Softwing
Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
SeeQuant
Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Senteur
As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
JLRMovieReviews
Young Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn enjoy the free days of youth in this 1973 film adaptation of the classic Mark Twain story "Tom Sawyer." With their stories and lives of the two boys blending in together so much, it's hard to tell where one starts and the other leaves off. They both live in the same slow easy days, which are also fresh with rascally trouble and bristling with uncouth characters. Tom Sawyer lives with an Aunt played by Celeste Holm and her two children. The boy does not like him and continually sets up booby traps for Tom when he sneaks in his room late for supper, but the daughter thinks the world of him. On one of their many hikes, Tom and Huck witness a scuffle that leads to murder. And Tom has a love interest in the form of a new girl, played by Jodie Foster. But all this takes a back seat to the adventurous and easy-going spirits of the boys and the wonderful music score and songs by the Sherman brothers. The performances by Johnnie Whitaker as Tom and Jeff East as Huck are very natural (Jeff East was particularly memorable) and a lot of recognizable faces make up the colorful supporting cast. A true highlight of the film is Charley Pride's song about being young and free, sung at the beginning and end of the film. I looked into buying the cd. But it was way too expensive, being a very rare find. If you love musicals and the imagination of Mark Twain, then you need to find this right away and while away the hours doing something close to nothing but getting in trouble anyway.
k_scherer
I have not seen this version of Tom Sawyer for quite a few years, but I did see it as a child on the "Big Screen". The fun part for me about this movie is that I grew up just a few miles from where most of it was filmed -- a small river town in Mid-Missouri called Arrow Rock. It's not the type of area where a person gets to see a lot of movies being filmed, so you can imagine that this was quite an event for a small rural area at the time.I was 12 at the time, same age as Johnny Whitaker when he played Tom, and I remember going to watch the filming of several scenes -- especially the "picnic scene". It was also interesting to see what was done to the town to prepare for the making of the film. The main street, which is paved asphalt, was covered with several inches of dirt. The concrete sidewalks were converted to boardwalk sidewalks, which still exist today! It was fun to watch the film in the theater, because many of the extras in the film were local townspeople, neighbors, and friends. You watched to pick out the scenes where you would recognize people you know.There is a special celebration in Arrow Rock this year for the July 4th festivities, celebrating the 35 years since the filming of Tom Sawyer (1972). Johnny Whitaker and Jeff East are returning to Arrow Rock to participate in the festivities... and I will be returning to partake also! If you're ever driving across Missouri on I-70, I invite you to take a slight detour on Hiway 41 North (just about 130 miles west of St. Louis) and visit the little historic town of Arrow Rock.... where for two months in 1972, Hollywood came to visit!
callie-5
I saw this one in the theater when it was released and still love it! This is the perfect example of a "Classic Family Movie". The harshest word you hear is "damn". The performances are wonderful to watch from the entire cast (Jodie Foster may be the weakest of them all, but just my opinion), the music fits beautifully (thanks to the Sherman brothers) and the settings make me feel the era. An enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon. And to the reviewer who commented on Celeste Holm's "attempt" to sing - check her resume, my friend. Everyone who knows her work (see "High Society" or the 1965 version of "Cinderella", or just listen to the Original Broadway Cast recording of "Oklahoma!") knows she CAN!
m_ruch-1
Adrian Everett's dreams have been answered!! MGM/UA has released this title and Huck Finn (in which child actor Jeff East reprises his role as the title character) on DVD. My only complaint, and it is a minor one, is that MGM opted not to release the film on DVD in the widescreen format. The title and end credit sequences are in widescreen, while the remainder of the film is "modified to fit your screen". Much as I prefer widescreen films presented in their original aspect ratio, Tom Sawyer does not lose anything by being "panned and scanned". If anything, the full screen presentation enhances the performances of the child actors, allowing them to fill the screen with their winning personalities. Johnny Whitaker as Tom, and Jeff East as his rag-tag friend Huck, really light up the screen in every scene they are in, but it is Jodie Foster, as Becky Thatcher, who steals Tom's and the audience's hearts.Most of the musical score is forgettable, but overall, the Sherman brothers have once again done an admirable job. Several of the songs, such as "Free-bootin" and "Gratifaction" will stick in your head. But it is, "River Song", as performed by Charlie Pride, that will bring a tear to your eye as you think about lost childhood. "...a boy is gonna grow to be a man, be a man. Only once in his life is he free. Only one golden time in his life is he free."I highly recommend this film, and this DVD to anyone who is a Tom Sawyer fan. All of the storytelling elements of the earlier David O'Selznick production are here, and with the exception of the music, the two films are very similar. While it is the child actors that really sell this film, I cannot overlook the memorable performance of Kunu Hank (apparently in his only film role) as Injun Joe.
