One of the best depictions of what it meant to be a father isn’t even about a father. It’s about a surrogate father. In the classic Disney movie “Follow Me Boys” Fred MacMurray is a World War One vet who is roped into becoming the Scout Master of his local Boy Scout Troop. At first hesitant he begins to see the value and need that some many of these boys had for a positive male influence in their life. Especially one kid played by Kurt Russell. His dad is loving but a hopeless drunk. I will always remember the scene where the Dad shows up hopelessly drunk at the Boy Scout Award ceremony but brought ice cream for the boys. I mean he meant well but his own demons got the best of him. That happens to a lot of people. Kurt Russell is terribly embarrassed but Fred takes him aside and teaches him that people can only do what they can do and it is OK to love someone even if they are far from perfect.
Fred stands in for a father figure for a lot of these kids who’s Dads might be absent or too busy or just didn’t care. And that was in the days of nuclear families with a mom and a Dad. His example taught a lot of kids how to act. I think it is a great movie and shows what the Boys Scouts are all about. It shows how if you provide a good example it will do wonders for a kid.
This movie led directly to his casting in My Three Sons and a long career in Disney movies.
They don’t make actors like Fred Mac Murray anymore.
Fred stands in for a father figure for a lot of these kids who’s Dads might be absent or too busy or just didn’t care. And that was in the days of nuclear families with a mom and a Dad. His example taught a lot of kids how to act. I think it is a great movie and shows what the Boys Scouts are all about. It shows how if you provide a good example it will do wonders for a kid.
This movie led directly to his casting in My Three Sons and a long career in Disney movies.
They don’t make actors like Fred Mac Murray anymore.
6 comments:
When a dad is not a dad
That reminds me of a line from a favorite '80s band, The Replacements:
He might be a father, but he sure ain't a dad.
Context:
Androgynous
Here come Dick, he's wearing a skirt,
Here comes Jane, y'know she's sporting a chain,
Same hair, revolution
Same build, evolution
Tomorrow who's gonna fuss?
And they love each other so
androgynous,
Closer than you know, love each other so,
androgynous
Don't get him wrong and don't get him mad,
He might be a father, but he sure ain't a dad,
And she don't need advice that'll center her,
She's happy with the way she looks,
She's happy with her gender,
Mirror image, see no damage,
See no evil at all-
Kewpie dolls and urine stalls
Will be laughed at
The way you're laughed at now.
Now, something meets Boy, and something meets Girl
They both look the same
They're overjoyed in this world
Same hair, revolution
unisex, evolution
Tomorrow who's gonna fuss?
And tomorrow Dick is wearing pants
And tomorrow Janie's wearing a dress
Future outcasts and they don't last
And today, the people dress the way that they please
The way they tried to do in the last centuries
The Replacements, Let It Be (1984)
link
I love him because he's from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin [raised there since age 5; big man on campus]. He exudes midwestern values...except for that Double Indemnity thing...
Agree about the values thing, but this scene was believable for a Wisconsin boy link.
My mom took me to see that at a revival. (It's one of her favorites.)
I watched The Caine Mutiny recently and I kind of had a hard time acceptiing him as a weasel. (Not because of his acting--it was great, of course.)
@knox: Yes but he was a weasel with a conscience.
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