Follow Me, Boys! (1966) User Reviews

Great Entertainment

[GEM-20 · 7/10 · 24 February 2004]

I was very pleased to see that Disney finally released this movie on DVD. I have been wanting to see it for a long time, but not only because it was another Disney film with Fred MacMurray. Rather, I am a Scout Leader, and can relate to many of the things in the picture, and that made it a special delight for me.

This was Kurt Russell's first Disney picture. He is wonderful here as the reluctant boy with a drunken father. While he loves his dad, he is embarrassed when others see him. I have seen scouts in these positions.

With my two sons in Scouting, they enjoyed this movie very much. Even my daughter, who is a Girl Scout, liked it too. A measure of a great film is when it makes you want to see it again.

Out of my usual four-star rating system, I would give this: ***.5

What a shame.

[magellan333 · 8/10 · 16 August 2007]

What a shame that Hollywood can no longer put out movies as fine as this. "Follow Me Boys" is a most enjoyable film about a man with high ambitions finding himself very happy with a life so ordinary. Lem sought to someday be a lawyer but instead finds great fulfillment mentoring the boys of a small town. He takes the job of scout master to gain the attention of a local lady. His job as scout master turns out to be most fulfilling and he gets the girl! While Fred MacMurray does a fine job in the lead role, the film is not all about him. During the story you see what a positive effect his leadership has on the boys he mentors in the Boy Scouts. A very young and somewhat troubled boy named Whitey, played by Kurt Russell, joins Lem's scout troop and much like Lem finds it an unexpected life changing experience. "Follow Me Boys" is a very entertaining and very wholesome movie. It's a shame Hollywood, or even Disney, can't put out films like this anymore.

The loss of Americana

[Dude-20 · 7/10 · 13 November 1998]

Follow Me Boys is a wonderful film that deals with the life of Lem, played by Fred McMurray, and his tenureship as a scoutmaster in a small mid-western town. As a scout myself, I feel a sense of loss when I watch this film. It shows a community that supports the youth and wish to see them grow into mature people. Too bad it isn't that way any more.

A little background to the movie

[scgkj · 27 May 2006]

Just thought I would share what little I know about this movie.

Mackinlay Kantor was born in my hometown of Webster City, Iowa. He belonged to Boy Scout troop #17. He would have been 16 years old in 1920 so that gives you an idea when he was in scouts. My understanding is that he wrote the book to honor the Boy scouts and their leaders and he wanted to do so because of the great experiences he had a scout. I don't know how much of the movie is true but I do know there is at least one thing in the movie which reflects Webster City. It's nothing more than the name of a street but it's something anyway.

When I was a scout in the mid 70's we met in the upstairs of an old school building. All over the walls were posters which listed the winners of some of the annual contests that the troop held each year. Mackinlay Kantor's name was up there several times for having won several contests.

The name of my Scout leader in the 70's was a man named John McMurray. The man who founded Troop 17 in Webster City was a man named Murray McMurray. Their family has run a chick hatchery of all things in Webster City for years and it is still a thriving business today. Murray would have been Mackinlay Kantors Scout leader and I'm sure a big reason why he wrote the book. Murry, by the way, was a local banker who started the hatchery on the side. So he wasn't a musician like Lem was per say but his commitment to the town and to scouts is obviously reflected in the book and movie.

At this writing it is Memorial Day weekend 2006. There is a reunion being held this weekend in Webster City for all scouts who ever were in Troop 17. Among other things John McMurray will be speaking and concerning the movie Follow Me Boys? They will be be playing it twice for everybody there to go and see.

If you grew up in Webster City and were a scout this movie holds a little bit more than the usual emotions.

When you're really feeling beat, that's the time to lift your feet...

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 9 February 2020]

The Walt Disney company serves up some memorable schmaltz with this adaptation of a book by MacKinlay Kantor. Fred MacMurray is inherently endearing as Lemuel Siddons, travelling with a jazz band in 1930 who decides to set down roots in a small town. Going to work as a store clerk, he has aspirations of being a lawyer, but he soon discovers what his true passion in life will be: leading a Boy Scout troop. And so he does, seeing them through the good and bad times for the next 20 years, and becoming a father figure to troubled Whitey (15 year old Kurt Russell, in his first Disney film), whose biological dad (Sean McClory) is a hopeless alcoholic.

Wonderful performances by all concerned - Lillian Gish plays a rich but generous local, Elliott Reid her cranky, greedy nephew, the radiant Vera Miles as Lem's sweetheart, Charlie Ruggles as kindly storekeeper John Everett Hughes, Parley Baer as the mayor - go a long way towards keeping this feature watchable for an admittedly overlong two hours and 12 minutes. The comedic sequence where Lem and his current troop get taken aback by soldiers playing war games doesn't really add anything to the story, though, and could have been taken out without detracting from it. Overall, the film IS very corny, but it's delivered with such square-jawed conviction that the viewer won't much mind being manipulated so frequently.

A nice depiction of small town America from the '30s to the '50s also helps, along with a welcome sense of humour at times. (Lem's troop in the '30s includes kids with such colourful nicknames as "Hoodoo" and "Beefy".) And it is refreshing to see a scrupulously wholesome family film inspire its viewers, young and old, with its portrayal of the Boy Scout tradition.

The excellent cast includes such other performers as Luana Patten, Ken Murray, Donald May (as the grown-up version of the Kurt Russell character), Steve Franken, William Reynolds, Richard Bakalyan, Willis Bouchey, and Adam Williams.

"Follow Me, Boys" will be too sentimental for some viewers to take, but others will find it utterly delightful.

Seven out of 10.

A well-acted feel-good tear-jerker

[jayrnj · 10/10 · 12 June 2004]

I was six years old when I saw this movie in the theaters in 1966. Back then the screens were big and a little kid like me, seeing other kids on screen looking bigger-than-life, wanted to be just like them. I never joined the boy scouts, but the film's somewhat typical Disney values definitely had an influence on me. Now let's fast-forward almost 40 years later and look at the film from a grown-up perspective. The acting here is marvelous. Anyone over 40 knows all about Fred MacMurray and the great actor that he was, both on TV and in films. Throw in the pretty Vera Miles, the legendary Lillian Gish, and the I-know-his-voice-from-Saturday-morning-cartoons Charlie Ruggles, and it all comes together nicely. The best part of this film? Not the catchy Sherman Brothers theme song...but perhaps one of the best child-actor performances ever...Kurt Russel. Want a movie where you'll cry a bit but then feel real good at the end? Follow this one!

A nice slice of old America

[g-hbe · 7/10 · 10 May 2015]

OK, this is sentimental corn - but it's by Disney (who were masters of the art at this time) and it gives us a warm, affectionate look at small-town America during the 'Golden Age'. Even better, it stars Fred McMurray, who gives a skillful performance as Lem Siddons, the trainee Lawyer who gives it all up to get married, settle down and head up the local Scout Troop. He seems to hit just the right note throughout. It's all light-hearted stuff, but it does touch upon adult themes, quite darkly at times. One such scene is when Whitey's alchoholic father turns up at the meeting to serve up some melting ice-cream. Whitey's horror and embarrassment is most touching. I'm not afraid to say there were a few occasions where I almost had to reach for my hankie, and the ending is just so nice. A perfect Sunday Afternoon film. Just one complaint - why was it hacked down from 1.66:1 to 1.33:1 for this release?

This Town Has To Have a Boy Scout Troop

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 22 September 2011]

One of Walt Disney's best feature films from the Sixties, Follow Me Boys is a two hour tribute to the Boy Scouts and to one man's dedication to them. And the odd thing is that Fred MacMurray got into Scouting for the most basic of all human reasons.

Fred MacMurray arrives at this whistle stop of a Midwest town while with a traveling band in the Roaring Twenties. He's frustrated both trying to study law and play the saxophone for Ken Murray's band. On an impulse he's so taken with the town that he makes a decision right there to stay. He sees a help wanted sign in the window of Charlie Ruggles general store and Ruggles hires him right there. And of course there's the sight of Vera Miles working at the bank across the street that really makes him want to stay.

In fact at a town meeting MacMurray suggests that a Scout Troop be formed as an activity for the kids. When Elliott Reid who is Miles's boss at the bank and MacMurray's rival demurs saying he doesn't have the time to be a Scoutmaster, MacMurray moves right on in, mainly to make an impression with Miles.

After that the Scouts become his life and MacMurray like George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life becomes the leading citizen of that town. He's the moulder of the youth and biggest influence on their character. And in one case he and Miles become foster parents to Kurt Russell and save him from what would have been a dissolute life.

There's a little bit of Boys Town in this film because there aren't any really bad boys here as Father Flanagan opined. But the main influence on this film adapted from a MacKinley Kantor story is Goodbye Mr. Chips. MacMurray does everything, but teach school for them.

Best scenes are when the kids are trapped in some army war games and through Boy Scout ingenuity come through it just fine.

Follow Me Boys gives Fred MacMurray one of his best roles in a Disney feature and it holds up well for today's audience.

Pointless if solid extra 40-60 minutes

[r96sk · 7/10 · 28 July 2020]

Almost great.

The first 70-90 minutes of 'Follow Me, Boys!' is excellent, it's serious yet amusing. I felt connected to the characters and their storyline. Unfortunately, the film then adds on a pointless if solid extra 40-60 minutes. It kinda feels like one of those TV episodes into one film things, which is annoying as it doesn't need to do it.

Fred MacMurray is terrific as Lem, especially across that opening period. It's heartwarming seeing his character help out a community of kids, particularly one - Whitey, who is played impressively by Kurt Russell. All of the other child actors, while not massively memorable, are fine and you really feel for their overall story.

The final portion of this film really hampers it though. It isn't actually anything bad and if it had been a sequel I reckon I would've liked it, but as a continuation/add-on to the earlier premise it doesn't hit the same heartfelt notes at all. So that's disappointing, but it's still just about a good film.

Every small town Scout's story

[bobmccanless · 10/10 · 7 September 2006]

I think the strength of the film - at least for those of us who grew up during the "Mayberry Days" of our country - is, that - if you were ALSO a Scout during those days, this film IS your story as well.

I grew up in the 70's and early 80's in rural NC - not far removed from the inspiration for the fictional Mayberry, in many respects. While Fred MacMurray's name is in the credits, my Scoutmaster could just as easily have played this part. A tall man himself - a Korean War veteran - and a leader by example, he was a man of few words, but like Scoutmaster Lem, they always seemed to be the RIGHT words, and for impressionable boys of that age, that's what matters.

In 25 years of service to my troop - 17 of those as Scoutmaster - over 50 boys in my small town made Eagle Scout - including myself and my younger brother. The uniforms are older, and the kids names are a little different, but I recognize my own youth - my own Scouting adventures - in this big screen production. And when Lem finally gets his parade, we can all rejoice over all the Scouting leaders who made us the men we are today.

Boy Scouts

[boblipton · 6/10 · 10 April 2022]

Fred Murray gives up life on the road with a band for a brunette Vera Miles and founding a local Boy Scout troop. Although it becomes episodic, it's a kind-hearted paean to Scouting. Based on a book by MacKinlay Cantor; with Charlie Ruggles, Lillian Gish and Kurt Russell -- it must do some interesting things to Bacon Numbers.

When Individuals Mattered

[JohnnySTL · 9/10 · 21 June 2001]

Follow Me, Boys! is a feel good film with an impressive cast. It's a snapshot of a time when there was a true sense of community that we rarely see today. A time when personal values carried more weight than profits.

The film delivers a powerful message of just how much difference a single person can make by leading through example. I think with today's media glut of flashy superstardom and wealth and narcissism, many us have lost sight of how much force there is in simply being a kind and honest person. I certainly walked away re-evaluating some of my motivations and behaviors. Just how do I affect the people around me on a daily basis?

Good family film...

[MovieAddict2016 · 7/10 · 12 February 2004]

Fun family film about a new boyscout leader (Fred MacMurray) who moves into a small hillbilly town circa 1930 and leads the band of kids from the city onwards into the great outdoors. Good, clean family entertainment from 1966 that boasts a young Kurt Russell as the brat who doesn't want to join at first and shoos away his enemies with a slingshot and a dog. Charming, although not particularly memorable.

*** / *****

Could've been a Classic....

[smenapache · 5/10 · 22 October 2005]

I as well have been waiting years for this movie to come out. My father took us to see it as children several years ago (no doubt a re-lease at the time since I am only 36 now.. much younger then Kurt Russell) I faintly remembered bits and pieces of it, and every scene I remembered took place in the first 80 minutes... the last "Stretched Out" 40 minutes was completely forgettable and after watching it again for the first time tonight in probably 32 years I can see why I forgot that part entirely. Maybe in the theaters it had all the children put to sleep. Either with Court Hearings, Legal Jargin or simpling getting older and not knowing how to end it. The first 80 minutes of the film is good enough to compete with ANY Live Action Disney film of the time, from "That Darn Cat" to "The Apple Dumpling Gang", it's wholesome and sweet and reminds you of everything that was once good about your life and that time period.. then out of nowhere the writers decide to "Advance" time for some reason and they take FORTY minutes to show how some of these great characters get old, retire or DIE. What could've been done in 5 minutes completely takes all the air out of the movie.. Kurt Russel's final scene takes place at around 80 minutes into it, and after that it's like trying to know new kids and a new troop and so on and so on. Granted, as an EagleScout myself, that's what a BoyScout Master goes through in their lives... one troop after another, with new faces, but for storytelling purposes and an audience getting to know the characters, this is a shot to the gut, like someone switched the DVD's on you and you're watching an entirely new film.

Like I said, for the first 80 minutes of this, it was enough to be called a Classic with the Likes of "Swiss Family Robinson" and the "Love Bug" and they could've EASILLY wrapped up the "later years" in a 5-minute segment to leave you with a smile on your face instead of confusion or disappointment in thinking "well that was.... okay I guess." It could've been Perfect... It could've been a classic.

Societal Values have Degenerated - Thank God the Boy Scouts Haven't!

[fjalexiii · 27 September 2015]

I've seen a couple of reviews decry this movie, 50 years after the fact, for poor values or "teaching the kids wrong things." That is the silliest thing I have seen. This movie was a good movie in 1966, and remains so fifty years later. The Scouts NEVER have changed their mission to help boys grow into upright men; America has decided for some reason that upright men are bad and that good values are bad.

Too bad. In what remains of the real USA, men still are men, not women. The Scouts taught generations of boys how to be upright, forthright men. If that is bad, call this former Scout a bad man...and my sons...and my grandson.

We are what holds this country together while the critics try to tear it apart. By the grace of God, that shall never happen.

A Good Film for Film Students -- What Not to Do

[trescia-1 · 6/10 · 13 September 2022]

It's interesting the way that many of these Disney "live action" films simply "do not land." They are hard punches, thrown by professionals, but they miss on a regular basis. For every "Old Yeller" there is a "Follow Me, Boys" or two (or three) and Disney got a bad reputation for creating stuff the just fell flat.

The question for film students is this: WHY does it fail? All of the elements seem to be there, but then something just goes wrong. It's the same problem with "In Search of the Castaways"-- another Disney movie that just sits there and, in the end, fails.

My opinion is that it's about The Missing Character. In these films, made during the final years of Walt Disney's life, there is a missing person-- one character that really moves the story along or provide entertainment. You need to have somebody in there who is genuinely capable of making the audience feel something. Like a really funny comedian. A really bad villain. A really amazing character who stands out.

Since Disney (apparently) saw this kind of character as maybe a bit too patronizing, these movies just don't work for me. I kept expecting Don Knotts or Tim Conway of somebody of that stature to appear. But no. So everything is "heartwarming" but the movie maker doesn't have the sense to calm down and give us a "slice of life." Instead, we get weird events that aren't funny and aren't real. So they flop. Too bad.

GREAT FAMILY MOVIE!!

[skpc9 · 10/10 · 15 April 2020]

Follow, Me Boys is an EXCELLENT family time movie. Very strong story & shows how to pull together as a team. Walt Disney ALWAYS knew how to make a good movie back in the golden days of the 50's & 60's!

Times of happiness and opening a door to a wonderful world..

[aliemre627 · 10/10 · 18 December 2001]

Follow me boys is an excellent movie that attracts you for a long time.I watched that movie when I was 8 (1989) but still I remember it (2001,age 21).The story was powerful and so on the cast (children players). I think it is not only a children classic but also a movie that every individual must see.

Great family movie!

[cfischer9 · 10/10 · 7 November 2020]

Great all-around family feel good movie. Good scenes good story good actors anyone can watch it. I wish they made more of these kind of movies nowadays no language no skin just a good movie.

Fun movie and a look back in time

[dicknielson · 9/10 · 27 June 2006]

I loved it for the look back at how things worked some 50 years ago. I know it is sugar coated. But the importance that people put in different things back then is good to see.

I love the view of how scouting as an organized group can bring the boys and the community together. My kids loved it and watch it again and again. That does not happen much with movies.

Well filmed and though it has comedy moments it dives into the seriousness of growing up in a small town. The acting is pretty much the same for all movies at the time - a little melodramatic, but during that time period you can expect that. Movies were for all ages adult to kids. So you see silliness in the middle of serious moments.

great film

Don't Follow This.

[anaconda-40658 · 4/10 · 10 September 2015]

Follow Me, Boys! (1966): Dir: Norman Tokar / Cast: Fred MacMurray, Vera Miles, Lillian Gish, Kurt Russell, Elliot Reid: Routine family comedy about leadership and inspiration as a lawyer played by Fred MacMurray quits his practice and settles into a small town where he eventually leads a scout troop. Simple plot is charming yet overdone with too many subplots. One involving a war game is perhaps too disturbing for its target audience. Director Norman Tokar wraps it up within a message regarding one life affecting so many but the material is at the mercy of its lead. MacMurray is excellent as a guy who is thrust into a lifestyle outside his comfort zone and he pretty much carries the film. Vera Miles as his wife is pretty standard issue. She provides reason and support but little else. Lillian Gish plays a victim of gossip. She is a reminder that she was part of the beginning of feature film but regardless of that, she is still cardboard here. A young Kurt Russell plays a boy on the wrong side of the track but even this is recycled. Are we to be surprised when the troubled Russell turns out to be misunderstood? Elliot Reid appears long enough to lose Miles to MacMurray and then hopefully he leaves the set in search of a better film. Message of legacy holds a lasting impression while the screenwriter leaves an impression that perhaps he is in the wrong business. Score: 4 ½ / 10

Boy Scout troop memories

[Baldach · 4 March 2003]

I first saw this movie during the mid 1980's when I was at Boy Scout ski retreat. We were staying at a church (cheap lodging) and watched this movie twice (Friday and Saturday nite). The first time our troop saw we were intrigued by movie. There are few movies about Boy Scouts out there so this movie was a delight. The second time being rowdy teens the Scouts began to pandeomine and ad-lib the lines. For example during the scene when the wife tells Fred McMurray that she can not have any kids. One of the boys shouted "Don't touch her, she's sterile" A delightful movie, a bit corny at times (the behavior seems outdated compared to modern times) but still an excellent movie.

A man becomes a scoutmaster and has some funny adventures with the troop.good drama/comedy

[Doc_Who · 10/10 · 3 August 2001]

In this movie a man moves into a town in the 1940 or it is 1930'(not sure which) a starts a new job. Then one day during a town meeting he volunteers to lead the local Boy Scout Troop. Of course this also leads to romance(it is Disney movie so it's standard) with one of the town's women. The only bad thing is she is going out with a rich,snobby guy . Eventually they both fall in love and get married. A young Kurt Russell also stars in this movie as boy always getting into trouble and treating the other boys meanly. The scout troop has pleanty of misadventures including accidently getting into a miltary "war games" .

Then many years World War 2 arrives. The young man who was always teasing everyone is now a soldier and a doctor.he also married a fellow solider. Everyone else in the orginal troop grew up as well. The troop honors their former scoutmaster with a touching day honoring him. If you like Fred Mccurray or Kurt Russell you might like this movie! This moive is a good drama/comedy.. It makes one wonder why Disney does not make these kinds of movies any more besides all this stupid live action movies. This movie was fresh in 1966 and it's still fresh today!

One question though.. When/Will will this come out on DVD?

One of my favorite Disney films!

[RogerMooreTheBestBond · 10/10 · 23 May 2021]

Follow Me Boys released in 1966 by Walt Disney is a wonderful blend of comedy, drama and music and all around fun and action. Fred Macmurray play a scout master in a town that really needs someone to take care of the boys in the town. Kurt Russell plays a boy whose father is a drunk. He is swayed by Macmurray to join the scouts. The lovely Vera Miles plays Fred's wife in the film. She is a favorite of mine. She never disappoints in her performances. There are some sad moments in the film, followed by happy ones. Vera tells Fred she can't have children. Then Fred shows her outside that the boys in their troop are their children. Kurt Russell's father dies in the film and then Fred and Vera adopt him. An old woman is taken to court to take her money away because her son says she has lost her mind. Fred defends her and shows why she gives her money to the troop and other people. Just a wonderful film overall that blends comedy with drama so well. The straight Disney comedies like Son of Flubber, The Barefoot Executive, Now You See Him, Now You Don't will always be my favorites, but this film is special as well.

great movie

[indianman · 10/10 · 7 October 2004]

I found that this movie is the best boyscout movie ever made. It has a great cast with Kurt Russell and Fred McMurray leading the amazing cast. With Vera Miles and the rest making it could holsom movie that everybody will enjoy young and old. It shows how one man can take a group of boys and send them off into the world to become doctors and even the governor of what ever state this movie is set in, and how a pull of a string can give a group of boys a great adventure. This movie is start in the early formation of the boyscout movement and ends in the early 1950. It can be seen how the troop in the movie changes through the years. It is a good movie and is a must for every body to see.