The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin

Playing the title role of Bullwhip Griffin is Roddy McDowell, a gentleman's gentleman and guardian to heirs Bryan Russell and Suzanne Pleshette from Boston. It seems as though their father has died and the family fortune isn't quite what they've been led to believe. Never mind that, young Russell has lived on an intellectual diet of dime novels and is convinced that he can go to California and strike it rich with the Gold Rush.

The Adventures Of Bullwhip Griffin has a Mark Twain feel to it and it's not too bad, I think Mr. Clemens might have approved of it in his younger and less cynical days. The chief villain of the piece is Karl Malden playing a confidence man who goes by the name of 'Judge' Griffin. He's a man full of tricks, he's a lot like the 'king' and 'duke' characters from Huckleberry Finn. Twain would have really relished Malden's performance.

As for Roddy McDowall he's as innocent as those Americans going abroad for the first time as tourists in Innocents Abroad. In point of fact San Francisco and the gold fields of California were a whole continent away and might as well been a foreign country. In fact McDowall would have been more at home in London than in San Francisco had he gone east instead of west.

But this is America and it's the land of no titled classes. McDowall dares dream he too could win the hand of Suzanne Pleshette who has shaken her proper eastern upbringing to sing in Harry Guardino's Barbary Coast saloon. Guardino is another villain playing his part with relish, he's interested in Pleshette for more than her singing career.

Highlight of the film is McDowall taking on Mike Mazurki in a prize fight. Only in the movies would you think that McDowall could beat Mazurki in a fight. Still it's a very funny sequence.

The cast looks like they're having a real good time making this film and the enthusiasm is infectious. The Adventures Of Bullwhip Griffin is one of the better products to come from the Magic Kingdom in the Sixties.

At the end of the fight scene with Roddy McDowall & Mike Mazurki, Richard Hadyn goes to the fight timekeeper (Dub Taylor) to distract him from ringing the triangle thereby ending the fight's round. He takes the triangle causing Taylor to whack, and utterly destroy, the pocketwatch that hangs on a post and that he is using to keep the time. Cut to cast congratulating McDowall on winning the fight. Cut back to Hadyn who hands Taylor back the triangle--only now the pocketwatch is back in place and totally intact!

It's a pity this film isn't more well-known. "Bullwhip Griffin," is one of the better live-action Disney films of the 60's. Roddy McDowell is perfectly cast and delivers an appealing performance in the title role. Disney was wise to give leading roles to "character actors" from time to time. Like Angela Lansbury in "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," McDowell proves that he's strong enough to carry an entire picture when given the opportunity. The kid-actor who accompanies him in his adventures is useful and not obnoxious. Suzanne Pleshette is just amazing, especially in her "San Francisco" musical number. She is the sexiest saloon-hall singer you could hope to find in a G-rated film!

This a Disney film that most people have never heard of and, to me, it is one of the funniest. OK, some of it is a little hokey, but, by and large, it is a film the whole family can enjoy. Roddy McDowall is perfect as the straight-laced butler who tries his best to help his young friend in the gold fields of 1849 California. Suzanne Pleshette (beautiful as ever) plays the love interest that Bullwhip can't bring himself to admit. She can also belt out a pretty good barroom tune. Add a crooked judge who is also a thief, one of the funniest fist fights ever filmed and likable villains and you have an entertaining romp in the old west.

This movie is sweet, fun, entertaining for the whole family. For those who appreciate the more innocent days that are no longer. (The boxing match scene is a bit overdone though.) Roddy and Suzanne are cute together. Can't understand why this is not available on VHS!