This is a movie which needs to come around again. The USA is hurting for stories such as this. In a nutshell, an outsider named Lemuel Siddons wants so badly to become part of the community he volunteers to become the scoutmaster of a new Boy Scout troop...and over 40 years watches his scouts, their kids and grandkids all follow the path he blazed. He and the community come to realize he is part of them, and that he has become far more important in the grand scheme of life by guiding others to be good citizens/neighbors than he ever might have done by being a famous attorney.
I'm going to throw in a gratuitous thank-you to George Stratton, first Scoutmaster of Troop 573 at Good Shepherd Church in West Springfield Mass. in 1965 or 1966 or thereabouts. I'm sure your nephews Gorden and Dave (Ventulett) grew up on the straight & narrow. Thanks to you, so did I. You were like a second dad. I just wish I could find a diner as good as the one you used to take us to, down at Westfield St. and Dewey St. near the tracks....those were the most glorious greasy, oniony cheeseburgers I ever tasted.
