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Tom and Huck
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Wikipedia article
'Tom and Huck' is a 1995 American adventure comedy-drama film based on Mark Twain's 1876 novel 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer', and starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Brad Renfro, Mike McShane, Eric Schweig and Amy Wright. The film was directed by Peter Hewitt and produced/co-written by Stephen Sommers (who also worked on Disney's adaptation of Twain's 1884 novel, 1993's 'The Adventures of Huck Finn'). The movie was released in North America on December 22, 1995.
In the film, mischievous young Tom Sawyer witnesses a murder by a vicious half-Native American criminal known as "Injun Joe". Tom befriends Huck Finn, a boy with no future and no family, and is forced to choose between honoring a friendship or honoring an oath, when the town drunk is accused of the murder.
Plot
One dark stormy night, Injun Joe goes to meet Doctor Jonas Robinson for some shady business. Tom Sawyer is then seen running away from home. He and his friends ride down the Mississippi River on a raft, but hit a sharp rock, which throws Tom into the water. His friends find him washed up on the shore, and Tom finds it was Huck Finn who carried him to safety. Huck learns of an unusual way to remove warts - by taking a dead cat to the graveyard at night. There they witness Injun Joe and Muff Potter, the town drunk, digging up the grave of Vic "One-Eyed" Murrell for Doctor Robinson. A treasure map is discovered and Doc assaults Muff and Injun Joe in an attempt to take it for himself. Doc manages to knock out Muff, but Injun Joe fights back by fatally stabbing Doc with Muff's knife.
The next morning, Muff is charged for the murder. Tom and Huck had signed an oath saying that if either of them came forward about it, they would drop dead and rot. The boys embark on a search for Injun Joe's treasure map, so they can declare Muff innocent and still keep their oath. The only problem is, the map is in Injun Joe's pocket. After Injun Joe finds the last treasure, he burns the map, leaving no evidence to claim Muff innocent. Joe then discovers that Tom was a witness to the crime. He finds Tom and threatens he will kill him if he ever tells anyone about the murder. However, at the time, the entire community believed that he was dead, and the friendship between Tom and Huck starts to decline because their only evidence (the map) to prove Muff innocent, while preserving their oath, is destroyed.
At Muff Potter's trial, Tom decides that his friendship with Muff is more important than his oath with Huck and tells the truth. The court finds Muff innocent of all charges and goes after Injun Joe. As a result, Injun Joe attempts to kill Tom, but Tom shields himself with the Bible to avoid Joes dagger. When Injun Joe returns to the tavern, he sees accomplice Emmett gathering shovels and accuses him of cheating him by claiming the treasure for himself and Joe kills Emmett with a toss of his dagger. Huck becomes angry with Tom for breaking their oath and leaves town.
During a festival the next day, a group of children, including Tom and his love interest Becky Thatcher, enter the caves, where Tom and Becky become lost. They eventually stumble upon Injun Joe (who was looking for Tom) in McDougal's Cave. He traps them, but Tom and Becky manage to escape. When they find the treasure, Tom tells Becky to go get her father and bring him back.
Injun Joe ultimately finds Tom by himself and again tries to kill him, but Huck shows up to rescue Tom and battles Injun Joe. But Injun Joe easily overpowers Huck; just as he is about to kill him, Tom holds the treasure chest over a chasm. Injun Joe then tries to get the chest from Tom, only to fall into the chasm to his death (with the chest which was empty). The boys reconcile, and are declared heroes by the people. Tom is praised on the front page of the newspaper, and Widow Douglas adopts Huck Finn.
Cast
*Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Thomas "Tom" Sawyer
*Brad Renfro as Huckleberry "Huck" Finn
*Eric Schweig as Injun Joe
*Charles Rocket as Judge Thatcher
*Amy Wright as Aunt Polly
*Mike McShane as Muff Potter
*Marian Seldes as Widow Douglas
*Rachael Leigh Cook as Rebecca "Becky" Thatcher
*Courtland Mead as Cousin Sid
*Joey Stinson as Joseph "Joe" Harper
*Blake Heron as Benjamin "Ben" Rodgers
*Lanny Flaherty as Emmett: Injun Joe's accomplice.
*Peter MacKenzie as Mr. Sneed
*Heath Lamberts as Mr. Dobbins
*William Newman as Doctor Jonas Robinson
*Andy Stahl as Sheriff
*Bronwen Murray as Cousin Mary
Reception
Box office
In its opening weekend the film grossed $3,210,458 million in 1,609 theaters in the United States and Canada, debuting number 9 of box office. In its second week it rose to No. 8 grossed $6,789,871 million. The U.S. and Canada box office for 'Tom and Huck' was $23,920,048.Critical
The film received mixed to negative reviews, with a 'rotten' 25% on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes.Accolades
Home media
The film was released in VHS and LaserDisc on May 1, 1996, in DVD on May 6, 2003, on February 10, 2009 was released double feature with 'The Adventures of Huck Finn' (1993) and also in Blu-Ray on July 13, 2021. It is also included on Disney's streaming service, Disney+.
See also
*'The Adventures of Huck Finn' (1993) - Disney's previous Twain adaptation, also worked on by Sommers, and starring Elijah Wood, Courtney B. Vance and Jason Robards.
References
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