The Barefoot Executive

The Barefoot Executive (also known as The Rating Game) is a 1971 American comedy film starring Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, Wally Cox, Heather North, Harry Morgan, and John Ritter (in his film debut), about a pet chimpanzee, named Raffles, who can predict the popularity of television programs. Produced by Walt Disney Productions and directed by Robert Butler, it was one of the "gimmick comedies" (geared towards children with a touch of adult humor for older viewers) Disney was known for in the 1960s and 1970s, and was frequently shown on The Wonderful World of Disney from the late 1970s through the 1980s. Plot A satire of network television, the movie follows the adventures of an ambitious mailroom clerk, Steven Post (Russell) at the fictional struggling UBC (United Broadcasting Corporation) Network. Post discovers that a chimpanzee named Raffles, left in the care of his girlfriend Jennifer Scott (played by Heather North) by neighbors who moved to San Francisco, has the uncanny ability to choose which television programs will succeed or fail with audiences. While watching a program, Raffles blows a raspberry at shows he hates and claps his hands at shows he likes. Post smuggles the chimpanzee into the UBC building when various programs are being previewed for executives and watches as the chimpanzee gives his vote from the projection room. The first program that receives Raffles's approval is a movie named Devil Dan. Post tells the programming executives that Devil Dan will draw large audiences. The executives disagree and choose not to program the movie. To prove he's got a sure-fire way of choosing hits, Post sneaks into UBC's broadcast center to switch the reels. Executives are outraged when Devil Dan airs - but Post is proved right. The movie propels UBC to first place in the ratings war. Post successfully masks the chimpanzee's abilities as his own and rises to vice president of UBC, now the top-rated area network. However, this also creates suspicion and resentment among UBC executives, mainly because they believe Post is too young to merit the title of vice president. Their resentment reaches a breaking point at a television award ceremony where Steven Post receives the title of "Television's Man of the Year" and the emcee mistakenly identifies Post as the president of UBC. Fearing that Post's seemingly miraculous abilities will make their own jobs unnecessary, network president E. J. Crampton (Morgan) and former vice-president Francis X.