Tom Sawyer

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.

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!

An amusing and fun musical film about Mark Twain's classic novel. Homogenized made musical movie with production enough about the adventures of Tom Sawyer : Johnny Whitaker and his friend Huckleberry Finn : Jeff East . Dealing with his girlfriend Becky Thatcher : Jodie Foster and various adventures , including the attractive sketches about the fence whitewashing as well as threatening appearance of the Indian Bogeyman and the likeable Muff Potter : Warren Oates . Mark Twain's hero, you hero of other days , has now been brought to life and you can see him again in life . Remember how you hated to have your face washed when you were a kid ? Come on join Tom and Huck and the gang and be kids again .

Winning adaptation of Mark Twain's often told tale of boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri . Concerning Tom's adventures along with his free-spirited best friend Huck , as both of whom run away to enjoy feats and dangers . The film is pretty well , though is marred by excessive songs in Howard Keel-style ballads , including the following ones : River Song , Gratification, Tom Sawyer , Freebotin' , Aunt Polly's Soliloquy , A man's gotta be what he's born to be, How come ? . Stars the sympathetic prodigy child Johnny Whitaker as Tom whose girlfriend performed by the incombustible Jodie Foster as Becky , Tom holds a real friendship to Huckleberry amusingly played by Jeff East . Along with other notorious secondaries such as : Celeste Holm as Aunt Polly , Warren Oates , Henry Jones and Dub Taylor. It contains a colorful cinematography in technicolor adding dazzling helicopter shots . A lavish Reader's Digest production, the picture was well directed by Don Taylor and in old-style movie-making.

Other enyable versions upon this vintage story are as follows : Tom Sawyer 1917 by William Desmond Taylor with Jack Pickford , Edythe Chapman . 1930 Tom Sawyer by John Cromwell with Jackie Coogan, Mitzie Green . The best : The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1938 by Norman Taurog with Tommy Kelly , Jackie Moran . Tom Sawyer 1973 by James Nielson with Josh Albee, Jeff Tyler , Buddy Ebsen , Vic Morrow. Tom and Huck 1995 by Peter Hewitt with Jonathan Taylor Thomas , Brad Renfo, Eric Schweig , Amy Wright. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn 2014 by Joe Kastner with Joel Courtney , Jake Austin, Val Kilmer . Rating : 6.5/10 . Better than average . Well worth watching . The kids may enjoy it , but adults will want to reread the book.

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!

I really enjoyed this movie and the music that was in it. Lots of good fun and adventure! I do believe Mr.Mark Twain would approve! This movie hits all the right notes and what an adventure! One can clearly see how the two lead actors make choices for their characters and the results are very good. I enjoyed the journey and the adventure the two went on, and I felt the movie was a very good adaptation of the novel. I can remember reading the book and not wanting to put it down, and was living in SC at the time the movie came out. We lived along a river as it was and as a 10 year old, I could somewhat relate to the main characters in the way of wanting to go on such an adventure. This movie was very good from start to finish, and I can distinctly recall to me, the scariest part..when they were all in the caves.