Sam Archer (Amos) and his assistant Milo Jackson (Conway) are coaches at Merrivale College. They have lost every game in every sport which they have coached, raising the concerns of the head of the Alumni Association. With only one year left on his contract, Archer decides that he is in need of a vacation. Together, Archer and Jackson head to Zambia in Southern Africa.
While out on a safari, the pair catch sight with their guide Morumba of the Tarzan-like jungle boy named Nanu (Jan-Michael Vincent), who can outrun a cheetah in full bound. Seeing this, the coaching staff quickly whip out their recruitment pen and papers, but soon fall (literally) into the clutches of Nanu's godfather, spiritual leader Gazenga (Roscoe Lee Browne). Because Nanu is an orphan and an innocent child of the bush, Gazenga believes that throwing Nanu into the world of competitive United States college athletics would interfere with his spiritual development.
Despite Gazenga's concerns, the ambitious coaches persuade Nanu to join the Merrivale College program as Nanu brings his pet Bengal tiger Harry with him. From this point forward, the plot is driven by a combination of slapstick and suspense, for Nanu's destiny as the World's Greatest Athlete will annoy several powerful people who are used to getting their way.
Nanu's innocence, Archer's scheming, Jackson's ineptitude, Gazenga's outraged wisdom, and the Machiavellian plotting of the villains all play roles in the action as the film heads toward the final track meet. The atmosphere of American competition does indeed threaten Nanu, but he is saved from disintegration by love interest Jane Douglas (Dayle Haddon). Jane and Nanu's budding relationship angers rival Leopold Maxwell (Danny Goldman), whose attempts to sabotage the budding star build toward a crescendo as the ultimate competition approaches. The climactic track meet is peppered with commentary by ABC-TV sportscaster Howard Cosell. After his victory, Nanu decides to return home, accompanied by Jane and Harry, and Archer and Jackson bid him farewell at the airport.
In the final scene, a framing device is shown where Archer and Jackson are depicted trying to recruit a new athletic phenomenon that resides in China.
An unidentified Bengal tiger actor was used to portray Harry, Nanu's companion and pet who he brings with him from Africa to California. As tigers are not native to Africa, Nanu explains to Archer and Jackson that Harry emigrated from India to Africa as a cub.
The World's Greatest Athlete was released on VHS in October 1986 by Walt Disney Home Video, and by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on March 18, 1997.[4][5] The film was also released on DVD on August 2, 2005.[6] As of March 2024, the film had not appeared on the Disney+ streaming service (unlike the majority of Disney's catalogue titles), for reasons unknown.
Reception
Critical response
Upon the film's release, A.H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote: "It's a dream that is more often simple-minded than simple and generally as hilarious as finishing fourth in the mile run. It should be stressed, however, that this ribbing of the Tarzan myth runs a good, clean course that should grab all red-blooded sports fans up to and including the 14-year-old group. It might be added that everyone from coach Amos to Jan-Michael Vincent, in the title role, athletically tries without much success to make all this good-natured nonsense funny."[7]
Box office
The film opened with a disappointing $125,000 in its first week in New York[3] but was one of the most popular releases of 1973, earning $10,600,000 in theatrical rentals in the United States and Canada that year.[8]
