''Rascal'' is a 1969 American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

children's film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are ...

made by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. The movie is based on

Sterling North Thomas Sterling North (November 4, 1906 – December 21, 1974) was an American writer. He is best known for the children's novel '' Rascal'', a bestseller in 1963. Biography Early life and family North's maternal grandparents, James Herve ...

's book of the same name which tells the story of young Sterling North and his "ringtailed wonder" pet

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

, Rascal. Although set in 1918 Wisconsin, the movie was filmed in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The film features the song "Summer Sweet" by

Bobby Russell Bobby Russell (April 19, 1940 – November 19, 1992) was an American singer and songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he had five singles on the Hot Country Songs charts, including the crossover pop hit "Saturday Morning Confusion". Russell w ...

Plot

In the summer of 1918 in the little town of Brailsford Junction in central

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, Willard North takes his son, Sterling out into the woods, where a

lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

surprises a family of

s, who run away, leaving a young raccoon behind. Sterling brings the raccoon home and names him Rascal. As Willard has to leave for work, his daughter, Theo, lines up interviews for a potential live-in housekeeper before returning to her job in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Willard agrees to meet with Theo's favorite, Mrs. Slatterfield, but dismisses her afterwards, deciding that Sterling can take care of himself. During the summer Rascal starts causing trouble, including trashing up a local store and digging up a neighbor's corn patch. A local constable threatens to hold Sterling responsible for damages unless he keeps Rascal caged up. On his way home, Sterling takes Rascal to a race between a

Stanley Steamer The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was an American manufacturer of steam cars; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced. Early history ...

and a

sulky A sulky is a lightweight cart with two wheels and a seat for the driver, generally pulled by horses or dogs. With horses, a sulky is used for harness racing. The term is also used for an arch-mounted cart on wheels or crawler tracks, used in ...

. Rascal's presence inspires the sulky's

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

, Donnybrook, to win the race, changing the town's opinion of him. Theo returns from Chicago, finding the home in a mess. Enraged, Theo confronts Willard, reminding him that Sterling is his son who needs help. Willard vows to become a better father to Sterling. Later that night, Rascal hears the

mating call A mating call is the auditory signal used by animals to attract mates. It can occur in males or females, but literature is abundantly favored toward researching mating calls in females. In addition, mating calls are often the subject of mate choic ...

of a female raccoon through the window and tries to escape through Theo’s room, waking her and everyone else. Following a scuffle where Rascal bites his finger, Sterling realizes it is time to let Rascal go. The next day, Sterling sets out in his homemade

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

and returns Rascal to his old stomping grounds, where he quickly locates a female racoon. But before Sterling leaves, the lynx returns. As he comes to help, Rascal and his new mate outwit the lynx, sending him tumbling into the water. Sterling leaves, knowing that the two will be able to protect each other.

Cast

Bill Mumy Charles William Mumy Jr. (; born February 1, 1954) is an American actor, writer, and musician and a figure in the science-fiction community/comic book fandom. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a child actor, which included television appeara ...

Walter Pidgeon Walter Davis Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian-American actor. He earned two Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his roles in ''Mrs. Miniver'' (1942) and ''Madame Curie'' (1943). Pidgeon also starred in ...

as adult Sterling North (voice). * Steve Forrest as Willard North * Pamela Toll as Theo North *

Elsa Lanchester Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was a British-American actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.Obituary ''Variety'', 31 December 1986. Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the Fir ...

as Mrs. Satterfield * Henry Jones as Garth Shadwick *

Bettye Ackerman Bettye Louise Ackerman (February 28, 1924 – November 1, 2006) was an American actress primarily known for her work on television. Early years Ackerman was born in Cottageville, South Carolina (another source says she was born in Williston, So ...

as Miss Whalen *

Jonathan Daly Jonathan Daly (born January 14, 1942) is an American actor who is known in America for his roles in ''Petticoat Junction'', ''The Jimmy Stewart Show'', and ''C.P.O. Sharkey'', and best known in Australia for being in the comedy duo " Delo & Da ...

as Rev. Thurman *

John Fiedler John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

as Cy Jenkins *

Richard Erdman Richard Erdman ( John Richard Erdmann; June 1, 1925 – March 16, 2019) was an American character actor and occasional film and television director. He appeared in more than 160 films and television productions between 1944 and 2017, mostly in ...

as Walt Dabbett *

Herbert Anderson Herbert Anderson (March 30, 1917 – June 11, 1994) was an American character actor from Oakland, California, probably best remembered for his role as Henry Mitchell, the father, on the CBS television sitcom '' Dennis the Menace.'' Backg ...

as Mr. Pringle *

Robert Emhardt Robert Emhardt (July 24, 1914 – December 26, 1994) was an American character actor who worked on stage, in film and on television. Emhardt was frequently cast as a villain, often a crooked businessman or corrupt politician. Early years Em ...

as Constable Stacey * Steve Carlson as Norman Bradshaw *

Maudie Prickett Maudie Prickett (born Maudie Marie Doyle; October 25, 1914 – April 14, 1976) was an American character actress who performed in over 300 stage, film, and television productions during a career that spanned nearly four decades. Death In ...

as Miss Pince-Nez *

David McCallum David Keith McCallum Jr. (born 19 September 1933) is a Scottish actor and musician. He first gained recognition in the 1960s for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E''. In recent years, McCallum ...

as Ice Cream Man

Differences from the book

In the award-winning book of the same name, all three of Sterling North's real-life siblings are featured in the story: his brother Herschel and his sisters Theodora (Theo) and the future poet and editor Jessica Nelson North. Theo is the only sibling featured in the film version.

Critical reception

''Rascal'' was the first film given a review in a publication by film critic

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

(later of

Siskel and Ebert Gene Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) and Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013), collectively known as Siskel & Ebert, were American film critics known for their partnership on television lasting from 1975 to Siskel's dea ...

), appearing in the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' one month before he became the paper's official film critic in 1969. His review of the film was not favorable ("Because of excessive gimmickry, most kids will miss the tenderness," he wrote). Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the film as "genteel, sweet-natured and appealingly frail," but thought the story "gets a little patly philosophical in trying to thrust practical responsibilities on the young hero, Bill Mumy, and his carefree, widowed father, Steve Forrest." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' noted, "Diverting adaptation of Sterling North book about a boy and his pet raccoon. 'Rascal' will pull younger generation as well as family-groups in to see a clean, well-presented, unashamedly sentimental Disney film."

Charles Champlin Charles Davenport Champlin (March 23, 1926 – November 16, 2014) was an American film critic and writer. Life and career Champlin was born in Hammondsport, New York. He attended high school in Camden, New York, working as a columnist for the '' ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote that "for the young (and old) audience for which it is intended, 'Rascal' is practically perfect hot weather fare, offering a spacious escape to a world of tree-shaded streets and spacious lawns, verandas, woods and ponds, trotting horses and Stanley Steamers (one at least)." ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'' stated, "Routine Disney boy-befriends-animal feature, agreeable enough on its own terms but as mawkishly sentimental as usual and with the additional embarrassment of a commentary by Walter Pidgeon which keeps insisting what a marvellous boyhood summer it all was."

References

Text was copied fro
Disney Plus-Or-Minus: Rascal
at Jahnke's Electric Theatre, which is released under
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA 3.0) license

External links

* * *

{{Norman Tokar 1969 films 1969 drama films American children's drama films Children's comedy-drama films Films about raccoons Films based on children's books Films directed by Norman Tokar Films produced by James Algar Films scored by Buddy Baker (composer) Films set in the 1910s Films set in Wisconsin Walt Disney Pictures films American children's films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films