Snowball Express is a 1972 Disney film that stars Dean Jones as New York accountant John Baxter, who is one day visited by a lawyer who informs him that his late uncle Jacob Barnsworth had left him an inheritance of the Grand Imperial Hotel in Silver Hill, Colorado. Seizing the opportunity and eager to get away from his dead-end accounting job, John quits on the spot, packs up his family and moves to Colorado only to find that the Grand Imperial is in a bit of a dump. Aside from finding a way to return the hotel to its former glory by turning it into a ski lodge, John must find a way to keep everything afloat financially while trying to hold onto his marriage as one setback after another creates a visible strain between him and his wife.
Snowball Express contains examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Jesse is a G-rated version. Johnny is wise enough to not hire him as the bartender.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Mr. Ridgeway is portrayed as a small-town version.
- Deadpan Snarker: John and Jesse both have their moments.Richard: "Where's Silver Hill, Colorado?"John: "It's in Wyoming."
- Didn't Think This Through: John quits his unsatisfying but mostly secure job to run a hotel that he knows nothing about (both the building's condition and being a manager). Also, he trashes his work's computer as a final act of defiance, but he ultimately has to pay off the damages (though it may have been Worth It).
- D.I.Y. Disaster: Wally's attempt at repairing the water heater ends up costing the hotel the money it needed for a rope tow engine.
- Averted in his attempt to blast a stump as that leads in to the hotel receiving its first influx of customers.
- The Dragon: Double L Dingman is this to Ridgeway.
- "Eureka!" Moment: John gets his idea about turning the mountain into a ski resort when Wally talks about riding all over it in his snowmobile.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending
- Evil-Detecting Dog: When the Baxter's dog, Stoutheart, barks and nips at Mr. Ridgeway Richard defends him by saying that dogs are a good judge of character. He's right.
- Flat Character: John and Suzie's daughter, Chris, doesn't say or do much and is pretty much just there to be a Love Interest for Wally.
- Franken-vehicle: Johnny is confused about the bodywork and sponsors ("Standaroule's Plumbarmacy") on Wally's snowmobile. Wally explains that he built it out of the wreckage of two snowmobiles used for racing (their sponsors were "Standard Plumbine" and "Sproule's Pharmacy"), then adds that he got the engine out of a third snowmobile.
- Friend to All Living Things: Jesse describes John's great uncle Jake (who left him the hotel) as this, while everyone else in town saw him as a Cloud Cuckoolander.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Wally likes to think he's this but the only thing he did right was build his snowmobile from spare parts. All of his onscreen attempts fail miserably.Richard: "Wally knows all about blasting."Jesse: "The man knew all about water heaters too."
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: "Ridgeway, you horse's caboose!"
- Happily Married: John and Susan, though it does get strained a bit throughout the film as John begins to do increasingly-dangerous things to not lose the hotel.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Ridgeway isn't too villainous, but it's clear from his first scene that he has some secret reason for wanting to buy the hotel. The final scene reveals that he's after logging rights.
- Hidden Depths: Shifty banker Martin Ridgeway is a champion snowmobile racer.
- Instant Expert: Subverted when Wally tries to teach a ski class while in the middle of reading a book on how to ski.
- Irony: When it looks like he's about to win, Ridgeway tries to be conciliatory and expresses certainty that John will find a career that suits him. Ridgeway innocently suggests accounting, much to John's irritation.
- Karma Houdini: Averted. Johnny messes up the computer at his original job as a departing act of defiance but later reveals to his wife that he had to pay for the repairs.
- Limited Advancement Opportunities: The reason why John jumps at the chance to run the hotel. After all those years working at corporate, he's basically held the same accounting job, just with minor differences in purview.
- Loophole Abuse: What actually saves the hotel in the end. Jacob Barnsworth leased his land to the town of Silver Hill and promised to give them ownership if they built a hospital, a veterinary clinic and a library. The town never built the library, so Johnny finds out he basically inherited the entire town as a result of the failure to abide by the contract.
- In reality, adverse possession would keep him from being able to claim the rest of the town - but would not obviate his claim to the lodge itself.
- Lovable Coward: The dog.Suzie: "Take Stoutheart with you."Johnny: "The last thing I need is a 200-pound chicken!"
- Made of Iron: Averted. Wally ends up breaking his arm after falling off the cliff and that prevents him from entering the snowmobile race.
- Played straight with John, who endures several spills and falls, including slamming into a tree and knocking it over while walking away with just a bump on the head. Lampshaded in the newspaper article about it, as a doctor expresses astonishment that John could survive such punishment and an anthropologist wants to measure the thickness of his skull.
- Not Now, Kiddo: Initially played straight as John ignores his son, Richard's, ideas. John spends a whole day trying to rent a bulldozer to haul the ski lift motor while quieting his son's constant attempts to interrupt. That night, he finds out Richard was asking why the ski lift couldn't pull itself up. Averted the second time Richard has something to say and actually leads into the resolution of the film.
- Oh, Crap!: A lot of these moments from John during his skiing misadventures.
- Preemptive "Shut Up": Johnny gives a couple to Wally.
- Running Gag: The fish in the hotel's water. Johnny losing control when skiing.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: John quitting his accounting job. John's wife, Suzie, taking the kids and leaving when she gets fed up with John's last Zany Scheme to save the hotel. Jesse also tries this during the snowmobile race, until Johnny drags him back.
- Second Place Is for Winners: Johnny says that any of the first three snowmobile race prizes would be enough to fund the hotel.
- That Came Out Wrong: Wally telling Suzie that he's giving John a "crash course" in snowmobiling.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Richard is the first to orally express this once the family sees how rundown the Grand Imperial is when they arrive.
- Throw the Dog a Bone:
- After losing the big race and being stuck riding for hours, John finds Suzie has returned and is waiting for him.
- The next scene takes it even further, as noted under Loophole Abuse.
- Underdogs Never Lose: Triple subverted. Despite being a novice snowmobile rider, Johnny enters the snowmobile race, not necessarily expecting to win but hoping he can get one of the top three cash prizes. He ends up taking the lead in the home stretch, passing the local champion, Martin Ridgeway. Then, at the last moment, Johnny loses control, swerves off-course, and doesn't even finish the race.
- Unsatisfiable Customer: Among the hordes of happy hotel guests, there's a married couple who complain about every little thing.
- Wham Line: For Mr. Ridgeway. "You just may own the whole town of Silver Hill, Mr. Baxter, including his bank!"
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: How Jesse gets enough pity not to be thrown out of the hotel into a raging blizzard.
