Best Family Movies of 1977

Whether we’re young or forever young at heart, the Hundred Acre Wood calls to that place in each of us that still believes in magic. Join pals Pooh, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Rabbit, Tigger and Christopher Robin as they enjoy their days together and sing their way through adventures.

Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit was just minding his own business, when his occasional visitor Gandalf the Wizard drops in one night. One by one, a whole group of dwarves drop in, and before he knows it, Bilbo has joined their quest to reclaim their kingdom, taken from them by the evil dragon Smaug. The only problem is that Gandalf has told the dwarves that Bilbo is an expert burglar, but he isn't...

Pete, a young orphan, runs away to a Maine fishing town with his best friend a lovable, sometimes invisible dragon named Elliott! When they are taken in by a kind lighthouse keeper, Nora, and her father, Elliott's prank playing lands them in big trouble. Then, when crooked salesmen try to capture Elliott for their own gain, Pete must attempt a daring rescue.

Princess Farah refuses to marry Sinbad until Prince Kassim, her brother, is able to give his consent. However, the Prince's wicked stepmother, Queen Zenobia, has changed Kassim into a baboon in order to have her own son crowned as caliph. Sinbad, his crew, the Princess and the transformed Prince travel to a distant land, fighting every obstacle Zenobia places in their path, to seek the advice of a legendary wise man who can possibly tell how to end the spell.

A poor otter family risks everything for the chance to win the cash prize of a talent contest for Christmas.

The Peanuts gang, including Snoopy and Woodstock, have gone off to summer camp. After a few days of the usual summer-camp activities, they all take part in a rafting race. Battling treacherous rapids, wild animals and bullies from a rival tent, the teams make their way downriver to the finish line.

Herbie, the Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own, is racing in the Monte Carlo Rally. But thieves have hidden a cache of stolen diamonds in Herbie's gas tank, and are now trying to get them back.

Mike is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.

Scott starts work at a drive-in burger and ice cream restaurant when his paper route proves inadequate to raise the money he needs for a mail order karate course. He has determined that this course will help him gain the self-confidence he needs to get up the courage to call and ask Pam out to see a movie. Although at first just commenting on his mistakes, Becky, a co-worker, offers to help him make the crucial phone call. In the process Scott offers insights about how Joe is abusive in his relationship with Becky.

On a cold winter morning Tav wakes his son Samuel at 4 A.M. to help with chores on the family farm. He sternly comments on Sam's work, such as napping while milking, or spilling a little milk, causing Sam to tell his mother how hard it is to please his father. She explains that Tav is just teaching him traits he will need as a man, and although his father loves him very much he finds it hard to express this in words. Sam admits to having the same problem. She says that there are unspoken ways to communicate love, and Sam volunteers, "Like Christmas presents ?" She agrees, but will not tell him how to select a special gift for his father. On Christmas morning Sam goes out to the barn alone (except for the cows, pigs, and chickens) to deliver his special gift in a setting very similar to where the very first Christmas gifts were bestowed.

When ex-con artist Harry claims that a secret treasure is hidden inside Candleshoe, an English estate, he creates an elaborate plan to find and steal the prize. By convincing a girl named Casey to impersonate the estate owner's long-lost granddaughter, Harry hopes to uncover the treasure's location. But when Casey has a change of heart, she must follow the clues and find the treasure, in order to save Candleshoe and stop Harry before it is too late.

Nestor the donkey is a bit of an oddity--his long ears are enough for six donkeys and stretch all the way to the ground. One night, when Nestor is locked out in the cold, he begins to wander the desert.

When the sour-sweet wind starts blowing again, the Whos retreat to their homes because they know the Grinch will soon be a'prowlin. Young Eukariah Who has to make a trip to the Euphemism (outhouse), when the wind blows him away to a confrontation with the gruesome Grinch. Eukariah decides that the Grinch must be stopped, so he faces his fears and confronts the Grinch and his spooks.

Tom Canty is a poor English boy who bears a remarkable resemblance to Edward, Prince of Wales and son of King Henry VIII. The two boys meet and decide to play a joke on the court by dressing in each other's clothes, but the plan goes awry when they are separated and each must live the other's life.

Bing Crosby and his family spend Christmas at the estate of a distant relative in England.

A troubled, rebellious teen drives his rambunctious baseball team out to Houston where they play an exhibition game and the boy meets his estranged father, and hires him as the teams coach.

The adventures of The Wombles, strange creatures who live on Wimbledon Common and pick up the litter left by the humans. There's always time for a nice song and dance as well. This was a film version of the popular childrens TV show.

Lethe, an elderly widow, trudges out to her mailbox each day in hopes of finding a letter from her family. Unfortunately they are too wrapped up in their own lives, and the mailbox remains empty. Her neighbors try to keep her company, but cannot take the place of her absent children. They contact her family about her loneliness and discover that a letter is finally coming--but it carries devastating news.

It's Halloween for Fat Albert and the Junkyard Gang, and everyone's all set for trick-or-treating. While searching for costumes a store clerk kicks them out, leaving the gang to comes up with their own home-made costumes. Then they are off to the movies to scare old Searchlight Johnson, then more hijinks with Mudfoot Brown, and old lady Bickwell. As you can probably guess, things don't go too well and they learn their lessons... Searchlight catches them up to no good in the theatre and throws them out. Mudfoot Brown eats most of their candy, and old lady Bickwell turns out to have the best Halloween treats in town.

An Australian girl gets lost in the Outback, but she is befriended by a kangaroo who gives her a ride in her pouch as they search for the girl's home. Aiding the pair are musically gifted koalas, platypuses, and kookaburras in this film based on Ethel Pedley's 1899 children's book, with animated humans and animals superimposed upon a live background.

Raggedy Ann and Andy leave their playroom to rescue Babette, a beautiful French doll kidnapped by a pirate.

Benji gets lost after a flight overseas and becomes a stray in Athens, Greece. He then tries everyday to reunite with his family while mysterious people pursue him, in a race to get a code which was secretly tattooed on his paw at the airport. But who are the bad guys and who are the agents that can be trusted? Will Benji and his kids and their nanny ever get to enjoy their vacation?

Santa has an accident at Fred's house on Christmas Eve, Fred and Barney have to continue his run for him.

At the school homecoming, Charlie Brown learns that he is be the escort at the banquet for the red headed girl that he has pined for all his life. With that added pressure, he hopes to put in a good showing at the football where he is placekicker. Unfortunately, Lucy is supposed to hold the ball for him.. It's homecoming night, and Charlie Brown is not only the escort for the homecoming queen (which happens to be the red-haired girl he's been drooling over for goodness knows how long), he is also the kicker for the school's football team (and Lucy's the holder. Need I say more?) Despite a certain person's old habit that won't die young, Charlie brown is blamed for their team's loss, but he ends up becoming the life of the homecoming dance. However, we never see it, and Charlie Brown doesn't remember it, which brings the question; did it really happen?

Jenny Grey a horse loving country girl leaves her widowed father to move to the city after her father's frustrations towards Jenny and her desires to ride horses, after her mother had died from a horse-riding accident. Jenny finds work at a country race track and becomes obsessed with a troublesome horse called "Blue Fire Lady". "Blue Fire Lady" shows promise in Jenny's hands, but around everyone else misbehaves and shows no discipline. When "Blue Fire Lady" is put up for auction it is up to Jenny to either buy her or prove her.

The Mailman decides to stop another deluge of letters by answering questions about the Easter Bunny: Sunny, a baby rabbit found and adopted by Kidville (a town of only kids--even a kid mailman). And when Sunny goes delivering eggs to the nearby town (which he has to dye to fool Gadzooks, the mean bear on the mountain), he discovers that there are no kids in the town, and that the rightful (kid) ruler is being suppressed by his aunt. But the young king likes Sunny's dyed eggs and jelly beans. So Kidsville, with the help of an old train engine, makes a few plans (and a decoy chocolate rabbit) to distribute them.

"If I could work my will, every idiot that goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips would be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly in his heart" So spoke the immortal words of Christmas’ most famous miser, Charles Dicken’s Ebenezer Scrooge. Too mean to join in with the festivities; he sits alone on Christmas Eve. The scene is set for a visitation by the ghost of his late business partner, Marley, now bound to earth by eternal chains and his introduction to the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. For it is they who will take him through his life to face the truth about himself…

A mouse and his child, the two parts of a single small wind-up toy, go on a quest to become "self-winding".

Big Anthony, left alone with Strega Nona's magic pasta pot, runs into trouble when he decides to show the townspeople how it works.

Easter-themed showcase of classic Warner Bros. cartoons, hosted by Bugs Bunny and Granny.

Three aliens from an unknown planet, who bear a strong resemblance to the Biblical Magi, visit earth to know the true meaning of Christmas. Peter, a young boy, and Lucy, his goose, are the first to encounter them. Unable to find the true meaning of Christmas in town, Peter takes them to his family's house in the woods. While Peter's grandmother tells the aliens about her memories of Christmas, Marvin, one of the town's bullies, steals Lucy. In the chase to rescue Lucy, Marvin falls through the ice in a lake. Peter attempts to rescue him but falls into the lake as well. The townsfolk, who were out searching for the aliens, attempt to save the boys but their human chain isn't long enough to reach them. The three aliens, who had sworn not to interfere with events on earth, decide to help in order to learn the meaning of Christmas.

A Combination of 10 Spooky Bugs Bunny Cartoons A-Haunting We Will Go (1966) Daffy Duck's nephew encounters Witch Hazel while trick or treating Broom-Stick Bunny (1956) Bugs, also trick or treating in the same costume as Daffy's nephew, arrives at Witch Hazel's house Hyde and Hare (1955) Bugs along with Dr. Jekyll, inevitably comes face to face with Mr. Hyde Hyde and Go Tweet (1960) Sylvester has a dream about Tweety being turned into a Hyde-like monster Hyde and Hare (part two) Bugs comes across Dr. Jekyll's Hyde formula, believing it to be the doctor's tea. A Witch's Tangled Hare (1959) Witch Hazel chases bugs to an ancient castle A Haunting We Will Go (part two) Witch Hazel makes a Brew Claws for Alarm (1954) and Scaredy Cat (1948) Sylvester turns into a Scaredy Cat when visiting a hotel. Transylvania 6-5000 (1963) Bugs gives Witch Hazel the Hyde formula. Bewitched Bunny (1954) "Sure, I know, but after all, who wants to be alone on Halloween?"

A bear cub and a raccoon become fast friends when they're swept away down a river, away from their families.

The true story of the relationship between famed author William Allen White and his teenaged daughter Mary, who died in a horseback-riding accident at age 16, and the powerful effect the tragedy had on the life of her father.

Based on the novel of the same name by Jonathan Swift and built around the Lilliput and Blefuscu episode. It was made partly in live action and partly animated.

When a young Australian hitchhiker, Judy (Peers), enters a prohibited forest area, she encounters Paul (Gil) whose job is spotting fires from a plane. She is invited to stay with him and his teen son, Billy. Later they go on a sightseeing flight in a "Tiger Moth" bi-plane, but having a forced landing, are accommodated by an odd elderly couple.

Barnaby and Me is a 1978 Australian TV movie about a girl and her talking koala who are pursued by criminals.

Vernon Praiseworthy is a clumsy but lovable dope who stands to inherit his uncle's fortune. The condition is that he travel the rails as a penniless hobo just as his uncle did in the dark days of the depression. That seems simple enough until he gets involved in a dog-napping plot. Written by Jerry Roberts

Two teenage boys try to help a tiny spherical alien get back to its mothership, while the army and a devious petty crook pursue the creature for its wonderful powers.

Benny and his wife Ruthie are getting set to drive down to Florida, but Benny needs someone to look after his department store while he's gone. Though he doesn't think much of him, Benny hands the responsibility over to his son, Russell. While Russell doesn't get much respect from his parents, he's better off than his brother, Ezra, whom Benny has gone so far as to disown. Ezra is currently battling with his work (coach of a high school basketball team that hasn't won in ages) and his wife (who keeps nagging him that she wants to have a baby as soon as possible) at the same time.

The Cosby Kids are rehearsing for a Christmas pageant at their junkyard clubhouse, which Tyrone, the mean old junkyard owner, is fixin' to tear down. That's when Marshall & his parents show up. With their car broken down, Marshall's mom is about to have a baby and his dad, without health insurance, inspires the gang to invite them in the clubhouse for shelter. Tyrone agrees to let them stay until the baby is born, in exchange for Fat Albert working for him as a sidewalk Santa. "Ho-ho-ho's" in Fat Albert fashion ensue. After the old hobo, Mudfoot, gives Tyrone a lecture about how he's been grumpy at the world ever since his wife died, the junkyard owner has a change of heart and promises to keep the gang's clubhouse in tact.

An investigation into the theory that Mt. Ararat in Turkey is the final resting place of Noah's Ark.

A young girl learns the importance of reading, when she ends up in a dystopian future where reading is banned.

The animals decide they must send a representative after the three wise men begin following the star of Bethlehem. Uno, the Lion, arrogantly decides he should be the one to go, and that he does not need any help. Feathers, who brought Jesus's birth to the attention of the animals, insists on traveling with him, and soon he is followed by a beaver, a rabbit, and a turtle.

While traveling to meet with the Hessian King, the famed Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, travel through an enchanted forest where they find themselves trapped in the world of their fairy tales.

Members of a town's Jewish community decide to substitute for their Christian friends and neighbors so they can enjoy Christmas. The good folk humorously attempt jobs they have never done before.

A lost teenager and solitary murderer form an unusual friendship.

Bugs Bunny in Space is a parody of "Star Wars" that features a compilation of science-fiction themed clips from Warner Brothers cartoons starring Bugs Bunny and other characters.

The life and works of 19th-century circuit rider Robert S. Sheffey.