Figure 1.--River Phenoix played the young Indy as Boy Scout. There is nothing about Scouting in the film, but the young Indy does start the film off with some exciting exploits. |
|
HBC has noted the following films on Scouting or that include important scenes depicting Scouts or Scouting. There are quite a number of films with scenes that include Scouts. HBC has noted virtually no films, however, actually about Scouting or focusing on the Scouting movement. The one exception we have found is the American film, Follow Me Boys!. We were a little suprised about this. Almost all of the films we hve noted have scenes involving Scouting, but Scouting is not the main focus of the film. This seems a bit strange as Scouting is such an important youth movement, involving mllions of children in countries around the world. We also note that in many films with Scout scenes, the producers have not identified the boys as Scouts or Boy Scouts. Often the name of a fictatous youth movement is used.
Buchwacked is akids film that has appropriated the premises from several other films, including Home Alonw, Uncle Buck, and Bad News Bears among others. While not original is a fun piece of mindless entertainment. Scoundrel Max Grabelski who can't stand kids is on the lamb from the cops. Hiding out in a forest, he is forced to take command as a Boy Scout troop. This is another Scout film where the Scouts are not called Scouts and fo not wear the official uniform. In this typical kids film, all kinds of terrible things happen to the bad guys, but no one really gets hurt.
A road weary saxophonist decides to settle down in a small town and becomes the devoted leader of a troop of Boy
Scouts. Fred MacMurry movie with lots of Scouts. Some of the boys wear shorts and knickers, but most wear long pants. The film covers a wide chronological
range and this quite a variety of boys' clothes are shown. It is a movie well worth seeing, a real tear jerker. Especially disappointing is the closing sequence. The town
throws a big parade and ceremony for the aging scout master. The scouts are all perfectly done up in immaculate scout uniforms, all wearing the long pants uniform.
This is probably the classic Boy Scout movie ever made. There are many boys in the film. Kurt Russel has the largest role.
Bob Hope leads a scout type troop called the Boy Foresters in this Paramount film, all in short pants and knee socks. They wind up supervising him. Worth watching out for, many reviews don't even mention that boys are involved. This is one of many American movies with Scouts that do not call them Scouts or wear an official Cub Scout uniform. I'm not sure why this is. I think the Scouts have legal rights to the uniform and can demand a commision for using it in a film and perhaps some editorial input as to the plot. Perhaps HBC readers know something about this. Bob Hope is close to his very best in "The Great Lover" as a reluctant scout leader returning by ocean liner to America from Europe with his troop and drawn into shipboard murder, intrigue, and romance.
Jimmy Lydon played in a series of "B" movies about of course Henry Aldrich--an arch typical American teenager. Jimmy was about 18 in 1941, but looked younger. There were nine films in all of the Henry Aldrich series made from about 1941-44. I haven't seen Henry Aldrich Boy Scout. I believe the boys wear the short pants uniform. A HBC reader reports that in the film Henry becomes the Scout leader with pal Dizzy. Darryl Hickman plays a tough who Henry tries to make a good guy out of and teaches him the true meaning of being a scout, a common theme in Scout films. The boy falls off a cliff and Henry tries to rescue him and gets himself into a jam.
"I Love You Again" was a Boy Scout-themed Willim Powell comedy vehicle. A confidence man in an out of amnesia becomes involved with a Boy Scout troop. He is a fuddy duddy, stingy businessman that apparently is more appealing as a crook. He becomes interested in first his former self's bank accountv anf than his wife. William Powell is teamed with Myrba Loy who played in the Thin Man movies. They were better than this film, but any movie with the pair is worth seeing. I think they were called Boy Rangers rathan than Scouts. The uniform badges were not BSA types. I'm not sure why they didn't use the Scout name. Perhaps the BSA didn't like the plot. He first uses the Scouts to help "finf oil". But then he helps them with their badges. A Scouts get into trouble on the mountains and the crook saves him. The boys wear a short pants uniform even though the uniform at the time worn by most boys was knickers. (Shorts were worn at camps.) I've only seen part of the film, but the boys I've seen when not in their Scout uniforms wore long pants. One of the Scouts was played by Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, better know for his work in the "Our Gang" series. Another was Mickey Gubitosi on his way to becoming Robert Blake. The New York Times remembers them as surly. I don't recall them in that way. I understand that a remake is planned for 2008.
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" is a typical rockem-sockem adventure film inspired by the cliff-hanging shorts that were shown with films during the 1940s. George Lucas loved to see those shorts as a boy and it shows and this and his other films. The film begins with a young Indy, played by River Phoenix, as part of a Boy Scout troop. Some of the Scouts wear shorts--albeit long ones. Most early American Scouts wore knickers. Tere is, however, little about Scouting in the film. River would have been 17 or 18 years old when he made this film. The setting of the movie would have been in the early 1930s. The heart shaped insignia on his shirt indicates he was a "Life Scout", a rank just below "Eagle Scout". The Hitler Youth is also depicted in the film.
One 1953 U.S. film dealing with Scouting is "Mr. Scoutmaster". It stars Clifton Webb as Robert Jordan, the host of a TV show which is in trouble with its sponsor for poor ratings. Mr. Jordan decides his show must appeal to younger viewers, who happen to be the sponsor's best customers. When asked to become
scoutmaster of a troop of Boy Scouts, Mr. Jordan thinks this is just the chance he's needed to discover what interests young people and possibly save his TV show. A Cub Scout, portrayed by George "Foghorn" Winslow, befriends both the scout troop and Mr. Jordan.
This was George "Froghorn" Winslow's first film and it starred Cary Grant and Betsy Drake as parents of a family which included their own children and several
adopted children. Betsy Drake played a child psychologist who combined love and discipline beautifully as a mom. Cary Grant as dad was not always so sure of his
wife's theories, but he always consented to her wishes with good humor. They have three kids of their own generously open their home to two foster children. This
was George "Foghorn" Winslow's first film. He was about 5 and recommended by Cary Grant who stared in the film about a couple that can't resist adopting hard to
place children. It is one of the better-costumed American films. The family has three children, including two boys. George plays "Teeny" beautifully with his astute
dead-pan seriousness. He wears shorts short pants throughout, even in the dead of winter. He has a little boy suit with a collarless Eton-type jacket. He doesn't wear
knee socks. He has an older brother who is 11 or 12 and appears several times in a short pants scout uniform, even in the winter scenes! On two occasions he
appears with many other short panted scouts. He also appears in play shorts, but interestingly his chums are all wearing longs. His dress suit, however, has longs.
The family takes in an obnoxious girl. The next foster child is a boy, who is about 12. He is aflicted with polio. The storyline includes the problems (and their
resolution) of each of the adopted children, but this boy's difficulties received more film time. Like the girl he is obnoxious. In one scene after a little smacking, he
takes off all his clothes and takes off down the street. As it is an American film, it is all very discrete. He eventually fits in nicely and becomes a model boy and scout.
He appears in play shorts and then in a scout uniform. He even goes on a long winter hike all bundled up in a winter jacket, but in shorts! When he gets his new suit,
he shows it off proudly, says "longies just like Popi's." None of the older boys wear short pants suits. The older of Cary and Betsy's two sons is an active Boy Scout
(played by Patrick Curtis), and the adopted boy, the polio victim, joins the troop, eventually becoming an eagle scout. His determination to overcome his affliction
and be one of the troop are quite moving, and his eagle scout award ceremony really touches the heart. The scouts wear both long and short trousers uniforms in the
film. They may have been a bit ahead of their time in opting for the shorts uniform at one of the troop meetings and the award ceremony. The boys wear T shirts and
shorts and a high topped sneakers on vacation, but otherwise sports shirts and long trousers typical of the early 50's. Curriously if I remember correctly, the handicapped boy goes on a long hike in the dead of winter in the short pants uniform.
HBC has no information on this fim yet. We do know that it starred Jackie Cooper.
There were several Tarzan films made as silents. We do not have a list of the films. There were different actors who played Tarzan. One of the most impressive was James Pierce, a particulasrly importasnt Tarzan. He not only appeared in the movies, but married the daughter of the author, Edgar Rice Burrougs. Pierce and Joan Burroughs married in 1928. The two became very well known because they starred on the populat Tarzan radio series. We note a still with Boy Scouts, but are not sure of the film it came from.
'That Certain Age' is an American musical film directed by Edward Ludwig. It is based on a story by F. Hugh Herbert, This Deanna Durbin vehicle has a Scout theme, but weaves in the omnious events unfolding in Europe during the late-1930s. A suave overseas journalist, Vincent Bullit, has returned home after covering the bloody Spanish Civil War. The newspaper magnate who hired him, Bill Fullerton, now wants to send him East to cover the valiant Chinese resisting the Japanese invasion. Fullerton invites Bullit to the peace and quiet of his own home. There he is to rest up by writing a series of articles about developments in Europe. Enter Diana Durbin playing Fullerton's 15-yearold adolescent daughter Alice who develops a crush on Bullit. Her boy friend, Boy Scout Ken Warren, played by Jackie Cooper, is quickly out of the pictgure. The Fullertons, Ken Warren, and Bullit himself do all they can to discourage the love struck Alice who is at 'that certain age.' At the beginning of the film, Alice sings a song called 'Be a Good Scout'. It is sung at a Scout Jamboree. Durbin and the Scout troop she is helping are doing a concert to raise money so that a poorer Scout Troop can go to summer camp. Alice helps out by giving permission to use the family home to rehearse. Jackie Searl also appears. He was about 18 yeats old and at the end of his boyhood roles.
This Boy's Life (1993) had a few scenes with Leonardo Di Capprio and Robert De Niro in scout uniforms, though scouting was only a very minor subtheme in this film. Based on a coming of age memoir by Thomas Wolff realistically set in the 1950s. Never-do-well father, jealous of his smart teen-age stepson (Leonardo DiCaprio) fight it out in the film. The boy attempts to better himself and the new stepfather attempts to discourage him with verbal abuse and regular beatings. There are some shots in Scout uniforms, but the boy wears longs. There is a final knock down, drag out fight and the boy and his mother leave.
Yhis is one of a long list of Tex Ritter cowboy movies. Unfortunately HBC knows nothing about this film. HBC would be interested in any details HBC readers could provide. This is the earliest Scout film that hwe are aware of. We know of no Scout films from the 1920s or early 30s.
Another one is about very wealthy little girls. They form a a girl guide group. They start out selfish spoilt children and become loving normal kids at its end. There are some lovely scenes about camping. It rains and the camp is washed away. They go to a hotel and make a tent inside their room and have a camp that way. There are lots of humour in this film.
"Yankee Doodle Dandy" is one of Hollywood's best musicals. It was released in 1942 just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was not only a slick musical, but a kind of patriotic shot in the arm that America bady needed. The biographical bits of the film are lsrgely fictiinl, but the flag raising soirit of the movie captured the work of the noted Irish-American entertainer and song writer. The musical numbers like "Over There" are stunning. Another noted
patriotic song was "You're a Grand Old Flag". President Roosevelt was depicted in the film, the first American film to portray a living American president. One scene from "Gerorge Washington, Jr. depicted a Boy Scout troop, although with a short
pants uniform that was not worn in the period depicted. We do not know how the Scouts were outfitted in the actual play. In fact the short pants uniform was not adopted by the Boys Scouts until 1942, the same year the film was released.
This will need some research. I only saw a film clip on a TV programme in the 1960s about the movies. The clip showed a group of bikers all tear aways. They had forced a female driver off the road. She is with her 13 year old son. He is in a Scout uniform. The tear aways are menicing and the scout steps in front of his mum and the gang. Do not know the name of the film or how the Scout faired.
A British reader tells us, "Memory recall a Deanna Durbin film set against a Boy Scout story.
She sang a cheerful scout song called 'Be a Good Scout'. If that was not the title those words start the song. Don't recall the story it was quite some years back. Expect DD fell in love with someone. The film has never been shown on TV after that one screening."
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main movie Scout subject page]
[Return to the Main movie subject page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Bibliographies]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Theatricals]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Boys' Clothing Home]