Am I going to say this is a fantastic movie or high art? Of course not. However, over the years a sort of lore has emerged that is WAY OUT OF PROPORTION to the quality of the movie. Mostly because of Johhny Carson's repeated jokes at the expense of the movie during the Reagan years, people have incorrectly assumed it is a bad flick and that is far from true! It is, in fact, a cute family movie that's amazingly good for what it is. The story is very simple and engaging despite it being a chimp movie. A professor (Reagan) wants to show that people are a product of their upbringing not genetics. This is because the professor's father was a criminal and he desperately wants to prove that goodness is a learned choice, not pre-determined. He gets the idea to bring a chimp into his home and try to teach him right from wrong BUT because he is just a single man, he hires a woman (Diana Lynn) to pose as the mommy and he becomes Bonzo's surrogate dad. It's actually quite well-made fluff, and the President had no reason to be ashamed of this movie (though there were several films that I would argue might have brought him SOME shame).
Review of Bedtime for Bonzo
