Gus is a 1976 American sports comedy film released by Walt Disney Productions, distributed by Buena Vista Distribution, directed by Vincent McEveety and starring Ed Asner, Don Knotts and Gary Grimes. Its center character is Gus, a football-playing mule. The film did well at the box office and was released on home video in 1981. Plot The California Atoms are the worst team in the NFL and have not won a game in years. Team owner Hank Cooper is deeply in debt to two bookmakers named Charles Gwynn and Cal Wilson. When Cooper tells them he cannot pay his debts, the bookies give him a last chance bet: if the Atoms win the upcoming Super Bowl, all gambling debts will be forgiven, but if they do not win, Gwynn and Wilson will take ownership of the team. Meanwhile in Yugoslavia, Andy Petrovic lives in the shadow of his older brother, who's a major local soccer star. One day, Andy discovers that the family mule Gus can kick a ball an amazing distance. The mules talent earns fame and mention in newspapers. Desperate to draw in fans, team owner Hank Cooper looks for a great half time show. His secretary, Debbie, sees a story in her parents' Yugoslavian newspaper about Gus, a mule who can play football. After Gus is a hit in his first halftime show, Cooper and Venner decide to put him in the game as a place kicker. The Atoms go on to win their next few games thanks to Gus, and move to first place in their division. Gwynn and Wilson, realizing their deal with Cooper is backfiring, hire two incompetent criminals named Crankcase and Spinner to stop Gus from playing and make the team lose. They try several methods to do so, including getting Gus drunk before he's due to kick. Crankcase and Spinner cause the Atoms to lose two games, but the Atoms still make the playoffs. With the Atoms headed to the Super Bowl, Spinner and Crankcase steal Gus and replace him with an ordinary mule. At the Super Bowl, Gus' handler Andy quickly realizes the mule he has is not Gus, and he and Cooper leave by helicopter to search for Gus. When the two criminals watch the game on TV, Gus goes wild and escapes. A long slapstick chase sequence ensues, ending with Spinner and Crankcase being apprehended and Gus being airlifted