Mr. Dingle, the Strong - Recap

Vacuum cleaner salesman Luther Dingle is at the local bar while an obnoxious bettor is arguing with the bookie over a bum call about a foul ball and refuses to pay up. When he insults the bookie, Callahan, the barkeeper breaks it up and the bettor appeals to Dingle to give his opinion. Dingle admits he watched the game but makes the mistake of disagreeing. The bettor punches Dingle over the counter and as they argue, they're unaware that a two-headed Martian has invisibly entered the bar. They think that Dingle is just the specimen they're looking for: an abject coward with minimal muscles. They prepare to give him the strength of 300 men. Meanwhile, the bettor punches out Dingle again, but the salesman is more confused by the sudden energy blast. The bartender, O'Toole, advises him to stay out of trouble and Dingle practically throws his vacuum cleaner out of the door with his new strength. As he leaves, he pulls the door off his hinges and O'Toole is irritated that Dingle is wrecking his bar. Dingle has no explanation and quickly leaves.



Later in the street, a young boy tells Dingle to get lost and knocks off his hat with a football. Dingle throws the ball to the boy... and throws it over the nearby church steeple, through an apartment window, and breaking the door inside. The kid is astonished but Dingle doesn't know what's going on. He calls a taxi but first rips off the door handle and then accidentally tilts it on its side. He takes refuge in a park where a woman approaches with her baby and Dingle asks her what she thinks of him. He explains he's a lousy salesman but demonstrates by lifting the park bench up with her sitting on it. He then breaks a boulder in half and a newspaper photographer comes over and wants to take pictures. Dingle demonstrates his abilities, including lifting a statue into the air.



As Dingle becomes famous due to his photo in the newspaper, he wakes up the next morning and smashes his alarm clock by mistake. He tests his abilities by ripping a phone book in half and then goes to the bar where a crowd has assembled to see him and offer him money-making schemes. When a TV host comes in with a camera crew to check out if the stories about Dingle are true, the salesman obliges by putting his hand through a wall and then smashing a table in half. He rips a bar stool out of the floor and then grabs the bettor and hoists him into the air. As Dingle slams him down, the Martian is unimpressed with his petty exhibitions. They take away his power as he prepares to lift the entire bar into the air. Staggered, he tries to demonstrate his strength and only hurts himself as the crowd laugh at him. The bettor beats up on Dingle again until O'Toole pulls him off.



Dingle is left on his own, unaware that two Venusians have invisibly entered the bar. They compare notes with the departing Martians and explain they're there to test the introduction of superhuman intelligence to interesting subjects. The Martians recommend Dingle and the Venusians treat him with another alien beam, boosting his intelligence 500 times. Dingle wanders over and predicts the batter's upcoming home run, then begins rattling off equations for quantum physics.



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