Tom and Huck
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Hewitt
Produced by	Laurence Mark Stephen Sommers
Written by	Mark Twain (novel) Stephen Sommers David Loughery
Starring	Jonathan Taylor Thomas Brad Renfro Eric Schweig Charles Rocket Amy Wright Michael McShane Marian Seldes Rachael Leigh Cook
Music by	Stephen Endelman
Cinematography	Bobby Bukowski
Editing by	David Freeman
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	December 22, 1995
Running time	97 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Gross revenue	$23,920,048 [1]

Tom and Huck is a 1995 Disney film starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Brad Renfro, Joey Stinson, and Rachael Leigh Cook; it is based on Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In the film, mischievous young Tom Sawyer witnesses a murder by the vicious man known as "Injun Joe". Tom becomes friends with Huckleberry Finn, a boy with no future and no family, and is forced to choose between honoring a friendship or honoring an oath, because the town alcoholic is accused of the murder. The movie was released in the U.S. and Canada on December 22, 1995^[2]. The movie received an PG rating from the MPAA for some villainous acts and mild language.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Background and production 3 Cast 4 Box office 5 Differences from Book 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

The film opens with Injun Joe (Eric Schweig) accepting a job from Doctor Robinson (William Newman). Then Tom Sawyer (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is running away from home. He and his friends ride down the Mississippi River on a raft, but hit a sharp rock, which throws Tom into the water. His friends find him washed up on the shore, and Tom finds it was Huck Finn (Brad Renfro) who pulled him to safety. Huck learns of an unusual way to remove warts - by taking a dead cat to the graveyard at night. There they witness Doctor Robinson being murdered by Injun Joe.

The town drunk, Muff Potter (Michael McShane) is framed for the murder; unfortunately, Tom and Huck had signed an oath saying that if either of them came forward about it, they would drop dead and rot. The duo then goes on a search for Injun Joe's treasure map (which he found in Vic Murrell's coffin), so they can declare Muff Potter innocent and still keep their oath. The only problem is, the map is in Injun Joe's pocket. After Joe finds the first treasure, he burns the map and discovers that Tom was a witness to the murder. He warns Tom that if he ever told anybody what he knew, Injun Joe will kill him. However, at the time, the entire town thought he was dead, and the friendship between Tom and Huck starts to decline, due to the fact their evidence (the map) to prove Muff innocent while preserving their oath is destroyed.

At the trial of Muff Potter, Tom decides that his friendship with Muff is more important than his oath with Huck and tells the truth to the court, which finds Muff innocent of all charges and goes after Injun Joe. As a result, Injun Joe decides to hold up his end of the bargain by killing Tom. Huck becomes angry with Tom for breaking their oath and leaves town. During a festival the next day, a group of children, including Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher (Rachael Leigh Cook), enter the caves where Tom and Becky become lost. They stumble upon Injun Joe (who was hunting for Tom) in the cave. He traps them, but Tom and Becky manage to escape. Then they find the treasure and Tom tells Becky to go get her father and bring him back.

Just then Injun Joe finds Tom and again tries to kill him. Huck returns to help save Tom, and battles Injun Joe, who then falls into an enormous chasm inside McDougal's Cave. The boys reconcile and are declared heroes by the people. Tom is praised on the front page of the newspaper and Widow Douglas (Marian Seldes) decides to adopt Huck Finn.

[edit] Background and production

Parts of the movie were filmed in Cathedral Caverns in Woodville, Alabama and in the town of Mooresville, Alabama.

[edit] Cast

• Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Thomas "Tom" Sawyer: An adventerous boy who uses his streetwise wit to avoid tasks he particularly does not like. He becomes friends with Huck Finn when he tires of society and "civilization". Tom is also hunted by Injun Joe, who threatened to kill him if he stated who killed Dr Robinson.
• Brad Renfro as Huckleberry "Huck" Finn: An uneducated boy who is as equally streetwise as Tom, he lives in the wilderness along the Missisipi river and does not like the civilized world, prefering freedom. His father is mentioned as an abusive man named Pat Finn who trained Injun Joe to be the Mississippi's greatest knife-fighter. Injun Joe acknowledge's Huck as "Pat Finn's boy" and makes him fight him to prove that he is the best.
• Eric Schweig as Injun Joe: The film's antagonist. A cold-hearted, remorseless bully of a man who kills Dr Robinson in order to gain a treasure map. He threatens to kill Tom if he reveals his guilt. The town of Hannibal considers him a hero for blaming Muff Potter but then turn on him when he flees. He tries to kill Tom in a cave when he is confronted by Huck Finn, the son of his teacher, Pat Finn. He challenges Huck to a duel but ends up falling into a chasm to his death.
• Charles Rocket as Judge Thatcher
• Amy Wright as Aunt Polly
• Michael McShane as Muff Potter
• Marian Seldes as Widow Douglas
• Rachael Leigh Cook as Rebecca "Becky" Thatcher
• Courtland Mead as Cousin Sid
• Heath Lamberts as Mr. Dobbins
• Joey Stinson as Joseph "Joe" Harper
• Blake Heron as Benjamin "Ben" Rodgers
• Lanny Flaherty as Emmett
• William Newman as Doctor Robinson

[edit] Box office

The U.S. and Canada box office for Tom and Huck was $23,920,048^[2].

[edit] Differences from Book

• In the book, the boys are barefooted all of the time, but wear boots in the movie.

• The circumstances around the 'whitewash' scene are altered.

• In the book, Sid is Tom's half-brother, but in the movie, Sid is Tom's cousin.

• The part where Schoolmaster Dobbins whips Tom is left out in this adaptation.

• In the novel, Doctor Robinson is a fit young man who nearly saves himself from being murdered by Injun Joe. In the movie, he is older, and his one feeble attempt to strike back at Joe actually seems to provoke the man into taking his life.

• Injun Joe's partner did not have a name in the novel, but was named Emmett in the film.

• It is stated, in the film, that Huck's father served as a highly skilled teacher in throwing a knife for both Injun Joe and Huck. When the character appeared in Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he was little more than an abusive and lazy alcoholic (though capable in living off the land).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tom and Huck at the Internet Movie Database
• Tom and Huck at Box Office Mojo
• Tom and Huck at Allmovie

v • d • e Films directed by Peter Hewitt 1990s Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) · Tom and Huck (1995) · The Borrowers (1997) · Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999) 2000s Thunderpants (2002) · Garfield: The Movie (2004) · Zoom (2006)