User reviews

As children, my brother and I watched this film on television and we both enjoyed it. The story really tugged at our hearts because it was funny and sad at the same time. We both talked about this film for days after watching it.

I liked "Dondi" because I liked the handsome lead actor, David Janssen, who was then at the height of his popularity for starring in the television show "The Fugitive". The lead actress was Patti Page, who happened to look like my mother, so I liked watching her.

The film also included character actor, Robert Strauss. I had never liked him because he always played tough characters. However, in "Dondi" he played a tough guy with a soft heart and won me over. He played well against goofy Arnold Stang's character. Strauss and Stang were fun to watch together.

If I were to see this film again today, I'm sure my opinion of it would change. It's not one of the better films I saw as a child but it is one of the films I remember with affection.

The audio on this film was terrible and/or the producers simply just picked the wrong child actor in the seven (7) year old David Kory to play Dondi. We the audience are expected to have sympathy for the war orphan seven (7) year old Dondi as the sailors led by David Janssen are suckers for his sad face and really poor language but sadly, the little Dondi just irritated me every time he opened his mouth and mumbled something incoherent.

Dondi stows away on the ship that is taking the sailors back to the USA and what is supposed to be a comedy of errors as little Dondi wanders the streets of New York city alone I for one failed to see nay entertainment value in this farce.

I gave it a rather higher 4 out of 10 IMDB rating simply for the fact the female leads of Susan Kelly, Joan Staley and Patti Page were easy on the eyes and were the only thing that helped me get through the entire film only to see a disappointing and commonly written happy ending.

The summary line is, of course, intended to parody David Kory's very strange use of language in this film, but I can't shake myself of the idea that the pinhead who first proposed this as a project spoke of it in like glowing words.

The comic strip was okay for what it was. But trying to make a movie out of it? Watching this is a stomach-turner to be sure. The whole syrupy lovableness bit is nauseating, and I've heard stories of kids who watched this when it first came out having squirmed with embarrassment at it, which is pretty painful when you consider how undemanding kids usually are when it comes to kid-friendly movies. Even worse are the stale, unfunny jokes.

A sequel was planned, but thankfully it went nowhere. David Kory couldn't act, but even worse is the fact that his director couldn't, evidently, do his own job either.

Undoubtedly one of the worst little films ever made. The well-known "shlock" movies have no pretensions, don't take themselves too seriously and at least give the viewer a few laughs. "Dondi" is a true BOMB with no redeeming features which, when originally released, probably went long way to undermine US/Korean relations. As Leonard Maltin suggests, "Watch this film and you will understand why David Janssen became a fugitive!"

Like some of the other post-WW2 baby boomers who commented, I remember Dondi in our morning paper in the 1950s and 60s. The strip had some kind of visual appeal--even though I wasn't old enough to follow a story strip, I kept giving it a look. The movie came out when I was 9 or 10, and because I actually recognized its subject matter, I went to the Paramount or State theater in downtown Burlington NC and tried to watch it. But even at that tender age I was aware I was watching a dreadful turkey of a movie. My only pleasant association with the subject thereafter was when Mad Magazine ran a calendar that featured a "Kick Dondi in the Teeth Day."

Dondi is not the worst movie I have ever seen or even in my bottom 20. That said, it is still a terrible movie. There may be those who like it, but for me I saw it once as a child and kind of liked it but when I re watched it I was literally appalled at what I just watched.

To me the film looks dated, the cinematography is dreary and the sets, costumes and scenery didn't do much for me either. Likewise with the soundtrack, I liked the use of the single harmonica but nothing stuck out as memorable. The script is absolutely awful, the jokes are unfunny and tiresome while the sentimentality really left a bad taste in my mouth.

The story is very badly paced and predictable and the direction is leaden. The acting I don't know where to begin criticising, David Janssen looks both humiliated and bored, while David Kory in the title role is incredibly irritating and can't act if his life depends on it.

So all in all, not the worst but still an awful movie. 1/10 Bethany Cox

I have a couple of kids, but I'm pretty sure that if I made them watch this film with me, I could be accused of child abuse. This film has not a single redeeming feature, the kid, David Kory, should have stuck to selling newspapers on a street corner, coz acting is way above his abilities.

...and do NOT go looking for Dondi to share with your kids.

I've got 'em all, kids, four hundred titles of the vilest filth and degradation ever burned into film. I've got Alien Private Eye, three different copies of Skidoo, Puffing Your Profits with Balloons, and two different releases of Night of Horror. Dondi, Chairman of the Board, and The Misery Brothers are the only three movies I own that neither I nor any of my fellow Stinker Ninjas can sit through in one shot.

Yeah. It's that bad. Remember, you can't blame the kid for the horrifying lines, the brain-damaged phrasing, or the ketchup-on-pizza accent: this is 1000% on the head of Zugsmith, unless Gus Edson contributed anything but the title to earn his writer's credit. Ever see Sex Kittens Go to College? There's that same sickening feeling about ten minutes in, that there is no God, no hope, and that the balance of the universe can be restored only by deep-frying Al Zugsmith's carcass like a Thanksgiving turkey on the deck of a double-wide for all eternity.

Gak, yuk ptooey, and Gah! Prunes!

Now, several commenters have mentioned that this isn't available on VHS or DVD. There's one way to find out for sure: google the name of the movie and the IMDb URL for Dondi. Oh, and to save Google money, enclose the name Dondi and that IMDb URL for Dondi in quotes, like,

"Dondi www.imdb.com/title/tt0054816/".

Them electrons is expensive.

Anyway, this way you'll know for sure.

I was 5 years old when I saw this movie. Even then I knew it was bad. My sisters and I (both older) STILL say the line "are you in there, lady buddy?" or is it 'lady-body'? Still unsure of that. It was a waste of $.50 then, and would be a waste of $3.99 now to rent it!

Rent 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father' instead. Ronnie Howard - who I had a little crush on then - is adorable, Shirley Jones lovely and Dina Merrill positively icy-cold. Watch for ingénue Stella Stevens - wow.

Or rent buy the TV series (started in 1969) of the same name. Bill Bixby (another crush - hey, I know my men!) is handsome, yummy and acted like a really good dad. Brandon Cruz lived in my neighborhood - Westchester, CA.

I was about about 9 years old when the movie Dondi came to the Fernrock Theater in North Philly, the neighborhood I grew up in. I had been an avid reader of the comic strip (published in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer) since it was first introduced and I suppose because of my age at the time, I related to the title character. All I remember today is that I loved it as a kid and cried like a baby at all the sappy parts.

I am sure if I were to revisit this movie today as a jaded 50-something year old guy, I too might rain harsh words about this movie which has accumulated a whopping 3.3 stars by the reviewers. But I choose to rate it based on the way it made me feel when I was nine, and too naive to know old folks in the year 2004 would consider it a piece of crap. Today our kids grow up much too fast. A movie like Dondi might be just what the doctor ordered for your kids as opposed to say - a prescription for Ritalin.

Dondi gets a 7.5 from me.

WWII is ending and now the Americans have occupied Italy. Dondi is an orphan, his home destroyed; little hope for the future. Dealy is a hard-boiled GI with no interest in kids, but for some reason, Dondi takes a liking to him and just won't go away, no matter what Dealy does. When Dealy is rotated Stateside, Dondi stows away.

This film is very sentimental, with the little boy, Dondi, reminiscent of Hamchunk, Jim Hutton's tag-along, in The Green Berets (David Janssen is in that film, too), or Mitsuo, the little boy who follows after Jerry Lewis, in The Geisha Boy.

As a kid, this movie was one of my favorites. I would love to view it, now, with my own children. While it is not one of the "Great Ones", it is well worth a watch.

This movie came on after another movie I'd been watching ended. I didn't bother changing the channel, and BOY-O-BOY I didn't know what I was in for. This movie kicks rocks and I don't mean that in a good way!

WHY was this kid cast as the lead character? The child's voice sounds as if he's suffering from a plugged up nose and a sever case of boogers. The movie wasn't cute or endearing, in fact, every time "The Dondi" appeared and recited his terrible rendition of "Italian orphan speak", my skin cringed!

Having recognizable actors in a movie did nothing to make it more "watchable". I wouldn't dare think of putting this movie on for my younger family members to watch at my house, then again, maybe I would; it could help to put them to sleep!

Italian boy, not only orphaned but apparently nameless, stows away with a group of too-chummy American GIs sailing for New York City; soon, little mush-mouthed 'Dondi'--as his soldier buddies have been instructed to call him--gets lost in the crowd and attaches himself to a con artist and an orphaned dog. Screenwriters Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen, basing their characters on the not-too-popular comic strip, certainly leave family audiences orphaned with this ridiculous treacle, full of artificial hugs and kisses. It's like being suffocated with valentines. David Kory is an indisputably terrible child actor...but to be fair, nobody in this cast comes out looking particularly good. Producer-director Albert Zugsmith cannot stage the simplest comedic gag without turning the principals on-screen into dummies. Patti Page, in adoptive-mommy mode, probably fares the best; she sings a hot version of "Jingle Bells" over the opening credits (was Zugsmith hoping his film would become a holiday perennial?) and manages to make conversation with Kory, which is amazing since I couldn't understand a word the kid was saying. A seat-numbing excuse for a kiddie matinée. * from ****

In Europe, warm-hearted Cold War soldiers adopt cute five-year-old Italian orphan David Kory (as Dondi) and take him home to America as a stowaway. The little tyke gets lost in New York City, where he continues to perform Shirley Temple impressions. In between "Richard Diamond" and "The Fugitive", TV serviceman David Janssen (as Dealey) looks after the lad along with singing sweetheart Patti Page (as Liz Porter).

The title song "Dondi" is sung by Ms. Page. Duplicating the success of the movie, it was released on the "B-side" of a non-hit single. Page, who has an excellent singing voice, also performs "Meadow in the Sky" and "Jingle Bells" (over the opening credits). This tediously ill-conceived and poorly executed film was based on the successful comic strip by Irwin Hasen, who has a cameo as the artist sketching "Dondi" for the police.

** Dondi (3/26/61) Albert Zugsmith ~ David Kory, David Janssen, Patti Page, Arnold Stang

The comic strip Dondi about the Italian war orphan adopted by some GIs is given the big screen treatment in this film. It was a a disaster and made the Michael Medved list of the 50 worst films of all time.

Well it's bad, but I've seen worse, lots worse. The problem is that you needed a more realistic treatment for the screen. Dondi was played like a living cartoon strip and it didn't work. Contrast this film with what Warren Beatty did with Dick Tracy. A production like that for Dondi might have worked.

Child actor David Kory never had any kind of career after Dondi. We can't blame a kid in single digit years for the film's failure. You can add bad direction as well.

The plot is somewhat similar to Abbott&Costello's Buck Privates Come Home where the boys smuggle a French girl war orphan home. When Dondi gets lost on the mean streets of New York even Walter Winchell aids in the search for Dondi, taking time off from narrating The Untouchables.

David Janssen and Patti Page are the leads and such comic veterans as Gale Gordon, Robert Strauss, Arnold Stang and Mickey Shaughnessy are also around in roles fitted to their personas.

Dondi is no great film, but there are worse.

This version of Dondi is dreadful. Those of us who read the original Sunday stories about the adventures of Dondi were often enthralled by the characters in the strip; especially the relationship between Dondi and Mrs. McGowan. This film completely ignores that sensitive relationship. In fact, this $10.000 production looks more like a bad episode of SGT Bilko (or in this case Private Janssen, since the Bilko episodes were much better than this piece of junk. There are absolutely no production values in this film. The city (New York) looks nothing like a place it would be in 1945. People are driving cars that are over a decade older than the setting of the story. The soldiers are dressed like fifties soldiers; not WW2 soldiers. Dondi is fine, but the rest of the cast is terrible. And I actually liked The Fugitive (David Janssen's only success). This film is begging to be remade with all the bells and whistles. This slapstick crap was an idiotic idea by some moron writer to try and get a few cheap laughs instead of telling a decent story. It looked like it was written during a bathroom break. The dialogue or make-believe screenplay was idiotic. It is dangerous to give people like that a typewriter (or most likely just yellow pads). I really hope someone picks up this story and does it the right way, but it seems unlikely that will happen. Stick to the comic strip.

Dondi is a special film to me because it is one of..if not THE, worst movies ever made. It is often included in the 50 Worst Movies of All Time lists. The writing, directing, producing, acting all combine to make it a bad movie but what makes it the worst movie is the fact that little David Kory couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. I have long believed that David is without doubt the all time worst child actor I have ever seen, and I've seen some really bad ones (..I'm looking at YOU Jake Lloyd!) The fact that David was only 7 is no excuse. I've seen lots of 7 year old child actors who were great actors, very convincing and believable. So his age has nothing to do with it. He just could not act. Of course the script they gave him was beyond terrible. But I must say that this is one of those rare 'so-awful-it's-good' kind of movies that once every few years I summon up the courage to rewatch it just for the masochistic rush of a syrupy sweet high. It's a good thing little David is cute otherwise he'd have nothing going for him. (I have heard a rumor he is the nephew of Patti Page, one of the stars. That would explain how he got the job.) This movie got such terrible reviews when it came out (even children hated it) that David decided to retire from acting at age 9. He did act one last time on an episode of a TV series.

I will say though that I did enjoy the veteran character actors Arnold Stang and Robert Strauss. They made the most of what they had to work with. And David Janssen was at his peak of popularity when he made this. Also, I remembered the Dondi comic strip in the newspaper when I was growing up. So all in all, as moviemaking goes, a terrible movie but maybe worth watching once for nostalgic purposes.

My brother & I saw this when we were kids. We enjoyed it and watched it every year at Christmas time. It is a heartwarming story and I think it would be great for today's family viewing. The acting, I admit, was probably not compelling enough for current savvy, yet possibly jaded, audiences, but it is a great escape from the blood and guts movies that seem to capture the attention of the masses. Besides, I liked David Janssen in this movie, as well as in The Fugitive. And the kid that played the role of Dondi did, I think, a pretty good job for a kid. I'll always remember what he says at the beginning of the movie when he encounters the soldiers, Someone asks him where his mother and father are and Dondi says, "Dondi not having no mama, no papa". Priceless - a great line. I would love to get a copy of this movie, or at least see it again. Does anyone know if it is available anywhere, in any format?

I, too, was just a little kid when I saw "Dondi"...and I fell in love with it. I watched it on TV--probably on a Saturday afternoon--and was captivated by it's charm. Sweet little Dondi stole my heart. I only saw this movie once but it has stayed in my heart for over 40 years. I can still remember Patti Page singing a beautiful lullabye-like song about Dondi. By today's standards, it most likely wouldn't even be considered to be made---not enough sex and violence---but this is one that should somehow finds it's way to the "feel good movies" category on DVD....along with "The Toy Tiger", "Sitting Pretty", and "Mr. Belvidere". Hopefully some day we'll be able to get all of these great old movies on DVD!

I have looked for this movie for years. Seeing it as a youth was a special experience. I have never seen it in video stores. It is a warm and tender movie with some laughs about a war orphan and an army unit. I strongly recommend the movie to anyone with kids.

I first saw the movie Dondi back in 1966. I was 9. I found it to be a great little heart warmer for back then. Just because someone had a tooth ache doesn't make him a critique. Dondi is what really happened during the second world war It happens during all wars but Dondi captured all of them and they showed it too. I hate my family coming to my house I moved way in the woods. I am a recluse. I took a wagon wheel rim and modified it making a sign on my front yard drive way. It stands straight up on its end and it is stuck in concrete The words on my welcome sign to my front yard reads. Welcome Ira and Irma Deelybuddy. Our names are Ann and Joe. I bet my sister kid graduated high school by now She was eight the last time I saw her. Get the point Dondi was a great movie it had something for everybody but the tooth ache guy