Flipper

A plague in the waters off the Florida Keys has left fisherman Chuck Connors and his son scrambling to make a living; luckily, a dolphin rescued by young Luke Halpin seems to understand their predicament and leads the boy to fresh fish. Rather dingily-produced underwater tale for kids has a thin plot (with echoes of "The Yearling" besides), but also a marvelous mammal at the center of the action. When Flipper is doing tricks for the locals--even interacting with a swimming dog--it's hard not to smile; otherwise, the relationship between the boy and his parents is so stiff (with lots of homilies and fearsome dialogue) that the picture drags whenever Flipper is off-screen. Followed by a 1964 sequel, "Flipper's New Adventure ", and a popular TV series. ** from ****

RELEASED IN 1963 and directed by James B. Clark, "Flipper" stars Luke Halpin as a boy in the Florida Keys who saves a dolphin and develops a relationship with the animal. Chuck Connors and Kathleen Maguire play the parents.

As far as dolphin flicks go, I prefer 2010's "Beneath the Blue" with cutie Caitlin Wachs, but "Flipper" is worthwhile as heartwarming innocuous entertainment. It's also of historical interest to observe life in Southern Florida in the early 60s. Not only do you get the dolphin, Flipper (Mitzie in real life), but you also get the kid's pet pelican, Pete.

THE MOVIE RUNS 87 minutes and was shot in Grassy Key, Florida, and (studio) Miami. WRITERS: Arthur Weiss from the story by Ricou Browning & Jack Cowden.

GRADE: B-

Flipper is a very old movie, released in 1963. Though I have always been fascinated by dolphins, and even worked as a dolphin researcher, I never saw the movie, put off by that silly "King of the Sea" song. The movie is much better than I expected. It was done before animatronics and CGI, yet the stunts were completely believable. I worry that they were not stunts, but actual animal cruelty done in the days before SPCA oversight.

The father, played by Chuck Connors, is authoritarian. He never asks what happened in his absence; he tells everyone. No one dares contradict him. He likes to grab his wife and kiss her unexpectedly and passionately, reminiscent of a Siamese fighting fish. I detested him, but he was a typical movie father for the era.

The hero is what I took to be a 10 year old boy from his height, later revealed in the dialogue to be 12, and played by a 15-year old actor, Luke Halpin. The boy, Sandy, is ridiculously docile by modern standards, and obsequiously does whatever father wants without complaint. Sandy is still every boy's hero, skilled, brave, outgoing, strong, handsome, respected by the community, trusted to run his own boat and fishing nets. Sandy has an erotic obsession with a male dolphin (played by a female dolphin to help tone down the obviousness of the mutual arousal). His parents pretend not to notice, pretending all that bumping and grinding is just cute.

There are a few things that don't make sense in the movie. For the first half of the movie, Sandy and an adoring younger girl whom he ignores are the only people his age in the vicinity. Then in one scene suddenly dozens of children appear, and sing that idiotic "King of the Sea" song then disappear again. It is just totally out of place. The song belongs in some animated short for toddlers or in a commercial to sell inflatable dolphin toys.

I was rather distressed by the "tricks" scene when they got Flipper to perform various fetch tricks, treating him as if he were a dog. Dolphins have bigger brains than we do, but you would never guess from that silly dog and pony show. They tossed an dachshund into the ocean with Flipper. To me the dog look panicked and could not get out of the enclosure, and tried climbing on Flipper's back to avoid drowning. This was all treated as great fun.

Sandy lives shirtless outdoors in the Florida sun on the ocean all day. Yet he never gets a sunburn or even a dark tan. Nobody ever reminds him to put on sun screen. I worried about the actor and whether making that film would have lead to skin cancer.

Our friends in the sea the dolphins get their due in this family film about a young boy who saves a dolphin and the dolphin returns the favor. Succinctly put that is the plot of Flipper.

Enough has been studied and written about how next to humans, the dolphin is the most intelligent creature on this planet, some might opt the dolphin is more intelligent. You can sure prove it by what you see with this particular dolphin.

Chuck Connors and Kathleen Maguire are the parents of Luke Halpin. Connors is a commercial fisherman, but a fish plague of sorts has decimated the fish population in his fishing grounds and those of the other fishermen. Making matters worse a hurricane appears as the film opens and Connors and Halpin have to beat it back to shore in the Florida Keys.

They make it, but the boat is severely damaged. While Connors looks to scrounge up work, Luke saves the life of a stranded dolphin who is on the beach with a spear in him. Pretty soon he's teaching him all kinds of tricks, but dolphins do eat a lot of fish and fish are scarce at this time.

I think you can see where this is all going. Doesn't detract from the fact that Flipper became one of the most popular family films of all time spawning two more films and a four year run television series all with Luke Halpin. By the time Flipper got to TV Halpin had grown a bit and his voice changed. His father's profession had changed from fisherman to park ranger and he was played by Brian Kelly. He also lost his mother and gained a younger brother. And Halpin became a bubblegum teen idol of the first order.

But for this original film the underwater photography was of Oscar type caliber and the acting chemistry between Halpin and the dolphin was good and unique. In fact some years ago I read that Halpin got the part for his swimming ability.

After 50 years Flipper holds up quite well for family viewing.

Flipper is an exceedingly pleasant, modest picture about a boy and his dolphin, and features easygoing, natural performances from Luke Halpin, as the boy, and Chuck Connors, as his rugged, seafaring father. The film is the first in the franchise that led eventually to a popular TV show. Producer Ivan Tors, who was also the man behind the Sea Hunt series on television, struck gold again with this one, a nice alternative at the time (and now) to the prevailing Disney family fare. It's hard to pinpoint how this and other Tors projects differ from what the Disney studio was making. The kids are a bit less goody two-shoes, the grownups more realistic. One doesn't have the virtual insurance that nearly every Disney film at the time offered that everything would work out in the end, so the moments of suspense and danger have a real edge. Flipper, by the way, has a real personality, and has a way of making you care for him. For those who care for the sea, marine life or just simple movies about kids and animals, this one's a darn good show.