The Apple Dumpling Gang

In the California of the 1870s, a lifelong bachelor named Russel Donavan receives a delivery by stagecoach that turns out to be three orphaned children — his young cousins. Donavan has no interest in raising them and tries to find another family in the town of Quake City willing to take them in, without success. The children then explore an abandoned mine that belonged to their late father and come away with a large gold nugget, which abruptly makes them attractive to practically everyone in town. Donavan and Magnolia, the stagecoach driver, end up sharing responsibility for the children, while a pair of hapless outlaws, Theodore Ogelvie and Amos Tucker, get drawn into the scramble over the gold.

The film is a comedy western from Walt Disney Productions, released in 1975 and running 100 minutes. Norman Tokar directed it from a screenplay by Don Tait, with Bill Anderson producing. It came after Tokar's Snowball Express (1972) and before Candleshoe (1977). The cast pairs Don Knotts and Tim Conway as the outlaws, with Bill Bixby as Donavan, Susan Clark as Magnolia, Harry Morgan as Homer McCoy and David Wayne as T.R. Clydesdale.

It was a substantial commercial success, taking about 37 million dollars worldwide on a Disney family production. On IMDb it holds a 6.3 out of 10 from nine critics' reviews, while on TMDB it has a 6.6 out of 10 from 138 votes, putting the two measures close together.