
OUR MOVIE UNITES Henry Winkler (Andy Schmidt) with Miss Kim Darby (Mary Crawford). The two do indeed make for an interesting couple; and it is a pleasure to see Kim Darby in any film; as she has done precious few ever since TRUE GRIT (1969).
IN THE PARTICULAR case of the Winkler character, he's an out of work actor and not much of an athlete. He is certainly not a subject who fits the 'ruffian' mode that so many exponents of the pro game.
ULTIMATELY, AT FILM'S end, we are all smiling-if not belly laughing; for in spite of some great and truly funny situations & gags tailored to the storyline, it is a call for inclusion o everyone in the family of man.
AND, MY DEAR friend, Schultz, that includes even people who wrestle for a living!
