diff --git a/lib/Cake/Controller/Controller.php b/lib/Cake/Controller/Controller.php
index 8f68bf91c..c15548a17 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Controller/Controller.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Controller/Controller.php
@@ -442,6 +442,61 @@ class Controller extends Object {
 		}
 	}
 
+/**
+ * Dispatches the controller action.  Checks that the action 
+ * exists and isn't private.
+ *
+ * @param CakeRequest $request
+ * @return The resulting response.
+ */
+	public function invokeAction(CakeRequest $request) {
+		$reflection = new ReflectionClass($this);
+		try {
+			$method = $reflection->getMethod($request->params['action']);
+
+			if ($this->_isPrivateAction($method, $request)) {
+				throw new PrivateActionException(array(
+					'controller' => $this->name . "Controller",
+					'action' => $request->params['action']
+				));
+			}
+			return $method->invokeArgs($this, $request->params['pass']);
+
+		} catch (ReflectionException $e) {
+			if ($this->scaffold !== false) {
+				return new Scaffold($this, $request);
+			}
+			throw new MissingActionException(array(
+				'controller' => $this->name . "Controller",
+				'action' => $request->params['action']
+			));
+		}
+	}
+
+/**
+ * Check if the request's action is marked as private, with an underscore, of if the request is attempting to
+ * directly accessing a prefixed action.
+ *
+ * @param ReflectionMethod $method The method to be invoked.
+ * @param CakeRequest $request The request to check.
+ * @return boolean
+ */
+	protected function _isPrivateAction(ReflectionMethod $method, CakeRequest $request) {
+		$privateAction = (
+			$method->name[0] === '_' || 
+			!$method->isPublic() ||
+			!in_array($method->name,  $this->methods)
+		);
+		$prefixes = Router::prefixes();
+
+		if (!$privateAction && !empty($prefixes)) {
+			if (empty($request->params['prefix']) && strpos($request->params['action'], '_') > 0) {
+				list($prefix, $action) = explode('_', $request->params['action']);
+				$privateAction = in_array($prefix, $prefixes);
+			}
+		}
+		return $privateAction;
+	}
 /**
  * Merge components, helpers, and uses vars from Controller::$_mergeParent and PluginAppController.
  *
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php b/lib/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php
index 99791e7b4..90a70a039 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php
@@ -93,37 +93,9 @@ class Dispatcher {
 			));
 		}
 
-		if ($this->_isPrivateAction($request)) {
-			throw new PrivateActionException(array(
-				'controller' => Inflector::camelize($request->params['controller']) . "Controller",
-				'action' => $request->params['action']
-			));
-		}
-
 		return $this->_invoke($controller, $request, $response);
 	}
 
-/**
- * Check if the request's action is marked as private, with an underscore, of if the request is attempting to
- * directly accessing a prefixed action.
- *
- * @param CakeRequest $request The request to check
- * @return boolean
- */
-	protected function _isPrivateAction($request) {
-		$privateAction = $request->params['action'][0] === '_';
-		$prefixes = Router::prefixes();
-
-		if (!$privateAction && !empty($prefixes)) {
-			if (empty($request->params['prefix']) && strpos($request->params['action'], '_') > 0) {
-				list($prefix, $action) = explode('_', $request->params['action']);
-				$privateAction = in_array($prefix, $prefixes);
-			}
-		}
-
-		return $privateAction;
-	}
-
 /**
  * Initializes the components and models a controller will be using.
  * Triggers the controller action, and invokes the rendering if Controller::$autoRender is true and echo's the output.
@@ -138,22 +110,11 @@ class Dispatcher {
 		$controller->constructClasses();
 		$controller->startupProcess();
 
-		$methods = array_flip($controller->methods);
-
-		if (!isset($methods[$request->params['action']])) {
-			if ($controller->scaffold !== false) {
-				return new Scaffold($controller, $request);
-			}
-			throw new MissingActionException(array(
-				'controller' => Inflector::camelize($request->params['controller']) . "Controller",
-				'action' => $request->params['action']
-			));
-		}
-		$result = call_user_func_array(array(&$controller, $request->params['action']), $request->params['pass']);
-
+		$result = $controller->invokeAction($request);
 		if ($result instanceof CakeResponse) {
 			$response = $result;
 		}
+		
 		if ($controller->autoRender) {
 			$response = $controller->render();
 		} elseif ($response->body() === null) {
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Routing/DispatcherTest.php b/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Routing/DispatcherTest.php
index a7c7ae527..46de1d30a 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Routing/DispatcherTest.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Routing/DispatcherTest.php
@@ -50,11 +50,7 @@ class TestDispatcher extends Dispatcher {
  * @return void
  */
 	protected function _invoke(Controller $controller, CakeRequest $request, CakeResponse $response) {
-		if ($result = parent::_invoke($controller, $request, $response)) {
-			if ($result[0] === 'missingAction') {
-				return $result;
-			}
-		}
+		$result = parent::_invoke($controller, $request, $response);
 		return $controller;
 	}
 
@@ -733,13 +729,13 @@ class DispatcherTest extends CakeTestCase {
 	}
 
 /**
- * test that methods declared in Controller are treated as missing methods.
+ * test that methods declared in Controller are treated as private methods.
  *
- * @expectedException MissingActionException
- * @expectedExceptionMessage Action SomePagesController::redirect() could not be found.
+ * @expectedException PrivateActionException
+ * @expectedExceptionMessage Private Action SomePagesController::redirect() is not directly accessible.
  * @return void
  */
-	public function testMissingActionFromBaseClassMethods() {
+	public function testPrivateActionFromBaseClassMethods() {
 		$Dispatcher = new TestDispatcher();
 		Configure::write('App.baseUrl','/index.php');
 		$url = new CakeRequest('some_pages/redirect/param:value/param2:value2');