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Father Was a Fullback's title is incorrect -- the man is a coach, actually -- but it might as easily have been called "Fred MacMurray Prepares for His Disney Days." This slight but certainly amiable little flick comes some ten years before MacMurray began headlining a number of family films for the "Mouse House," usually playing a character not too terribly different from the one in Father. It's the kind of role that doesn't strain MacMurray terribly, but he handles it quite well -- especially since he's most often called upon to play the straight man and let others get the laughs. Those laughs are very likely to be in response to something said -- or, more accurately, slung -- by the always amusing Thelma Ritter, who knows how to get three or four laughs out of a line that only deserves one and who is perfectly willing, by dint of a disbelieving glance or seen-it-all shrug, to bring forth mirth from even the weakest of jokes. When Ritter's not stealing those laughs from MacMurray, he still has to deal with Betty Lynn and Natalie Wood making off with them, which must make him very thankful for Maureen O'Hara, who is most often content to offer sterling support without worrying about whether she's getting the best of the jokes. Father is total nonsense, but the cast makes it a quite enjoyable way to pass an hour and a half or so.