Follow Me, Boys!
Encyclopedia
Follow Me, Boys! is a 1966 family film released through Walt Disney Pictures
, based on the book God and My Country by MacKinlay Kantor
. It was the last production released before Walt Disney died of lung cancer
. The film starred Fred MacMurray
, Vera Miles
, Lillian Gish
, Charles Ruggles
, and Kurt Russell
, was co-produced by Walt Disney
and Winston Hibler
, directed by Norman Tokar
, and written by Louis Pelletier
. It is one of the few movies where Boy Scouts
are key to the film and is Disney's paean to the Boy Scouts. The title song "Follow Me, Boys!" was written by studio favorites Bob and Dick Sherman. For a time, after the film was released, the Boy Scouts of America
was considering using the song as their anthem
but efforts toward this end were eventually dropped. The film is also known by its working title, On My Honor. This is the first of ten Disney films which Kurt Russell
would appear in over the next ten years. A DVD
version was released on February 3, 2004.
) is a saxophonist in a traveling band in 1930 who dreams of becoming a lawyer. When the band's bus reaches Hickory, a small town, Lem suddenly decides to leave the band and settle down, finding a job as a clerk in the general store. At the civic meeting, Lem notices that Vida Downey (Vera Miles
), to be his future wife, eliminated the YMCA and the 4-H from her list of three possible organizations to keep the town's boys off the streets, leaving only the Boy Scouts, and volunteers to become Scoutmaster of newly formed Troop 1. Lem turns out to be an all-around natural leader, and as he becomes more and more involved with the Scout troop, he finds his plans to become a lawyer being put on the back burner while he wins over the town's favor a little at a time, even as he encounters life's troubles along the way. Lem's life became fulfilled helping the town's boys, especially former troublemaker Whitey (Kurt Russell
), mature into men. In appreciation, the entire town gave Lem a surprise celebration on 2 October 1950 (which actually fell on Monday, not on Saturday), with (apparently) all of the Scouts during the twenty years of Troop 1 in attendance.
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
, based on the book God and My Country by MacKinlay Kantor
MacKinlay Kantor
MacKinlay Kantor , born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several based on the American Civil War, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel Andersonville, about the Confederate prisoner of war camp...
. It was the last production released before Walt Disney died of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
. The film starred Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
, Vera Miles
Vera Miles
Vera Miles is an American film actress who gained popularity for starring in films such as The Searchers, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Psycho and Psycho II.-Early life:...
, Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
, Charles Ruggles
Charles Ruggles
Charles Sherman “Charlie” Ruggles was a comic American actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films. He was also the brother of director, producer, and silent actor Wesley Ruggles .-Background:Charlie Ruggles was born in Los Angeles, California in 1886...
, and Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
, was co-produced by Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
and Winston Hibler
Winston Hibler
Winston Hibler was an American screenwriter, film producer and director.He was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and died in Burbank, California.-Selected filmography:* Seal Island...
, directed by Norman Tokar
Norman Tokar
Norman Tokar was a prolific director of serial television and feature films, who directed many of the early episodes of Leave it to Beaver, and found his greatest success directing over a dozen films for Walt Disney Productions, spanning the 1950s to the...
, and written by Louis Pelletier
Louis Pelletier
Louis Pelletier was an American author of radio dramas and screenplays for motion pictures and television....
. It is one of the few movies where Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
are key to the film and is Disney's paean to the Boy Scouts. The title song "Follow Me, Boys!" was written by studio favorites Bob and Dick Sherman. For a time, after the film was released, the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
was considering using the song as their anthem
Anthem
The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...
but efforts toward this end were eventually dropped. The film is also known by its working title, On My Honor. This is the first of ten Disney films which Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
would appear in over the next ten years. A DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
version was released on February 3, 2004.
Synopsis
Lemuel "Lem" Siddons (Fred MacMurrayFred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
) is a saxophonist in a traveling band in 1930 who dreams of becoming a lawyer. When the band's bus reaches Hickory, a small town, Lem suddenly decides to leave the band and settle down, finding a job as a clerk in the general store. At the civic meeting, Lem notices that Vida Downey (Vera Miles
Vera Miles
Vera Miles is an American film actress who gained popularity for starring in films such as The Searchers, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Psycho and Psycho II.-Early life:...
), to be his future wife, eliminated the YMCA and the 4-H from her list of three possible organizations to keep the town's boys off the streets, leaving only the Boy Scouts, and volunteers to become Scoutmaster of newly formed Troop 1. Lem turns out to be an all-around natural leader, and as he becomes more and more involved with the Scout troop, he finds his plans to become a lawyer being put on the back burner while he wins over the town's favor a little at a time, even as he encounters life's troubles along the way. Lem's life became fulfilled helping the town's boys, especially former troublemaker Whitey (Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
), mature into men. In appreciation, the entire town gave Lem a surprise celebration on 2 October 1950 (which actually fell on Monday, not on Saturday), with (apparently) all of the Scouts during the twenty years of Troop 1 in attendance.
Cast
- Fred MacMurrayFred MacMurrayFrederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
— Lemuel "Lem" Siddons - Vera MilesVera MilesVera Miles is an American film actress who gained popularity for starring in films such as The Searchers, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Psycho and Psycho II.-Early life:...
— Vida Downey - Lillian GishLillian GishLillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
— Hetty Seibert - Charlie Ruggles — John Everett Hughes
- Kurt RussellKurt RussellKurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
— Edward "Whitey" White, Jr. - Donald May — Edward "Whitey" White, Jr., as an adult
- Luana PattenLuana Patten-Career:Patten made her first film appearance in Joel Chandler Harris's Song of the South with Bobby Driscoll, and they both appeared in Song of the Souths sister film So Dear to My Heart. She appeared again with Bobby Driscoll in the Pecos Bill segment of Disney's Melody Time...
— Nora White - Elliott ReidElliott ReidElliott Reid is an American character actor from New York City.He worked regularly in radio dramas during the Golden Age of radio...
— Ralph Hastings - John ZarembaJohn ZarembaJohn Zaremba was an American actor most noted for supporting roles on science fiction films and TV series....
— Ralph Hasting's lawyer - Ken MurrayKen Murray (entertainer)Ken Murray was an American entertainer and author.-Vaudeville:Murray was born Kenneth Doncourt in New York City to a family of vaudeville performers. According to Murray's autobiography , he changed his name because he did not want to ride the coattails of his father's success; he wanted to make a...
— Melody Murphy - Parley BaerParley BaerParley Edward Baer was an American actor in film, television, and radio.-Radio:Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Baer had a circus background, but began his radio career at Utah station KSL...
— Mayor Hi Plommer - Dean Moray — Hoodoo Henderson
- William ReynoldsWilliam Reynolds (actor)William Reynolds is a retired American television and film actor. He is best known for television roles in the 1960s and 1970s....
— Hoodoo Henderson as an adult - Madge BlakeMadge BlakeMadge Blake was an American character actress best remembered for her role as Aunt Harriet Cooper on ABC's Batman TV series of the 1960s.-Early life:...
— Cora Anderson - Keith Taylor — Beefy Smith
- David BaileyDavid Bailey (actor)David Bailey was an American actor. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he went on to have a lengthy career in theater and television, perhaps his best known role being Dr...
— Duke - Jimmy Murphy — P.O.W. Soldier
- Adam Williams — P.O.W. Sergeant
- John LarroquetteJohn LarroquetteJohn Edgar Bernard Larroquette, Jr. is an American film, television and Broadway actor. His roles include Dan Fielding on the series Night Court, Mike McBride in the Hallmark Channel series McBride, John Hemingway on The John Larroquette Show, and Carl Sack in Boston Legal.-Personal...
— Army soldier in war games - Ronnie DapoRonnie DapoRonnie Dapo is an American former child actor who appeared in supporting roles in such television series as ABC's Room for One More and CBS's The New Phil Silvers Show .-Acting career:...
— Virgil "Tiger" Higgins - Eddie Sallia — Harry
- Michael (Chris) Mason — Boy Scout in War Games