Follow Me, Boys! *** (1966, Fred MacMurray, Vera Miles, Lillian Gish) – Classic Movie Review 8530

Director Norman Tokar’s syrupy but successful 1966 Disney confection Follow Me, Boys! stars Fred MacMurray as big-city 30s saxophonist Lemuel Siddons, who sets up home in an Illinois countryside town, falls in love with and weds Vida Downey (Vera Miles), and runs a Boy Scout troop.

MacMurray’s charismatic turn holds the centre, and the story has plenty of charm, too, in a film handled with flair and expert timing by director Tokar. This unabashed toast to an idealised and vanished American way of life boasts quite a cast, and it is quite a show too, but, at 131 minutes, does it have to be so very long?

The screenplay by Louis Pelletier is based on MacKinlay Kantor’s novel God and My Country. The Follow Me, Boys! song is by Richard B Sherman and Robert B Sherman.

In a cast of worthy actors, it is good to have Lilian Gish, Charles Ruggles, Elliott Reid, Kurt Russell, Luana Patten, Ken Murray, Tol Avery, David Bailey and Richard Bakalyan as co-stars.

Also in the cast are Sherwood Ball, Johnny Bangert, Madge Blake, Bill Booth, Willis Bouchey, Donald May, Sean McClory, Dean Bradshaw, Steve Franken, Hank Brandt, Kevin Burchett, Parley Baer, Donnie Carter, Williiam Reynolds, Duane Chase, Ronnie Dapo, Mike Didge, and Tim McIntire.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8530

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