Tom Sawyer (1973)

Wow! Such a good movie.

The Worst Film Ever

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Johnny Whitaker late of A Family Affair and Jeff East star as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in a musical adaption of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer. I think Twain might have liked this one.This is one story that when filmed is rarely deviated from. I guess it's too well known and lovers of Mark Twain wouldn't stand for it.Whitaker and East play the mischievous adolescents from Hannibal, Missouri who are just contributing to everyone's delinquency. Huckleberry Finn seems incorrigible since all he wants to do is fish and swim. And Celeste Holm playing Tom Sawyer's Aunt Polly who is raising Tom with two of her own kids and the widow is just mighty put out by them.Among the grownup population is Warren Oates who is a perfect fit for Muff Potter, Tom and Huck's best friend and whose raffish ways they admire. Truth be told Oates is a lowdown character who earns an extra drinking dollar or three as a graverobber for Dr. Richard Eastham.When Eastham is stabbed to death on one of those grave robbing expeditions Oates is arrested and that sets in motion the main plot of Twain's story.The Shermans wrote a serviceable score for Tom Sawyer. Of course it's nothing like the score they wrote for Mary Poppins. They were nominated for the overall musical score though no individual songs were recognized. Tom Sawyer also got Oscar nominations for Costume Design and Film Editing.The story has been good family reading and viewing for more than a century and this film is no exception.

Mark Twain's timeless story turned into a wholesome, plastic-coated musical with cutesy-poo asides and unmemorable songs. Composers Richard and Robert Sherman also adapted the screenplay, but they don't have the feel of Twain's prose down (or perhaps the book is singularly impossible to adequately get on film?). Johnny Whitaker, a fine child actor of the 1970s, tries his best as young Tom Sawyer, a hell-raisin', tall tale-tellin' ragamuffin in 1840s Hannibal, Missouri; Whitaker isn't a singer (not many in the cast are), yet these songs would likely trip anybody up. Instantly forgettable, the lead-in for each tune takes an excruciating four or five seconds of hesitation, as if this were an old musical from the 1940s. Despite real Missouri locations, there isn't much here that rings true. Not Celeste Holm's Aunt Polly (who punishes Tom and then smiles wistfully at his antics, ready to burst into song), nor Warren Oates as whiskey-swillin' Muff Potter. Jeff East is sorely miscast as Tom's best friend, drop-out Huckleberry Finn (East appears to have wandered in from the nearest citified casting agency), although Jodie Foster is nearly-perfect as girlfriend Becky Thatcher (it probably helped that Foster and Whitaker had already made a picture together, 1972's "Napoleon and Samantha", as they have a built-in rapport which is immediately apparent). The 1800s milieu--from the schoolhouse to the riverboat landing to the picnic grounds--is distinctly artificial, rendering the end results a misfire in a sub-Disney vein. Reader's Digest financed the project (they followed this with a sequel, "Huckleberry Finn", in 1974), and were nearly trumped by a TV-version of Twain's book which aired the same week this movie premiered! *1/2 from ****

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!

I love this version of the Tom Sawyer Story. I watched this movie as a kid and will still watch it today. Jodie Foster is really cute as Becky Thatcher. This movie was made and financed by Reader Digest but as I have seen it is now under ownership by MGM/UA Home Video and only available on the slowly decaying VHS format. Hey, MGM, get this movie digitally upgraded to DVD with all the bells and whistles digitally upgraded beyond what they originally were. DVD is the soon to be only video format and this movie needs to be on it. I also would like to see the musical sequel about Huck Finn done the same way.