80s kids might feel differently, but everyone else has never seemed to mind the switch from the name "Disney Channel Premiere Film" to "Disney Channel Original Movie." DCOM is a much better acronym than DCPF. What some older millennials might be more concerned with is the tonal shift from Premiere Films to Original Movies.
As the 90s drew to a close, things like smoking, crude language, and death started to fall by the wayside on Disney Channel. For those who long for the grittier days of the Disney Channel Premiere Film, here are ten movies from that era that no subscriber will find on Disney+.
Tigertown (1983)
Tigertown is the first ever Disney Channel Premiere Film. It debuted on October 9, 1983, just six months after the launch of the Disney Channel. The movie was about a little boy named Alex and a lackluster Detroit Tigers player named Billy Young. Alex would always attend Tigers games with his dad, but then the dad passes away. Alex keeps going to the games in the spirit of his father, but something crazy happens: every time Alex shows up and makes a wish, Billy Young hits a home run. This is the 80s kid movie everyone needs right now, but you'll have to watch it on YouTube.
Love Leads the Way (1984)
Unfortunately, this heartwarming film is only available as a grainy YouTube video. Love Leads the Way (1984) is set in the early 1900s when Morris Frank becomes blind in a boxing accident. The movie is based on the true story in the book First Lady of the Seeing Eye by Morris Frank and Blake Clark. Frank became the first recipient of a Seeing Eye Dog and the co-founder of The Seeing Eye in Morristown, New Jersey.
The Blue Yonder (1985)
A great time travel movie is a rare treasure. The Blue Yonder coincidentally premiered on the Disney Channel the same year that Back to the Future premiered in theaters, 1985. While Marty McFly goes back to 1955, Jonathan Knicks goes back to 1927 to try to save his pioneer aviator grandfather. The movie was also called Time Flyer.
The Christmas Visitor (1987)
Disney+ can always use more Christmas movies. They managed to fill things out decently for their first Christmas but then quietly removed Home Alone from the library. The Christmas Visitor (1987) would help.
The Australian film is about a farm community severely threatened by a drought in the 1890s. With a high audience score of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie must have brought some Christmas cheer back in the 80s. It was also released as Miracle Down Under and Bushfire Moon, and it's on YouTube.
Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss (1988)
This 1988 film needs to be more visible because it is a sequel of sorts to A Christmas Story. The entire Parker family is recast, though, so it might be disappointing. The movie is a road trip epic in the style of National Lampoon's Vacation. The family is off for some fun in Michigan, but they have to survive the open road first. Jerry O'Connell plays Ralph, the role made famous by Peter Billingsley.
Back Home (1990)
Based on a 1984 book by Michelle Magorian, Back Home is about a twelve-year-old girl named Virginia (nicknamed Rusty) who returns to Britain after sheltering in the United States during World War II. The 1990 film starred Hayley Carr and Hayley Mills, and it was remade again in 2001 with different actors. Hayley Mills was quite busy with the Disney Channel during this time, also completing three TV sequels of The Parent Trap and starring in Good Morning, Miss Bliss, the precursor to Saved by the Bell.
The Ernest Green Story (1993)
This 1993 film, currently on YouTube, needs to be on Disney+ ASAP. Morris Chestnut plays Ernest Green, an African American high school senior in a group known as the Little Rock Nine--Black students who joined the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. These students were protected by troops sent from President Eisenhower when Arkansas's Governor Faubus called in the National Guard to defy the federal desegregation plan.
The real Ernest Green went on to earn bachelor's and master's degrees at Michigan State University. He has worked in employment law, education initiatives, and was President Jimmy Carter's assistant secretary of the Labor Department, among many other achievements in his life. The story of this award-winning, hard-working man is one of the most important Disney has told.
Susie Q (1996)
Susie Q isn't exactly the best children's film of the century. It is actually widely rumored that Disney Channel stopped airing the 1996 movie due to inappropriate depictions of death. The content of the Premiere Film is very adult. Susie Q (Amy Jo Johnson) is a teen relic of the 1950s, walking around as a ghost in the 90s. From her (and her date's) graphic death at the beginning to the horrible scene at the police station towards the end, there's not too much that a child viewer should actually be watching. Still, plenty of the content on Disney+ is geared more towards nostalgic adults. For now, this is floating around on YouTube for those who are curious.
Wish Upon a Star (1996)
Why Disney would leave out their 1996 Katherine Heigl movie is something of a mystery. Heigl plays Alexia Wheaton opposite Danielle Harris, who plays Haley Wheaton. The sisters are night and day. Haley cares about her school work, is respectful to her parents, and dresses in a casual but age-appropriate style. Alexia is one of the most popular girls in the school, blowing off her studies to find the perfect mini-skirt and the perfect boy. Everything turns upside down when the girls switch bodies. This film seems to have been rerun far more than Susie Q ever was. It's one of the last Disney Channel Premiere Films, so it would be nice to see it on the streaming platform. It is free with ads on YouTube, though.
The Paper Brigade (1996)
The Paper Brigade skews much closer to the tone of a DCOM. Its release date has been listed as both 1996 and 1997, but either way, this Premiere Film is the second to last one. It was shown on Disney Channel quite frequently back in the Zoog days. Gunther Wheeler (Kyle Howard) is a big-city kid who moves to a small town. He completely redefines the meaning of a paper route, and new generations of children need to know. Sadly, this film is a bit harder to track down.