i went and saw this flick at the movies when it first came out in 1976. i went alone and was probably too old to be that interested in seeing children's comedies from Disney. i was a nerd. at least i was somewhat aware of it at the time. i remember asking my brother to drop me off at a evening showing so i didn't have to sit in a theater with a bunch of little kids. usually by evening the baby crowd had dispersed and only a few families showed up. but still, i remember most other teens in my age group showing little or no interest in "G" rated baby fodder.i remember being a little embarrassed by how silly it was but also being entertained and amused by it none the less. i was always pleased by most everything Disney usually did back in the old days. when i watched the movie on DVD some thirty some years later, i found myself a little flabbergasted as to how brain rotten and lowest common denominator lunk headed it was. Disney comedies are often slapstick and silly, but don't always sink to this sort of brainlessness except possibly in the case of those numerous "monkey" comedies and possibly the junk food "Superdad".i still think it can be pretty funny at times. i mean hey, it has Tim Conway in it. also the scene in the supermarket is pretty darn durned funny in a mindless sort of way.this film mostly seems bent on capitalizing on Disney fans who are also football fans. actually, unless you're a Disney FANATIC or a football FANATIC, you might find your patience tried a bit by the total unimportant inanity of this material. some viewers might even venture to question the I.Q. of this whole thing.oh well. i don't think anybody here thought they were making a great work of art in the first place. at least it's better than those talking mule movies with Donald O'Connor. i've seen those. stinky.

Frustrated by the losing performances from their pro-football team the Atoms, owner Edward Asner and coach Don Knotts recruit a kicking mule from Yugoslavia to score the kind of field-goals no human athlete could dream of. This is strictly "The Absent-Minded Professor" minus the Flubber, though viewers didn't seem to mind, making "Gus" a big hit in 1976 with matinée audiences. However, the general pacing is very slow and all the actors look too old for their parts (with the exception of Asner, whose snide one-liners give the movie a little mule-sense). Knotts is still doing his Barney Fife shtick, while Liberty Williams is the perky token female. If you do watch, see if you can figure out why the faux-football footage at the beginning is run in slow-motion. In fact, the whole movie feels in slow-motion. * from ****

Disney, as well as the movie business, was on a mission; a boy with a gu...an idea. (LOL) An idea so grand, so original, this began a new family sub-genre: that of the sport-playing animal movie. And it happened one time in 1976, with the live action film "Gus," about a donkey mascot who played football!!!!!I've never seen this movie, though I have seen a part of it on one of the "Air Bud" movies, and I have heard about how great this film was, which convinced me to come here and talk about this film! After Gus, we would see similar movies: "Air Bud," who not only excelled at basketball, but football, soccer, baseball, volleyball, and I think there's going to be "Air Buddies" coming soon, and "M.V.P.," which had a chimp who was pro at hockey and extreme skateboarding. Most of these are Canadian, who might have liked this movie so much that a sports-playing dog and chimp have come into business!!!!!"Gus" is a great film that brought the animal movies to the max!!!!!10/10

Once I was watching TV late at night and this stupid-looking movie came on. It was Gus. I can't believe movies like this could be actually pitched to an executive, but I guess Disney can never be underestimated. As I began to watch it, I became enthralled: a mule kicks field goals from any distance and never misses. Alas, the mule gets kidnapped before the BIG GAME and he must be retrieved. Boy was I surprised when he was airlifted back onto the field after an unpleasant yet unbelievable scene involving a supermarket. Don Knotts plays a terrible coach too, but Gus steals the show here. If you want to watch a movie that never should have been made, check out Gus.