5 reasons why I felt creeped out watching "Superdad" (1974) with Bob Crane

I watched this Bob Crane family movie from Disney (Oh, how naive we were back in the early seventies) when Hallmark Movie Channel ran it a few weeks ago. Normally, I don't watch chopped-up old movies when I can avoid them, but if you can't make an exception for "Superdad," when can you?

Even if you forget the modern connotations of "Bob Crane family movie," it's hard to really get into "Superdad." Oh, it's pleasant, and there isn't really anything grating about it apart from Bruno Kirby as Stanley (Is his voice as squeaky as it is because of time compression, youth, or both?), but the hijinks seem forced. If you like seeing Kurt Russell doing his earnest Disney youth thing, if you like seeing luminaries like TV's Joe Flynn and Dick Van Patten, if you like seeing Bob Crane made an ass of, if you like the idea of a knockdown, drag-out brawl between Crane and a pretentious artist in his waterfront shack...well, than you'll like "Superdad."

Yet I felt more creeped out than entertained when watching this. I just couldn't shake that feeling, and I think if I tried to explain why, it would come down to the following 5 reasons:

5) Bob Crane played the dad.

4) Just the general notion of a middle-aged man hanging out with his teenage daughter and her friends in order to understand her, or whatever the hell he said he was trying to do, even though this plot element is discarded early on, is unsettling...especially when the middle-aged man is Bob Crane.

3) Bob Crane played the dad.

2) Some of the hairstyles and fashions...but really only because Bob Crane was in the movie.

1) The sappy Bobby Goldsboro theme song, accompanied by thoughtful shots of life on the beach under the credits. Come to think of it, this really only goes from cheesy to creepy because you know Bob Crane is the star of the movie you're settling in to see.