A Tiger’s Tale * (1987, Ann-Margret, C Thomas Howell, Charles Durning, Kelly Preston) – Classic Movie Review 13,599

When Bubber Drumm meets Rose Butts. The 1987 American romantic comedy drama film A Tiger’s Tale stars C Thomas Howell as a teenage boy who falls in love with his girlfriend’s mother (Ann-Margret). 

When Bubber Drumm meets Rose Butts. The 1987 American romantic comedy drama film A Tiger’s Tale is based on the novel Love and Other Natural Disasters by Allen Hannay III, and stars Ann-Margret, C Thomas Howell, Charles Durning, and Kelly Preston.

Writer/ director Peter Douglas’s 1987 American romantic comedy drama film A Tiger’s Tale is based on the novel Love and Other Natural Disasters by Allen Hannay III, and stars Ann-Margret, C Thomas Howell, Charles Durning, and Kelly Preston.

C Thomas Howell stars as a teenager called Bubber Drumm, who is spurned by his girlfriend Shirley Butts (Kelly Preston) but has an affair with her alluring mother Rose Butts (Ann-Margret).

Bubber Drumm is a high school student in the small town of Fairfield, Freestone County, Texas, and Rose Butts is a lonely alcoholic, more than twice his age, whose husband left her for another woman. Bubber and Rose begin their affair after Bubber fixes Shirley up with his best buddy Randy (William Zabka). Bubber is helping his veterinary father (Charles Durning) take care of several animals, including a large tiger, justifying the title.

Likeable though all the principals are, especially Ann-Margret and C Thomas Howell who make something of their liaison, this is a fairly dreadful film adaptation of Peter Douglas’s novel Love and Other Natural Disasters, which turns it into a standard sex comedy. These lovely actors are largely wasted and there is nothing much to laugh about here, Mrs Robinson, in this recycling of situations from The Graduate.

Also in the cast are William Zabka, Ann Wedgeworth, James Noble, Tim Thomerson, Sean Patrick Flanery, Steven Kampmann, Traci Lin, Angel Tompkins, and Linda Rae.

Peter Douglas (born November 23, 1955) is the third son of Kirk Douglas.

Kirk Douglas can be spotted in the background in a scene at a small town bar and grille, wearing a cowboy hat and playing pool.

Filming took place in Waller County, Texas.

C Thomas Howell and Kelly Preston previously starred together in the 1985 film Secret Admirer (1985).

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,599

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