The next film on my alphabetical trip through the Disney Plus archive is "The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin" one in a large number of live action Disney films from the 1960's and 1970's that I haven't seen before and, frankly, am approaching with a sense of sad resignation, rather than hopeful anticipation. This one though, I rather enjoyed.
With the news that his estate is to be liquidated following his grandfathers death, 12 year old Jack Flagg (Bryan Russell) heads to 1840's San Francisco to try and make his fortune in the gold rush. His loyal family butler, Griffin (Roddy McDowall) tracks Jack to the shipyard, but then is stuck on board when the ship departs. Learning of a map to a 'motherload', the pair team up with Quentin Bartlett (Richard Haydn) to discover it, but the villainous Judge Higgins (Karl Malden) also has ideas on that gold and is prepared to cheat and threaten to get it.
As I said, I rather enjoyed "Bullwhip Griffin" it was mostly knockabout fun, with some really good comedic performances from McDowall and Malden especially. Judge Higgins gave me similar vibes to Count Olaf from the "Unfortunate Events" series, repeatedly showing up in different outfits with only our heroes able to spot him. There is an episodic nature to the film in general, which perhaps stems from the fact that it's adapted from a book, but unlike other things that I've criticised for being like that, I don't feel that this film lost sight of the characters overall goals.
The version on Disney plus both is edited somewhat, to remove some racial slurs, but also has the new "negative cultural stereotypes" warning, that will appear in front of a number of films. There is a scene with a Mexican bandit that I didn't think was too bad, but the scenes with the Chinese actors and Malden dressing as one of them, is where it starts to get a bit less acceptable.
I don't tend to comment on how women look in films, being a modern 21st century guy like I am, but I can't not mention how beautiful Suzanne Pleshette is, playing Jack's (much) older sister Arabella. (The horizon tries but it just not as kind on the eyes).
Whilst I don't think it's some forgotten masterpiece, given that my expectations were low "The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin" was a pleasant surprise.
With the news that his estate is to be liquidated following his grandfathers death, 12 year old Jack Flagg (Bryan Russell) heads to 1840's San Francisco to try and make his fortune in the gold rush. His loyal family butler, Griffin (Roddy McDowall) tracks Jack to the shipyard, but then is stuck on board when the ship departs. Learning of a map to a 'motherload', the pair team up with Quentin Bartlett (Richard Haydn) to discover it, but the villainous Judge Higgins (Karl Malden) also has ideas on that gold and is prepared to cheat and threaten to get it.
As I said, I rather enjoyed "Bullwhip Griffin" it was mostly knockabout fun, with some really good comedic performances from McDowall and Malden especially. Judge Higgins gave me similar vibes to Count Olaf from the "Unfortunate Events" series, repeatedly showing up in different outfits with only our heroes able to spot him. There is an episodic nature to the film in general, which perhaps stems from the fact that it's adapted from a book, but unlike other things that I've criticised for being like that, I don't feel that this film lost sight of the characters overall goals.
The version on Disney plus both is edited somewhat, to remove some racial slurs, but also has the new "negative cultural stereotypes" warning, that will appear in front of a number of films. There is a scene with a Mexican bandit that I didn't think was too bad, but the scenes with the Chinese actors and Malden dressing as one of them, is where it starts to get a bit less acceptable.
I don't tend to comment on how women look in films, being a modern 21st century guy like I am, but I can't not mention how beautiful Suzanne Pleshette is, playing Jack's (much) older sister Arabella. (The horizon tries but it just not as kind on the eyes).
Whilst I don't think it's some forgotten masterpiece, given that my expectations were low "The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin" was a pleasant surprise.