rlane1000 Huge Mark Twain fan. In my opinion this is the very best production of Tom Sawyer. Great choreography, costumes, and sets. It does have a musical element but it doesn't detract from the production but instead complements it. The movie does not have a juvenile feel to it could be enjoyed by the entire family. If you enjoy this movie you should check out Huckleberry Finn that features cast reprisals. Enjoy.

moonspinner55 Mark Twain's timeless story turned into a wholesome, plastic-coated musical with cutesy-poo asides and unmemorable songs. Composers Richard and Robert Sherman also adapted the screenplay, but they don't have the feel of Twain's prose down (or perhaps the book is singularly impossible to adequately get on film?). Johnny Whitaker, a fine child actor of the 1970s, tries his best as young Tom Sawyer, a hell-raisin', tall tale-tellin' ragamuffin in 1840s Hannibal, Missouri; Whitaker isn't a singer (not many in the cast are), yet these songs would likely trip anybody up. Instantly forgettable, the lead-in for each tune takes an excruciating four or five seconds of hesitation, as if this were an old musical from the 1940s. Despite real Missouri locations, there isn't much here that rings true. Not Celeste Holm's Aunt Polly (who punishes Tom and then smiles wistfully at his antics, ready to burst into song), nor Warren Oates as whiskey-swillin' Muff Potter. Jeff East is sorely miscast as Tom's best friend, drop-out Huckleberry Finn (East appears to have wandered in from the nearest citified casting agency), although Jodie Foster is nearly-perfect as girlfriend Becky Thatcher (it probably helped that Foster and Whitaker had already made a picture together, 1972's "Napoleon and Samantha", as they have a built-in rapport which is immediately apparent). The 1800s milieu--from the schoolhouse to the riverboat landing to the picnic grounds--is distinctly artificial, rendering the end results a misfire in a sub-Disney vein. Reader's Digest financed the project (they followed this with a sequel, "Huckleberry Finn", in 1974), and were nearly trumped by a TV-version of Twain's book which aired the same week this movie premiered! *1/2 from ****

k_scherer I have not seen this version of Tom Sawyer for quite a few years, but I did see it as a child on the "Big Screen". The fun part for me about this movie is that I grew up just a few miles from where most of it was filmed -- a small river town in Mid-Missouri called Arrow Rock. It's not the type of area where a person gets to see a lot of movies being filmed, so you can imagine that this was quite an event for a small rural area at the time.I was 12 at the time, same age as Johnny Whitaker when he played Tom, and I remember going to watch the filming of several scenes -- especially the "picnic scene". It was also interesting to see what was done to the town to prepare for the making of the film. The main street, which is paved asphalt, was covered with several inches of dirt. The concrete sidewalks were converted to boardwalk sidewalks, which still exist today! It was fun to watch the film in the theater, because many of the extras in the film were local townspeople, neighbors, and friends. You watched to pick out the scenes where you would recognize people you know.There is a special celebration in Arrow Rock this year for the July 4th festivities, celebrating the 35 years since the filming of Tom Sawyer (1972). Johnny Whitaker and Jeff East are returning to Arrow Rock to participate in the festivities... and I will be returning to partake also! If you're ever driving across Missouri on I-70, I invite you to take a slight detour on Hiway 41 North (just about 130 miles west of St. Louis) and visit the little historic town of Arrow Rock.... where for two months in 1972, Hollywood came to visit!

adrian2umortal I love this version of the Tom Sawyer Story. I watched this movie as a kid and will still watch it today. Jodie Foster is really cute as Becky Thatcher. This movie was made and financed by Reader Digest but as I have seen it is now under ownership by MGM/UA Home Video and only available on the slowly decaying VHS format. Hey, MGM, get this movie digitally upgraded to DVD with all the bells and whistles digitally upgraded beyond what they originally were. DVD is the soon to be only video format and this movie needs to be on it. I also would like to see the musical sequel about Huck Finn done the same way.