The North Avenue Irregulars

The North Avenue Irregulars

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Editorial Reviews

There's magic in the memories as great Disney moments are captured right here for you and your family to enjoy. The new preacher in town joins forces with the most unlikely group of organized crime fighters anyone has ever dreamed up -- six lady church members who are dedicated, eager, ready, willing ... everything but organized! The result is an action-packed comic caper that's as funny as any Disney comedy ever filmed!

Typical of Disney's 1970s output, this squeaky-clean comic adventure about a group of church volunteers and soccer moms who take on local gangsters is packed with slapstick humor, sight gags, and nonlethal car crashes. Curiously enough, it's based on the true story of Reverend Albert Fay Hill, who wrote a book about his efforts to stop mob-run gambling in his city. Edward Herrmann plays the fictionalized Presbyterian minister Mike Hill, a soft-spoken widower with two kids who ruffles the feathers of the dedicated church secretary (Susan Clark) when he organizes a group of women to help the Treasury Department catch the bookies in the act. The mobsters are more Damon Runyon than John Gotti: no one gets hurt and everything ends in a demolition derby free-for-all as the suburban-lady volunteers play bumper cars with the mobsters. There's a potentially fascinating story in there that Disney keeps a G-rated cap on (though seeing Karen Valentine swingin' her booty under the cover of pounds of makeup and a little halter top is a surprise in a family film), but it's a harmless little comedy enlivened by plucky performances by Barbara Harris and Cloris Leachman and a fun turn by Ruth Buzzie as a church elder with a CB-radio handle. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Highly Entertaining

Reviewed by Don A. Martin, 2010-02-15

This is one of the funniest non cartoon films I have ever seen. It has plot, believable characters, suspense, hints of romance, and more, all the while delivering laughs.

The North Avenue Irregulars

Reviewed by P. Tong, 2009-10-30

This was a video we had been looking for for awhile. It came to me in the condition that it said it would. We are very pleased with the seller.

Highly Irregular

Reviewed by D. COLLIER, 2009-10-14

I first saw NORTH AVENUE IRREGULARS about 25 years ago. Recently I decided it was time to give it another go. To my surprise, I had just as much fun watching it in my 30s as I did when I was a kid. To my even bigger surprise, my wife had more fun watching it than she would have on a rollercoaster ride!

NORTH AVENUE IRREGULARS was one of Disney's final attempts at a fun family film (that the whole family could watch together), during the waning years of the era in which clean films were still marketable. The title is derived from the "Baker Street Irregulars" -- Sherlock Holmes's reliable band of young London ruffians who could spy on the suspicious and unsuspecting and deliver the inside scoop. But instead of Sherlock, we have a naïve yet determined young preacher who is bent on cleaning up his city. And instead of young ruffians, he depends on the church women -- young beauties, grandmothers, and soccer moms. With the help of two federal agents this unlikely group of enforcers give the local mob a run for their money.

What you'll find in NORTH AVENUE is a lot of zany situational comedy as well as high speed car chases and classic cinema CB-radio chatter -- which has been replaced by the cell phone and other technologies in today's movies. It also boasts a climactic all-out derby that would make SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT jealous.

What you won't find in NORTH AVENUE is profanity, blasphemy, gratuitous violence, or sexual immorality. If this movie were remade today, they would probably have the preacher (the hero of the movie) in an adulterous affair with one or more of the women he recruits. Fortunately, NORTH AVENUE was made before garbage like that became popular in Hollywood.

This movie is filled with good, clean fun and has plenty of "rewatchability".

6 Women Defeat Large Scale Gambling Ring

Reviewed by Byron Hartzler, 2009-08-13

Movie has good clean humor with lots of adventure. Drinking alcohol is shown but is not glorified. God and church are still shown in a positive light (rarity these days). Criminal activity is punished.

Great Family Rated Screwball Comedy from Disney

Reviewed by Kirk Reynolds, 2009-08-11

This film continues to delight each and every time I see it. How many truly funny "made for everyone" G-rated, yes G-rated films have we seen in the last 20 years? Even though I am 37, I did not see this film in theaters originally, instead, I caught it on TV in the early 80's and have been hooked ever since. This film is a prime example of lost film type: The Saturday Matinee family film, as well as being a great screwball comedy. It never had aspirations to be a summer blockbuster, just a slapstick, funny, no bad language, lots of site gags and a great ensemble cast to pass and hour and a half. The characters are a lot like the Brady Bunch trying to solve a crime and this lends to it's timeless and easygoing farce. Cloris Leachman shines (at age 52 when this was made in 1979 no less) while Mr. & Mrs. Delaney Raferty (Patsy Kelly & Douglas Fowley) offer the type of old school comic relief that just isn't found in modern films anymore. One of my favorite lines from this film is by Barbara Harris: "Mrs. Raferty we're lucky we aren't dead! I mean, we don't look anything like the Andrew Sisters!" That cracks me up EVERY single time. Summer blockbusters are fine, Transformers, teenage magicians, Vampires in the vein of 90210, but for good ole slapstick comedy and simple laughs, take a seat at North Avenue Presbyterian Church! (Fans: Another great Cloris Leachman screwball comedy of this same timeframe is "Scavenger Hunt", not by Disney, but another crazy laugh fest. Unfortunately it is not out on DVD at this time, but catch it if you can).