Not every movie in Ronald Reagan's career was KING'S ROW; KNUTE ROCKNE; THE HASTY HEART; THE VOICE OF THE TURTLE; or SANTA-FE TRAIL. Some were worthy films where his roles were not too memorable or central: BOY MEETS GIRL (starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, and Ralph Bellamy); DARK VICTORY (with Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and George Brent); and LOUISE (with Spring Byington, Charles Coburn, and Edmund Gwenn).
But BEDTIME FOR BONZO got an unfair spin on his film reputation. Reagan was not a great thespian. He was above average as a film actor. But here he was co-starred with Bonzo the Chimp and that was too good a subject for political foes to overlook. I think the first one to use the Chimp as a weapon against Reagan was Johnny Carson, especially since Fred De Cordoba (his producer) was also the producer of BEDTIME FOR BONZO.
Yet the unfairness of this is that the film is better than the fact that Reagan was playing with a chimp. Reagan's co-star is not Bonzo, but Diane Lynn and Walter Slezak (in one of his nice, comic parts). Reagan wants to marry Lynn, but her father is upset (and snobbish) about Regan's father being a criminal. He is afraid of the potential genetic effect on his descendants. Reagan gets involved in taking care of Bonzo in order to demonstrate that he's a good father, and that nurturing and a loving environment can overcome genetic defects. Bonzo is one of the college chimps used by the science labs, and so Slezak is involved (as a comic caricature of Albert Einstein).
Believe it or not, BEDTIME FOR BONZO is actually a film about a debate on education, genetics, and emotional stability. Oddly enough another more popular comedy is similar to this too. TRADING PLACES has a similar question concerning changing the social places and classes of Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy in that $1.00 bet between Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche.
BEDTIME FOR BONZO's screenplay suggests that nurturing works. It is a simple little comedy, with Reagan's problems being directly caused by Bonzo or as a result of complications due to having to care for Bonzo. It is pleasant fluff, but it is curious that it has such a scientific/philosophical question in the background. Reagan must have had an idea of it's worth as a film as much as the public did. He said that he thought the script for BEDTIME FOR BONZO was a decent one, but the sequel (BONZO GOES TO COLLEGE) was a silly one, so he would not do that film.
But BEDTIME FOR BONZO got an unfair spin on his film reputation. Reagan was not a great thespian. He was above average as a film actor. But here he was co-starred with Bonzo the Chimp and that was too good a subject for political foes to overlook. I think the first one to use the Chimp as a weapon against Reagan was Johnny Carson, especially since Fred De Cordoba (his producer) was also the producer of BEDTIME FOR BONZO.
Yet the unfairness of this is that the film is better than the fact that Reagan was playing with a chimp. Reagan's co-star is not Bonzo, but Diane Lynn and Walter Slezak (in one of his nice, comic parts). Reagan wants to marry Lynn, but her father is upset (and snobbish) about Regan's father being a criminal. He is afraid of the potential genetic effect on his descendants. Reagan gets involved in taking care of Bonzo in order to demonstrate that he's a good father, and that nurturing and a loving environment can overcome genetic defects. Bonzo is one of the college chimps used by the science labs, and so Slezak is involved (as a comic caricature of Albert Einstein).
Believe it or not, BEDTIME FOR BONZO is actually a film about a debate on education, genetics, and emotional stability. Oddly enough another more popular comedy is similar to this too. TRADING PLACES has a similar question concerning changing the social places and classes of Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy in that $1.00 bet between Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche.
BEDTIME FOR BONZO's screenplay suggests that nurturing works. It is a simple little comedy, with Reagan's problems being directly caused by Bonzo or as a result of complications due to having to care for Bonzo. It is pleasant fluff, but it is curious that it has such a scientific/philosophical question in the background. Reagan must have had an idea of it's worth as a film as much as the public did. He said that he thought the script for BEDTIME FOR BONZO was a decent one, but the sequel (BONZO GOES TO COLLEGE) was a silly one, so he would not do that film.