Kurt Russell is perhaps best known for leading roles in films like Tombstone or Escape from New York, but he actually started his career as a child star in hit Disney movies. Russell is an actor who needs little introduction, and his decades-long career includes a bevy of successful films that are elevated by his performance.

Though he had no problem transitioning to more mature roles as he aged, Russell spent a considerable amount of time in his early career playing child and teen roles. Disney was in the middle of a live-action movie boom when Russell was just breaking into the business, and they made for an excellent pairing.

Even as a youngster, Russell showed he had charm and charisma, and in his early Disney films he would establish a screen persona that he would bring into his most iconic characters. In the decades after his first run with Disney, Kurt Russell has returned on numerous occasions to make more magic with the company.

However, not all of Kurt Russell’s Disney movies are created equal. Some are bona fide classics, while others are forgettable and sometimes even downright awful. One constant throughout all the films is Russell’s performance, and he shines through even in the worst of his Disney films.

Charley And The Angel (1973)

The live-action era for Disney was already beginning to wane when Charley and the Angel arrived, and it did little to help the sagging studio. Western icon Fred MacMurray appears in his final Disney film in the lead role, but the plot is so stock-standard that it fails to elicit even a cursory glance.

Kurt Russell is cast as the neighborhood tough, Ray, but he’s far too charming and isn’t very convincing as a bad boy. Disney made a ton of live-action movies in the late ’60s and early ’70s that had similar themes, so Charley and the Angel ends up being the worst thing that a film can be: forgettable and dull.

Superdad (1973)

Despite its тιтle, Superdad is not a superhero story but more of a comedy of errors wrapped in generation clash cliches. Disney’s attempts to appeal to a contemporary audience mostly fall flat, and Superdad is a step behind in its understanding of youths and their culture in the early ’70s.

Bob Crane does his best as the тιтular worried parent, and some of the slapstick moments are worth a chuckle. However, Superdad is a bland slog for most of its running time, and even a young Kurt Russell as the earnest boyfriend, Bart, isn’t enough to save it from mediocrity.

The Strongest Man In The World (1975)

The Strongest Man in the World is the third and final film in the Dexter Riley trilogy, and it is also the worst by far. Russell had become a major star thanks to his starring role as Riley, but the magic had mostly worn off by the time 1975 rolled around.

Times were changing in the 1970s, and the cartoonish antics of Disney’s live-action films weren’t keeping up. The plot is just as goofy as the first two films in the trilogy, but the third outing lacks a spark. Kurt Russell’s humorous performance is the only thing keeping The Strongest Man in the World from being his weakest Disney film.

The One And Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968)

Disney’s success with live-action musicals didn’t carry over into The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, and the baffling 1968 film stopped the trend for years. With its plot about 1880s politics, the verbose musical comedy had very little to appeal to an audience that was in the throes of real-life political turmoil.

Kurt Russell appears as one of the numerous Bower kids, and because the film is only a brisk 110 minutes, he gets almost no development. It’s far from a great musical, but the production numbers are the film’s biggest saving grace. It gets by on spectacle alone, but is one of Disney’s oddest missteps in the late 1960s.

The Horse In The Gray Flannel Suit (1968)

There’s nothing particularly special about The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit, but it’s a charming little film that has largely been forgotten. It’s not an animal hijinks movie, despite its тιтle, but is actually a somewhat dramatic tale of a father who wants to help his shy daughter come out of her shell.

Horse movies hadn’t quite become cliche yet in 1968, so many of the familiar tropes are somewhat new. Kurt Russell has a small role as a teen named Ronnie, and he gives an understated performance compared to some of his other Disney parts. There’s enough in the film to make it worth a watch for any Disney completionist.

Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972)

The middle installment in the Dexter Riley trilogy continues much of the fun of the first, but mostly suffers from comparison. The sci-fi comedy series quickly becomes repeтιтive, with Dexter inventing something that immediately falls into the wrong hands, but Now You See Him, Now You Don’t is the last time the ideas were fresh.

The visual effects are quaint and enjoyable, and the movie hearkens back to an era when comedies could get by on the charisma of their stars. It isn’t a terrific film by any stretch of the imagination, but it is still one of Disney’s better live-action comedies from the early ’70s.

Follow Me, Boys! (1966)

Fred MacMurray was one of Disney’s most frequent live-action stars, and Follow Me, Boys! was a hidden gem. The poignant comedy drama was surprisingly complex for a family film from the ’60s, and a far cry from the sort of silly films the studio would make in the decade.

Kurt Russell, in his third film role, plays the precocious kid, Whitey, who is especially funny when giving MacMurray’s Lem a hard time. Though the movie doesn’t give him too much to do, Russell’s skills shined through even as a youngster. Follow Me, Boys! would have been one of Russell’s best Disney films if only he had a larger role.

The Barefoot Executive (1971)

The Barefoot Executive is one of the weirdest movies from Disney’s live-action era, and that’s saying something considering some of the films the studio produced. Kurt Russell is paired with a prophetic chimpanzee, and the oddball flick actually has quite a few genuine laughs.

Kurt Russell is able to deftly balance the absurdity of the movie’s premise with his role as the straight-man, and his genuine performance makes things even funnier. What makes The Barefoot Executive better than most goofy comedies is that it commits to the bit, and pushes the envelope with stranger and stranger jokes.

Sky High (2005)

Decades after his last comedy with Disney, Kurt Russell returned to the fold with the superhero film, Sky High. Disney was having mixed success with their live-action fare in the early 2000s, and Sky High got decent reviews and did pretty well at the box office too.

It hits all the coming-of-age story beats, and is a nice mix of family-friendly fun and clever superhero parody. Russell plays The Commander, a Superman-like hero, and he clearly understands the tongue-in-cheek nature of the movie with his stentorian performance. Sky High has become an early Aughts cult classic, and it deserves a spot among Disney’s best live-action movies.

The Fox And The Hound (1981)

Disney’s animation struggled throughout the ’70s and into the ’80s, but The Fox and the Hound was one of the bright spots during that dark period. The surprisingly dramatic hit explored themes like friendship and loss, and featured beautiful animation that proved that Disney was still at the top of their game despite several notable failures.

The tearjerker cast Kurt Russell as the hound, Copper, and it was his last Disney film for several decades. Far from phoning it in, Russell’s performance was as strong as ever, and he was the perfect actor to convincingly portray the movie’s various tonal shifts. The Fox and the Hound aged surprisingly well, and is now considered a minor classic.