''The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin'' is a 1967 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by James Neilson, produced 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 ...

, starring

Roddy McDowall Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 4 October 1998) was a British actor, photographer and film director. He began his acting career as a child in England, and then in the United States, in ''How Green Was My Valley'' (1 ...

Suzanne Pleshette Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 – January 19, 2008) was an American theatre, film, television, and voice actress. Pleshette started her career in the theatre and began appearing in films in the late 1950s and later appeared in prominent ...

Hermione Baddeley Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley (13 November 1906 – 19 August 1986) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She typically played brash, vulgar characters, often referred to as "brassy" or "blowsy".Folkart, Burt, "Noted ...

, and

Karl Malden Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor, who according to Robert Berkvist, "for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun aut ...

. The film's screenplay, by Lowell S. Hawley, was based on the novel ''

By the Great Horn Spoon! ''By The Great Horn Spoon'' is a children's novel by Sid Fleischman, published in 1963. It tells the story of a 12-year-old boy and his English butler and their adventures in the California Gold Rush. It was adapted into the Disney film ''The Adve ...

'' by

Sid Fleischman Albert Sidney Fleischman (born Avron Zalmon Fleischman; March 16, 1920 – March 17, 2010) was an American author of children's books, screenplays, novels for adults, and nonfiction books about stage magic. His works for children are known for ...

. The songs were written by

Richard M. Sherman Richard Morton Sherman (born June 12, 1928) is an American songwriter who specialized in musical films with his brother Robert B. Sherman. According to the official Walt Disney Company website and independent fact checkers, "the Sherman Brot ...

and

Robert B. Sherman Robert Bernard Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) was an American songwriter, best known for his work in musical films with his brother, Richard M. Sherman. The Sherman brothers produced more motion picture song scores than any ...

and the theme song was written by

Mel Leven Melville A. Leven (11 November, 1914–17 December, 2007) was an American composer and lyricist who had a long association with the Walt Disney Company, although he also wrote songs for Peggy Lee ("Every Time"), The Andrews Sisters ("Commoners B ...

and

George Bruns George Edward Bruns (July 3, 1914 – May 23, 1983) was an American composer of music for film and television. His accolades include four Academy Award nominations, and three Grammy Award nominations. He is mainly known for his compositions for ...

, the latter of whom also composed the film's score. It was the fifth and final film Neilson directed for Disney.

Plot

In 1849, Jack and Arabella Flagg are orphaned in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Along with family's former butler, Eric Griffin, they stow away aboard a ship bound for

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where the gold rush has begun. Eric gets work as the ship's cook. Judge Higgins, a swindler and thief, steals a map to a gold mine belonging to Quentin Bartlett, an actor who is among the ship's passengers. Eric, Jack, and Quentin pursue the crooked judge. Arabella arrives in town and takes a job as a dancehall girl to make ends meet. Eric encounters a stocky bully, Mountain Ox, and lashes out a punch that flattens him. "Bullwhip" becomes his new nickname. Inspired by the incident, Bullwhip enters a prizefighting match and wins the money. He also wins Arabella's affection. Judge Higgins, caught trying to steal the fight's receipts, quivers behind bars as a lynch mob forms outside.

Cast

as Eric "Bullwhip" Griffin *

as Arabella Flagg * Bryan Russell as Jack Flagg *

as Judge Higgins *

Harry Guardino Harry Guardino (December 23, 1925 – July 17, 1995) was an American actor whose career spanned from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. Biography Guardino was born to an Italian family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and raised in Bro ...

as Sam Trimble *

Richard Haydn Richard Haydn (born George Richard Haydon, 10 March 1905 – 25 April 1985) was a British-American comedy actor. Some of his better known performances include his roles as Professor Oddley in ''Ball of Fire'' (1941), Roger in '' No Time for Lov ...

as Quentin Bartlett *

Mike Mazurki Mike Mazurki (December 25, 1907 – December 9, 1990) was a Ukrainian-American actor and professional wrestler who appeared in more than 142 films. His 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) presence and face had him typecast as often brainless athletes ...

as Mountain Ox *

as Miss Irene Chesney *

Alan Carney Alan Carney (December 22, 1909 – May 2, 1973) was an American actor and comedian. Biography Alan Carney was born David Boughal in Brooklyn, New York, on December 22, 1909. His parents, Edward and Nellie (Kearney) Boughal, were Irish immigrant ...

as Joe Turner *

Liam Redmond Liam Redmond (27 July 1913 – 28 October 1989) was an Irish character actor known for his stage, film and television roles. Early life Redmond was one of four children born to cabinet-maker Thomas and Eileen Redmond. Educated at the Christi ...

as Captain Swain *

Cecil Kellaway Cecil Lauriston Kellaway (22 August 1890 – 28 February 1973) was a South African character actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, for '' The Luck of the Irish'' (1948) and ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinne ...

as Mr. Pemberton *

Joby Baker Joseph N. "Joby" Baker (born March 26, 1934) is a Canadian-born actor and painter. Career Baker was born in Montreal, Quebec. An early role in his career was in a 1958 episode of ''The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show'', "Ronnie Makes A Recor ...

as Bandido Leader *

Parley Baer Parley Edward Baer (August 5, 1914 – November 22, 2002) was an American actor in radio and later in television and film. Despite dozens of appearances in television series and theatrical films, he remains best known as the original "Cheste ...

as Chief Executioner *

Arthur Hunnicutt Arthur Lee Hunnicutt (February 17, 1910 – September 26, 1979) was an American actor known for his portrayal of wise, grizzled, and old rural characters. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ...

as Referee *

Dub Taylor Walter Clarence "Dub" Taylor Jr. (February 26, 1907 – October 3, 1994),Dub Taylor, 87, Actor in Westerns, The New York Times, October 5, 1994, Section B, Page 12 was an American character actor who from the 1940s into the 1990s worked extens ...

as Timekeeper *

Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez (May 24, 1925 – February 6, 2006) was an American character actor best known for his appearances in a number of John Wayne movies. Life and career His father was a trumpet player, and his mother was a dancer. His brot ...

as Bandido *

John Qualen John Qualen (born Johan Mandt Kvalen, December 8, 1899 – September 12, 1987) was an American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles. Early years Qualen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son ...

as Barber * Jimmy MacDonald as Saloon Percussionist

Tony Hancock Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, ...

was cast in this film but was sacked during production due to his erratic behaviour. He was replaced by Richard Haydn.

Reception

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 ...

'' graded the film as "Okay, no more," adding that "as a Western spoof, the picture is slow, overdrawn and tame to the point of gentility. Surely young Disney fans wouldn't have cringed at some slambang, Gold Rush vigor, plus a little '

Ruggles of Red Gap ''Ruggles of Red Gap'' is a 1935 American comedy western film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Charles Laughton, Mary Boland, Charlie Ruggles, and ZaSu Pitts and featuring Roland Young and Leila Hyams. It was based on the best-selling 1915 ...

' flavoring." Arthur D. Murphy of ''

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), ...

'' called the film "a lively, entertaining comedy spoof of the California Gold Rush era. Zesty direction, wild performances, firstrate production values and broad comedy angles make this Walt Disney production particularly strong for all age audiences." Kevin Thomas 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, "Everyone turns in winning performances, but they don't get much help from Lowell S. Hawley's routine script, which too often emphasizes dialog at the expense of action, or from James Neilson's equally pedestrian direction." ''

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, "A pity that some scenes are played for more than they are worth, but there's enough liveliness here to keep all but the most sophisticated youngsters happy." The film holds a score of 43% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 7 reviews.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures Of Bullwhip Griffin 1967 films 1960s Western (genre) comedy films American Western (genre) comedy films Walt Disney Pictures films Musicals by the Sherman Brothers 1960s English-language films Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels Films directed by James Neilson Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by George Bruns Films set in 1848 Films set in San Francisco Films set in Boston Films shot in San Francisco Films shot in California Films shot in Boston Films shot in Massachusetts 1967 comedy films 1960s American films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links