Movie Review: Huckleberry Finn (1974)

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: The Duke and the King, a few decent songs

Cons: Really wish they'd allowed time for the book's ending

The Bottom Line:

Meandering tale

Leaves out my favorite part

Songs enjoyable

Singing Down the Mississippi

After the success of their first attempt to turn Mark Twain's works into a musical, the Sherman Brothers moved on to their next logical target in 1974. Huckleberry Finn adds songs to the familiar tale of a boy and a runaway slave flee along the Mississippi River looking for freedom.

Actually, the movie follows the book pretty closely until the end. Huckleberry Finn (Jeff East) is being raised by the Widder Douglas (Lucille Benson). When his abusive Pappy (Gary Merrill) returns, Huckleberry decides to run away. He's joined by Jim (Paul Winfield), a slave who is running away to freedom before he can be sold. As they try to make it to freedom, they encounter two families caught in a feud and the conmen known as the Duke (David Wayne) and the King (Harvey Korman).

The movie actually manages to capture the spirit of the book and mix in the right levels of comedy and drama to keep us entertained. Since the novel is very episodic in nature, the movie is as well, following Huckleberry, and to a lesser extent Jim, from one problem to another. While the first half is entertaining, things really pick up when we meet the Duke and the King, two characters I can't help but love no matter how I meet them.

The songs are about as good here as in the first movie, which means they are middle of the road. They aren't bad, but they aren't exactly the kind to get stuck in your head for days after you've seen it. The Duke and the King get the best songs, in my opinion, including one that made me laugh at loud while they are trying to pass themselves off as the brothers of a dead man. The ballad "Freedom" opens the movie, but I found it more powerful during the reprise at the end, which rather surprised me.

The acting is good. It isn't blow your socks off incredible, but neither is it cringe worthy. Jeff East and Paul Winfield have a believable chemistry, and you buy their friendship during their scenes together.

Once again, I was falling under the spell of the movie despite its shortcomings until I got to the end. They completely cut my favorite episode of the entire book, the reappearance of Tom Sawyer (who doesn't appear at all in this film) and the rescuing of Jim. That part of the story always makes me laugh. With that change comes a different ending that is powerful and bittersweet. Frankly, I prefer the ending of the novel myself, but this one does work as well. Still, I have to mark it down some for leaving the best part out.

For those keeping track, we do get one or two uses of the "N" word, which is in keeping with the time the movie is set and the original work. Jim still comes across as a complete and very sympathetic character, which was always a plus of the novel. In fact, one of Huckleberry's songs is about how, if being friends with Jim and helping him is wrong, he doesn't want to be right.

In the end, Huckleberry Finn is a decent musical adaptation. It's nothing to rush out to watch. But if you do get to see it, you'll probably wind up enjoying it.