“My! This IS big!”
“That’s nothin’, wait till you see what’s up ahead!”
Well, I guess many phrases can sound inappropriate when taken out of context.
I’ve had a song stuck in my head for a few years now. I was pretty sure it was either a movie or TV theme, as certain imagery tended to come with it. Mainly an old-fashioned steamboat. At first, I thought it might be from classics like Sons and Daughters or The Sullivans, but, considering I hadn’t heard the song since I was a child, its true origin kept eluding me. I honestly thought I’d never remember where this pesky earworm came from.
While leafing through Jodi Foster’s filmography, I can’t recall why, I noted how much work she’d actually done prior to Taxi Driver and Freaky Friday, which is where I always assumed she’d started off. Nothing was really of note, with a television episode here and there, but this musical version of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer stuck out as potentially-interesting. No hardcopies in the UK exist, of course, but it is available digitally. So, despite not being a big fan of musicals or stodgy early-American literature, I thought I’d give it a whirl, what with Foster being “family” and all that.
I would call this a very loose attempt at a musical indeed, as the songs feel rather functional, almost last-minute additions, than coming from a genuinely creative place. They’re neither memorable nor performed or shot with any kind of flourish. They’re not the worst things ever, they’re just somewhat forgettable. Mercifully, they’re also incredibly short, which also adds to my theory that this was not conceived as a musical.
Who knows, perhaps the production received extra funding or tax breaks if there was singing and dancing involved.
I’m not terribly familiar with Twain’s Tom and Huck stories, but I get the idea. They’re ingrained enough in pop culture that they filter down even to a posh English cunt like me. However, the experience of watching this film was positive enough that I now actually want to sit down and read the original novels, especially since the audiobook for Tom Sawyer is read by the fabulous Nick Offerman.
Sold.
It’s amusing watching Foster playing a girly-girl, complete with frilly dress and bonnet, especially knowing her true self is closer to her awesome tomboy persona in Freaky Friday. She doesn’t have a great deal to do here, and you don’t get a sense she’ll be going off to do impressive things, but it’s still a delight to see her climbing that career ladder at speed.
The film sure does look pretty, although it lacks generous closeups of many of its supporting actors. Well, it sort-of-does, but the widescreen is so, erm, wide that the intimate moments feel as vast as the establishing shots. In fact, I had no idea Warren Oats was in the damn thing until the very end. There’s one really jarring moment of editing, which makes me believe something major was cut out, when the scene in which Sawyer is packing to run away from home suddenly jumps awkwardly to him already on a raft with Huckleberry Finn with a steamboat about to capsize them. I even exclaimed: “Wait! What’s going on?!”, which your audience really shouldn’t be doing.
After a murderer goes on the run when Sawyer fingers him in court, the screenplay wisely keeps reminding us that the fugitive is still out there and may come back at some point to wreak his revenge on our diminutive hero. I can’t fault the writers for holding our hands like this, as we surely would have forgotten the matter had they not mentioned it again, but characters discuss the whereabouts of said fugitive once too often, making such moments feel like the parody of what a screenplay needs to do. I was all like: “Oh, golly-gosh, I do so wonder if that guy will appear right at the very last minute!”.
And he does. Spoiler alert.
Leading “man” Johnny Whitaker is charming enough that it’s actually a shame he hasn’t done much worthy of his potential since. His vast mop of red hair stands out like a beacon amongst the pretty sets and locations and costumes, and his cute friendship with the seemingly-homeless Huckleberry Finn, with whom he can’t not go skinny-dipping with on a regular basis, certainly does explain why he isn’t too fussed about fighting for Foster’s character after she angrily rejects him.
Bless.
I also admire the fact that the film doesn’t utilise a vocal “stand-in” for Whitaker, as he clearly is no gifted singer. Perhaps the inclusion of musical numbers was so last minute that the producers couldn’t book session vocalists in time. Which would explain a lot.
The film rambles on gently, as if Robert Altman was behind the camera, which is fine by me. I do enjoy a chilled-out movie experience with an ensemble cast and unchallenging goings on. You know, when I’m not watching action movies featuring epic shootouts and car chases and spaceships falling out of the sky. Basically, Tom Sawyer is one to stick on when you feel like spacing-out on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Which is no bad thing.
If I gave out star ratings, this would be a solid 3 out of 5. But I don’t. So I won’t.
It just needs stronger musical numbers or pulling them out entirely.
Oh and the earworm that plagued me isn’t from this, but is from the 1979 Huckleberry Finn and His Friends TV series, which I guess must have somehow found its way onto British television at some point in the 80s. While I don’t remember anything about the show itself, the tune is haunting enough to have had a lasting effect on my subconscious. This film just brought those vague-memories back to the surface.
You can find the song here.
Do stay in touch, darlings.
Toodles!
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