Follow Me, Boys!

UPC: 786936233681

Studio: Walt Disney Video

MPAA Rating: G   Contains:[Excellent For Children]

Summary: Follow Me, Boys!, Disney's paean to the Boys Scouts of America, leaves no clich? unturned: we're even offered the old reliable "kid hanging over cliff by rope" bit. Corny, sentimental and obvious though it may be, the film is a delight to watch, especially whenever Fred MacMurray dominates the screen. MacMurray plays Lem Siddons, a 1930s musician who decides to settle down in a small Midwestern town. Here he meets pretty bank teller Vida Downey (Vera Miles), who bemoans the fact that the local boys have no organized activities with which to occupy their time. Volunteering to be a scoutmaster, Lem begins a local scout troop. There are some tense moments when banker Ralph Hastings (Elliot Reid) demands that Lem's scouts vacate their headquarters, but Reid's feisty millionaire Aunt Hetty (Lillian Gish) comes to the rescue. The film's throughline is the regeneration of local "tough kid" Whitey (Kurt Russell), who, after joining the Boy Scouts, straightens out and matures into a solid citizen. The film's lachrymose climax is kept "honest" by the sincere underplaying of Fred MacMurray. Though lambasted by reviewers, Follow Me, Boys! struck a responsive chord with filmgoers, to the tune of a $5.5 million box-office take. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Features: cc"Follow Me, Boys!" gallery
"Looking Back With Lem's Boys" featurette
Spanish subtitles

Follow Me, Boys!

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 02/03/2004

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 133 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Subtitles: Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. A New Job
2. Boys
3. Leading the Troops
4. Crash Landing
5. Meet Us Halfway
6. The Doctor Is Wrong
7. Live With Us
8. I'm Resigning
9. War Games
10. P.O.W.
11. You Need Rest
12. The Parade

Craig Butler

Sometimes sloppy sentimentality can have a strange kind of appeal; case in point: Follow Me, Boys! There's hardly a moment on the screen that isn't filled with the kind of overt heart-tugging corn that Disney made its live-action stock-in-trade for a number of years. Added on to the corn is a thick layer of syrupy sweetness that's practically palpable. Anyone with even a slight understanding of cinematic structure can predict with deadly accuracy where the film is headed from moment to moment, and the character clich?s are so abundant as to be stifling. Yet, as obvious and manipulative as all this is, Boys somehow works. Director Norman Tokar and screenwriter Louis Pelletier seem to honestly believe in their material, and that sincerity shows up onscreen. They are helped enormously by their cast, starting with Fred MacMurray's solid performance that anchors the film as well as strong support from Vera Miles and Kurt Russell, and an especially pleasing turn from Lillian Gish. At 135 minutes, the film is clearly too long, the schmaltz factor causes it to start curdling well before the end, and modern audiences especially may find its na?vet? laughable. But Boys does back a certain kind of strange punch among all it, albeit artificiality. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Cast and Crew: George Bruns  Composer (Music Score) 
Walt Disney  Producer 
Louis Pelletier  Screenwriter 
Norman Tokar  Director 
Fred MacMurray  Actor 
Vera Miles  Actor 
Lillian Gish  Actor 
Charlie Ruggles  Actor 
Elliott Reid  Actor 
Kurt Russell  Actor 
Luana Patten  Actor 
Ken Murray  Actor 
Donald May  Actor 
Sean McClory  Actor 
Steve Franken  Actor 
Parley Baer  Actor 
William Reynolds  Actor 
Craig Hill  Actor 
Tol Avery  Actor 
Willis B. Bouchey  Actor 
John Zaremba  Actor 
Madge Blake  Actor 
Carl Reindel  Actor 
Hank Brandt  Actor 
Richard Bakalyan  Actor 
Tim McIntire  Actor 
Tony Regan  Actor 
Robert B. Williams  Actor 
Jimmy Murphy  Actor 
Adam Williams  Actor 
Keith Taylor  Actor 
Ricky Kelman  Actor 
Gregg Shank  Actor 
Ronnie Dapo  Actor 
Dennis Rush  Actor 
Kevin Burchett  Actor 
David Bailey  Actor 
Warren Hsieh  Actor 
Duane Chase  Actor 
Sherwood Ball  Actor 

Country: USA