Leave It to Beaver (film)
Encyclopedia
Leave It to Beaver is a 1997 film that is a remake of the TV series of the same name
. There are many in-jokes related to the original series within the movie.
) gets his heart set on a Bike
in the store window. He doesn't know how to get his parents to buy it for him. However, Eddie Haskell (Adam Zolotin) tells him that if he sucks up to his father (Christopher McDonald), by signing up for football, he will be sure to get the bike on his upcoming birthday. He signs up for football despite his small size, and is tackled and thrown to the ground many times during practices. On the first day of school five days later, Ward and June (Janine Turner
) tell Wally to drop Beaver off and pick him up for a few days because he has never ridden his bike there before. At school Beaver sits behind a very pretty girl named Susan Acustis (Brenda Song
) and has a very kind teacher named Miss Landers (Grace Phillips). After school Eddie asks Wally to come to the soda shop to see him flirt with Karen. He does not want Beaver to follow them, so Wally leaves him alone at the bike rack telling him he will be back in a second.
Beaver is polishing his bike when a punk teenager (Glenn Walker Harris Jr.) comes over and admires it and asks him if he can show him some cool bike tricks. He agrees and the boy shows him some tricks before riding off with the bike. Inside the shop it becomes apparent that Karen likes Wally, not Eddie. When Wally and Eddie come out of the shop and hear that Beaver's bike got stolen they look for it but can't find it. During dinner that night, the boys try to cover up the fact that the bike was stolen, but to no avail. When Ward hears this he is very upset not just at Beaver, but at Wally, because he wasn't watching him. In the boys' bedroom, they get into a fight which sends Beaver's new computer flying out the window. Wally grabs the wire and tries to pull it in and does, but the wire breaks, and it falls out the window and crashes into many pieces.
Beaver decides to skip football practice and study instead, and Wally starts spending more time with Karen now instead of him. When he is caught by Ward for skipping practice, Beaver is told that he can quit the team if he wants, but he doesn't. During the last game, he gets a catch and runs it for a touchdown. By the concession stands, he finds the punk with his bike and takes it back. Ward reads Beaver a bedtime story.
and Canada
.
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
. There are many in-jokes related to the original series within the movie.
Plot
Beaver (Cameron FinleyCameron Finley
Joseph Cameron Finley is an American former child actor.Finley was born in Garland, Texas, the son of Lexa Iann , a spiritual healer, and Charles David "Chuck" Finley, a software developer. He has two siblings, Taz and Stopher. When he was three, he was taken by his parents to an acting seminar...
) gets his heart set on a Bike
GT Bicycles
GT Bicycles is a large American manufacturer of road, mountain, and bmxbicycles. The company was founded in 1979 by Gary Turner, a welding engineer and Richard Long, a bike shop owner. The company merged with Schwinn in 1998, but the conglomerate went bankrupt in 2001, and was acquired by Pacific...
in the store window. He doesn't know how to get his parents to buy it for him. However, Eddie Haskell (Adam Zolotin) tells him that if he sucks up to his father (Christopher McDonald), by signing up for football, he will be sure to get the bike on his upcoming birthday. He signs up for football despite his small size, and is tackled and thrown to the ground many times during practices. On the first day of school five days later, Ward and June (Janine Turner
Janine Turner
Janine Turner is an American actress who starred on the prime time television show Northern Exposure from 1990 to 1995. From 2000 to 2002, she appeared on the Lifetime original series Strong Medicine...
) tell Wally to drop Beaver off and pick him up for a few days because he has never ridden his bike there before. At school Beaver sits behind a very pretty girl named Susan Acustis (Brenda Song
Brenda Song
Brenda Song is an American actress, film producer, and model. Song started in show business as a child fashion model. Her early television work included roles in the shows Fudge and 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd...
) and has a very kind teacher named Miss Landers (Grace Phillips). After school Eddie asks Wally to come to the soda shop to see him flirt with Karen. He does not want Beaver to follow them, so Wally leaves him alone at the bike rack telling him he will be back in a second.
Beaver is polishing his bike when a punk teenager (Glenn Walker Harris Jr.) comes over and admires it and asks him if he can show him some cool bike tricks. He agrees and the boy shows him some tricks before riding off with the bike. Inside the shop it becomes apparent that Karen likes Wally, not Eddie. When Wally and Eddie come out of the shop and hear that Beaver's bike got stolen they look for it but can't find it. During dinner that night, the boys try to cover up the fact that the bike was stolen, but to no avail. When Ward hears this he is very upset not just at Beaver, but at Wally, because he wasn't watching him. In the boys' bedroom, they get into a fight which sends Beaver's new computer flying out the window. Wally grabs the wire and tries to pull it in and does, but the wire breaks, and it falls out the window and crashes into many pieces.
Beaver decides to skip football practice and study instead, and Wally starts spending more time with Karen now instead of him. When he is caught by Ward for skipping practice, Beaver is told that he can quit the team if he wants, but he doesn't. During the last game, he gets a catch and runs it for a touchdown. By the concession stands, he finds the punk with his bike and takes it back. Ward reads Beaver a bedtime story.
Cast
- Christopher McDonaldChristopher McDonaldChristopher McDonald is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore, Tappy Tibbons in Requiem for a Dream, and Mel Allen in the HBO film 61*.-Personal life:...
as Ward Cleaver - Janine TurnerJanine TurnerJanine Turner is an American actress who starred on the prime time television show Northern Exposure from 1990 to 1995. From 2000 to 2002, she appeared on the Lifetime original series Strong Medicine...
as June Cleaver - Cameron FinleyCameron FinleyJoseph Cameron Finley is an American former child actor.Finley was born in Garland, Texas, the son of Lexa Iann , a spiritual healer, and Charles David "Chuck" Finley, a software developer. He has two siblings, Taz and Stopher. When he was three, he was taken by his parents to an acting seminar...
as Theodore 'Beaver' Cleaver - Erik von DettenErik von DettenErik Thomas von Detten is an American actor. He is known for his roles in Escape to Witch Mountain, Toy Story, Brink!, The Princess Diaries, and So Weird.-Personal life:Von Detten was born in San Diego, California...
as Wallace 'Wally' Cleaver - Adam Zolotin as Eddie Haskell
- Barbara BillingsleyBarbara BillingsleyBarbara Billingsley was an American film, television, voice and stage actress. She gained prominence in the 1950s movie The Careless Years, acting opposite Natalie Trundy, followed by her best–known role, that of June Cleaver on the television series Leave It to Beaver and its sequel Still...
as Aunt Martha - Ken OsmondKen OsmondKen Osmond is an American actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor at the age of four, Osmond is best known for his iconic role as Eddie Haskell on the 1950s television situation comedy Leave It to Beaver, and for reprising the role on the 1980s revival series The New Leave It to...
as Eddie Haskell, Sr. - Frank BankFrank BankFrank Bank is an American actor, particularly known for his role as Clarence 'Lumpy' Rutherford on the situation comedy television series Leave It to Beaver.Bank is a bond broker in Los Angeles, California...
as Frank - Erika ChristensenErika ChristensenErika Jane Christensen is an American actress whose film appearances include Traffic , Swimfan , How to Rob a Bank , and The Perfect Score , among others. She also co-starred in the short-lived drama Six Degrees on ABC...
as Karen - Alan RachinsAlan RachinsAlan Rachins is an American television actor, best known for his role as Douglas Brackman in L.A. Law, which earned him both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, as well as for his portrayal of Dharma's hippie father, Larry, on the hit television series, Dharma & Greg...
as Fred Rutherford - E.J. de la Peña as Larry Mondello
- Justin Restivo as Lumpy
- Geoff PiersonGeoff PiersonGeoff Pierson is an American actor known for his role on The WB series Unhappily Ever After as Jack Malloy, the father of a dysfunctional family whose best friend is a stuffed animal rabbit named Mr. Floppy...
as Coach Gordon - Louis Martin Braga as Gilbert Bates
Box office
The film grossed an estimated $10,925,060 in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Home video release history
- January 20, 1998 (VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
, DVDDVDA 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....
, and LaserDiscLaserdiscLaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
) - March 20, 2007 (DVDDVDA 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....
– Family Favorites 4-Movie Collection, with The Little Rascals, CasperCasper (film)Casper is a 1995 American comedy fantasy film starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery...
, and FlipperFlipper (1996 film)Flipper is a 1996 remake of the 1963 film of the same name, starring Paul Hogan and Elijah Wood. The movie is about a boy who has to spend the summer with his uncle Porter , who lives in the Florida Keys...
) (Note: All of these films are presented in anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
.)