The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

disgusting, overrated, pointless

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This large cast, under the expert direction of Mike Curtiz, does more than justice to the Twain novel. In fact, with its beautiful photography, large budget and fine music score, one wonders why this really superior version of the Clemens' classic has rarely been shown on TV (and then, of course, in a grossly mutilated version). As far as I'm aware, it's not at present available on DVD either. Amazing! Episodes such as that on the deserted boat, tipped at a crazy angle, lapped by the green slime of the swamp, and the scene on board the steamer in which Finlay Currie expounds, in his delightfully resonant voice, the splendor and treachery of the Mississippi, are absolutely unforgettable.

1st watched 1/27/2010 - 7 out of 10 (Dir-Michael Curtiz): Charming adaptation of Mark Twain's novel is fun and well played for the most part. The story revolves around an upstart boy of the title who has an alcoholic father and overly religious aunt that brings him to a point of faking his own death in order to escape and debark on an adventure to New Orleans by way of the Mississippi River. He brings along a slave named Jim and they meet up with various characters with Huck always playing himself out of messes by pretending and making up stories. Eddie Hodges as Huck and Archie Moore as Jim make up a good team as the pair who really need each other. Jim was blamed for Huck's death so his goal is to escape North into Illinois so he can be a free man as well escaping the law. Huck is just avoiding his sad life in hopes for an adventure. He actually makes the adventures happen as he goes along including an escapade with a couple of crooks posing as the King of France and a Duke. Huck is a pretty smart cookie, though, and knows when to escape from them but they come back later in the story to try and turn Jim into the authorities for the ransom money. Tony Curtis plays the King and is supposedly the star of the movie but doesn't really add much to the movie by his performance -- the real stars are the actors in the main characters already mentioned. When the movie ends, you want to carry on with the characters to see what happens to them next and this shows the true wealth of the story. I don't ever think Twain make a Huck 2 though, which is a shame.

From the opening scene of the sun setting over the Missisippi,this film takes you on a magical adventure that will stay with you long after the final credits roll.Eddie Hodges is perfectly cast as young Huckleberry Finn who sets off to find adventure along the Mississippi. He is joined by Jim,Archie Moore, a runaway slave who wants to get to the free lands and become a free man. This movie is filled with classic supporting characters from two con men who want to rob the rich to line their own pockets to a circus owner who paints a donkey black and white to make a fake zebra. There are many classic scenes,almost too many to mention, so i will name the most memorable.They include Huck and Jim finding the reason for feuding,Huck dressing up as a girl to rescue a captured Jim and Huck passing off Jim as the emperor of Patagonia. This film is also filled with beauty ,physical and spiritual including the two friends sitting on their raft talking about sin while looking at the stars . The thing that overrides the whole movie though is the vibrant colour that brings out the beauty of the river. At the end of this film you would have to have a heart of stone not to shed a tear as the adventure comes to an end. It may have a happy ending but hey don't we all deserve a happy ending. My score has to be 10/10

Michael Curtiz should have been thoroughly ashamed of himself when he was finished with this production. I can understand why directors will shorten or paraphrase certain adaptations from well-known literature, but to make wholesale changes in an American masterpiece is unforgivable. Huge and important parts of the novel were totally absent, or switched around and added to other parts of the movie that made it incomprehensible. Eddie Hodges (and Archie Moore) were terrible choices for the two main characters. Aside from never coming even close to a realistic dialect from that time and locale, neither actor were truly up to the task. There were some bright spots, though - notably Mickey Shaughnessy and Tony Randall (but even these were wasted.) Overall, a very poor effort and a waste of any true film buff's time. It leaves a very bad taste in one's mouth. Twain deserves better. If you want to see a better version, check out the 1939 version with Mickey Rooney.