Ep. 9 - The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)

[00:00:00] Alright then, keep your secrets. Get that frog out of your pants. I'm the guy. The real guy. Now where do all these movies come from anyway? Just fucking ding-a-ling. I will take the ring to Mordor. Though, I do not know the way.

[00:00:24] Hello and welcome to Episode 9 of The Complete Works Season 5. A deep dive into the career and films of actor Elijah Wood. My name is Mike Smith and joining me on this journey there and back again is my friend, co-host and fellow good son. Mike Triccio. How'd you do today Mike? I'm doing great. We're here in Episode 9. That's crazy. Yes. We're just fully into Season 5 now.

[00:00:50] Yeah, we're almost in double digits and we are fully, as of this recording, we haven't even released any episodes yet. That's how far ahead we are in terms of the podcasting. Yeah, we're professionals. Yes, exactly. For now. For now. Yeah, the lead will run out very quickly and we'll be scrambling. In approximately nine weeks. Exactly. But until then, we're golden. We're good.

[00:01:14] Now, Mike, I'd like to begin every episode that involves us talking about a classic literary adaptation by reminding the audience you are an English master. I am an English master. That is correct. So what's your take on the works of Mark Twain and Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn specifically? Well, in this essay, I will.

[00:01:38] I mean, I haven't, you know, I read, I think I mentioned last episode, I have never actually read Tom Sawyer, but I've read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn once or twice, probably in high school, once in high school, once in college. Okay. Um, but, uh, yeah, I mean, the broad, the broad strokes that we all are familiar with, if you're no American culture, literary tradition, you know, satirists, Mark Twain, we get it.

[00:02:02] We do, we understand, but I haven't, I haven't thought about it in a long time. I haven't really read, obviously it's been 10 plus years since we've been in college. Yeah. Which is upsetting, but yeah. That's scary. Feels illegal to say out loud. So I haven't really thought about it a ton in, in like any sort of, uh, analytical sense in a while, but, uh, broadly familiar. What about you? My, I think I remember last time you said you're more of a Tom Sawyer guy.

[00:02:25] Yeah, no, I, uh, when I was, uh, I think in elementary school, I think it was maybe pre middle school. Uh, you know, we had, uh, uh, yeah, I think we had like a borders bookstore in the mall near me. Uh, and I think at some point I was very much like, and I think this is a preview of like the person I would become later.

[00:02:42] In terms of movies was like, well, I got to cross things off the list. Got to watch all these classics and all that stuff. Uh, when I was a kid, I was like, okay, I've heard of treasure Island. Got to read that, you know, got it like, you know, get through all that stuff, you know? Uh, and so Tom Sawyer was one of those books. I definitely got it at that borders in the mall. And I read Tom Sawyer a couple of times. I remember really liking it. I was, I was a big Tom Sawyer kid. And then I remember, I think I read Huckleberry Finn once, but I just could not get into it in the same way. I don't know why. Uh, cause I, I feel like of the two, like in terms of the two,

[00:03:12] of like retrospective literary classics and stuff, I feel like Huck Finn is the one that's kind of more beloved than, uh, Tom Sawyer. Maybe, maybe that's just like anecdotal. I'm not entirely sure why I would think that, but I feel like that's the one that like, and maybe it's because that one has the more like race satire and stuff like that. It's like a more, uh, damning portrait of like race relations in America in the 1800s, that kind of thing. I was Tom Sawyer is mostly like mischievous hijinks getting up into, uh, some wacky times.

[00:03:39] I wonder if it's like, is Tom Sawyer slightly more, I mean, kid focus is not the right phrase. Cause like, I don't think that might be it though. I mean, I think they're both geared towards kids. Uh, you know, but I think Tom Sawyer is maybe a little bit easier for an elementary school student like me to, uh, dive into. Yeah. It's like a Hobbit, Lord of the Rings kind of thing. It's like, yeah, which, you know, I read the Hobbit when I was in third grade, loved it. Tried to read Lord of the Rings. Like when I was in fourth grade, couldn't get into it. Didn't, didn't enjoy it.

[00:04:07] I remember the Hobbit, I think was my ninth grade summer or like the first, like the summer going into ninth grade, like starting high school, we had to read the Hobbit. So like it's that, that was like assigned reading. You got to read the Hobbit for school.

[00:04:19] Yeah. I went to a cool school. Nice. I, I was so obsessed. I read the Hobbit in third grade and I was so obsessed with it, uh, that I remember in third grade, we had like pen pals at different schools kind of thing. Yeah. And in my, this is a, a window into the dorkiness of, uh, eight year old Mike Smith and beyond. Uh, but in my like letters to my pen pal, I would write out the riddles from the Hobbit, uh, and see if he could get them.

[00:04:45] Just writing some stranger. What is I, what have I got in my pocket? Like, like what a dick. Yeah. No, I was going through like all the riddles and like, yo, it'll be cool if he gets the answer or whatever. If he gets it, uh, he never got it. Incredible. I don't think he had read the Hobbit. I think it might've been a option. We might've had like a 10 book list to pick from. Uh, and it was like, you know, when you come back, you will have to write a book or like when you start, you'll have to write a book report or submit a book report.

[00:05:15] Or something like that. I don't really remember, but I remember reading the Hobbit going into ninth grade at least. So. Okay. But you know who didn't write the Hobbit is Mark Twain. Uh, so Mark Twain, of course, one of the most celebrated authors of American literature. He has several works that continue to be studied today. I think it's safe to say Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are like the two novels that really continue to persevere in the Mark Twain bibliography. There are others like, uh, you know, the Connecticut Yankee and King Arthur's court and all that stuff. Uh, also doing research for this episode, I didn't realize there were actually,

[00:05:45] two more books in like the Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn series that I didn't know about. Interesting. I don't think I knew that off the top of my head either. Yeah. Yeah. There's one called Tom Sawyer abroad. Another one called Tom Sawyer detective. Uh, and yeah, those are the only two like finished novels that are also in the Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn universe. Uh, but there are other like unfinished works in his, uh, in his, uh, bibliography as well and stuff like that. So yeah, kind of neat. Didn't know about that. Uh,

[00:06:11] but the adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the only one that largely takes place from Huck's perspective, uh, who appears in the other novels as Tom Sawyer's best friend. So Huck Finn is a satire in American life in the South and the 1840s, about 40 years before the book was published. Uh, and it takes aim specifically at the racism of that period. So the novel has been adapted to film many times over the years. A couple of major ones, uh, include a 1939 version starring Mickey Rooney as Huckleberry Finn. Wow.

[00:06:38] Uh, which, which I'm sure is not problematic and, uh, totally fine. And, and the 1960 version directed by Michael Curtiz, director of Casablanca. Famously not racist, Mickey Rooney. Exactly. But that's cool. Michael Curtiz version. That's neat. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, after the 1960 version, there are a couple of TV movie of the week adaptations over the years, uh, including a 1975 TV movie with Ron Howard as Huckleberry Finn. But there was not another major Hollywood adaptation until 1993.

[00:07:08] When Disney got the rights and decided to make a live action adventure movie. And since Elijah Wood is in it, we've got to talk about the adventures of Huck Finn, not Huckleberry Huck Finn. We don't have time for two, an extra syllable. It's the 1990s. Come on. Exactly. It's hammer time, baby. Let's go. You're going to end up in the bad place with the devil himself. I'd be just fine by me. They called him a troublemaker. Come on, Finn. They called him a liar.

[00:07:37] My mouth ran off of the circus clown. I fell off a steamboat, sir. My pocket went over by an elephant. I think this boy's going to fit right in. They called him every name in the book. George Jackson, the Duke of Bilgewater. Mary Williams. But everything in his life would change. When one man called him friend. Best friend ever. True blue hook Finn. It's the boy with that runaway slave. Come on.

[00:08:06] Now they're being swept along on an extraordinary journey. Jim! Searching for one man's freedom. All men should be free. The man unwrapped, is he white or black? He's white. Personally, I think you're just a damn good liar. Oh, I thank you for the compliment, sir. In the great tradition of Disney family entertainment. You're a good man, Jim. Comes Mark Twain's American classic about a boy with the courage to follow his heart. I'm busting Jim out.

[00:08:36] And the river that would lead him on an unforgettable adventure. Go for the... Walt Disney Pictures presents The Adventures of Huck Finn. You're the best friend I ever had, Jim. All right.

[00:09:05] So Elijah Wood plays Huck Finn in The Adventures of Huck Finn. A boy who fakes his own death to get away from his drunken father. And in the process, decides to help Jim, an escaped slave, reach freedom. Now, Jim is played by Courtney B. Vance in this movie. One of his earliest film roles. Who, of course, went on to be on Law and Order Criminal Intent for many years. And he played Johnny Cochran in the People vs. O.J. Simpson TV show. Which he was great in. I never saw that. Yeah, it's really good. It's maybe the best thing Ryan Murphy ever produced.

[00:09:34] And he had very little involvement with it, which is why I think it's among the best. But that show was also created... That first season was created by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the guys who wrote Ed Wood. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, I think the following seasons of that show, I don't think they had any involvement with. I watched the first two episodes of season two of American Crime Story, which was the Gianni Versace season. And the magic was gone. It was not nearly as good. Yeah. Need that Karaszewski touch. Exactly.

[00:10:02] I know they did a season three at some point that I never watched, but I believe that was like the Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky scandal. Wow. Which sounds like more of the sensationalized Ryan Murphy stuff. I have not watched it. I cannot pass judgment. But yeah, Courtney B. Vance in this movie playing Jim. From there, we've got a lot of people popping up in this thing. Huck's dad, Pat Finn, is played by Ron Perlman. The same year, he was in another film that we covered on The Complete Works, Mike. Do you want to guess what film that was? No.

[00:10:34] You know, that's fair. We're recording this pretty late on your end, so I'm going to let you let that slide. I can't use COVID as an excuse this week, but no. Yeah, fair enough. He was in Romeo is Bleeding the same year, Mike, with Roy Scheider in 1993. From there, Robbie Coltrane, who is Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, plays the Duke. While Jason Robards, who is Ben Bradley in All the President's Men, plays the King. They're two con men who Huck and Jim encounter.

[00:11:00] Dana Ivey, who is the wife of Cousin It in the Addams Family movies, plays the Widow Douglas. Anne Heche in her film debut, plays Mary Jane Wilkes. Whoa. Yeah, right? James Gammon from Major League, plays Deputy Hines. Paxton Whitehead from Back to School, plays Harvey Wilkes. Tom Aldridge, who played Carmella's father on The Sopranos, plays Dr. Robinson. Laura Bundy, who played Young Bonnie Hunt in Jumanji, plays Susan Wilkes. Hell yeah. Yep.

[00:11:27] Curtis Armstrong from Revenge of the Nerds and Risky Business, plays Country Jake. Francis Conroy from Six Feet Under plays the Scrawny Shanty Woman. Renee O'Connor from Xena Warrior Princess, plays Julia Wilkes. Danny Tamburelli from The Adventures of Pete and Pete and all that pops up in this playing Ben Rogers. And finally, we've got an Elijah Wood reunion in this movie, Mike. Really? Yes. Garrett Ratliff Henson, who is also in Radio Flyer, plays Billy Grangerford, the kid who befriends Huck and then dies in a shootout.

[00:11:58] Likely thing to happen. Yes, absolutely. It was the 1800s. Okay, what can you say? Yeah, he was in Radio Flyer. He was one of the bully kids and he was also in the Mighty Ducks trilogy as well. Okay, yes. But there you go. The movie was written and directed by Stephen Summers, my D favorite. Yeah, way back. Yeah. Best known as the director of The Mummy, of course. This was his second film as a director following another movie, which we've talked about on this podcast actually a while back, on the Mike and Mike side of things. Oh, yeah. Catch Me If You Can from 1989. Four years earlier was before this. Right.

[00:12:28] Right. That was the Tangerine Dream episode, right? Yes. Which involved street racing to save the school kind of thing, right? That was the plot of that movie. The kids start betting on their one senior who's like an underground street racer. They start betting all the school's money to win the races. Yeah. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. Catch Me If You Can was his first film. This was his second.

[00:12:53] His next film would be 1994's The Jungle Book starring our favorite kung fu priest, Jason Scott Lee. This movie, what a nexus point this movie is between all the seasons. Yes, absolutely. So Stephen Summers has not made a movie since 2013 when he made Odd Thomas, which starred Anton Yelchin and Willem Dafoe, and it was based on a Dean Kuntz novel. We got to bring Summers back. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Why is he in director jail? You know, it's weird.

[00:13:19] I'm glad that Radio Silence is making The Mummy 4, but if they weren't available, Stephen Summers, bring them back. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. I think this year or next year, I forget, I'm making you watch Deep Rising, which is- I think you're right. Yes. Yeah. The aquatic horror movie that he made right before The Mummy. Yes. So we stand Stephen Summers on this podcast is what we're saying. Secret season of this complete works Stephen Summers that we've been doing for the last 10 years. Somehow.

[00:13:48] Somehow we've still never done an episode on The Mummy. Just- We've done The Mummy 3, which Stephen Summers did not direct. Right. Because Michelle Yeoh is in that movie, but we've never done an episode on The Mummy or The Mummy Returns, even though we talk about them pretty heavily in that Mummy 3 episode and also elsewhere in the history of this podcast. Every other episode. Every time we have a discussions episode. We just talked about Lee Cronin's The Mummy, and we ended up talking about The Mummy for a while on that one. Yeah.

[00:14:14] So, yeah, no, I think the date for The Mummy 4, I think, has been moved up to October 2027. I feel like maybe we've got to do some kind of Mummy retrospective episode or something. I think so. Leading into that. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Summers actually also co-wrote the sort of sequel to this film, which was 1995's Tom and Huck, which adapts Tom Sawyer, the first- which is weird because Tom Sawyer is the first book, Huckleberry Finn's the second. Right.

[00:14:42] But that one is a Tom Sawyer adaptation. However, Elijah Wood is not in that movie playing Huckleberry Finn. It's sort of a sequel to this. It is still involving Stephen Summers, but it's not really a sequel to this. You know, it's just also Huckleberry Finn's in it. Right, right. Which is interesting because I think, isn't Tom Sawyer in the book, like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Yeah. Yeah, he is in the book, Huck Finn, and he's not in this movie. Right, that's what I was just thinking. Wait a second. He's kind of the Tom Bombadil to bring it back to Lord of the Rings.

[00:15:12] Yes, absolutely. So Huck in that movie and Tom and Huck is played by Brad Renfro from the movie The Client, whereas Tom is played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas in that movie as well. And a lot of times in the DVD packaging, both of these movies would just kind of be slapped together as one, you know, two-in-one pack kind of thing. The Adventures of Huck Finn was a solid hit for Disney, opened in second place on April 2nd, 1993, opening to number one. Want to take a guess, Mike? It's a family comedy of that era. April 93?

[00:15:42] Yeah. It's directed by one of the guys from Happy Days, and it's not Ron Howard. Does Henry Winkler have a directing career I don't know about? It is, in fact, directed by Henry Winkler. No way, really? Yeah. I don't know. One of the Beethovens or some shit. That would be awesome. But no, this movie is directed by Henry Winkler. It stars Burt Reynolds. It's called Cop and a Half. Okay. Yeah. Sure. So, yeah.

[00:16:12] I didn't expect you to get that one, Mike. I don't think I've ever heard of that movie. Opening to number three was a psychological thriller. Want to take a stab at this one? A psychological thriller. Single white female. I don't know. No, but right era. You're in the right ballpark, sort of. It's got Carrie Elwes and Alicia Silverstone. Oh, The Crush? Yeah, The Crush. You got it. That's the movie where they renamed the character. I don't remember the whole story. It's a whole thing. Okay.

[00:16:38] We'll get into it later on The Crush episode when we do the Carrie Elwes season. And openings number nine was a comedy drama. I won't make you guess this one. You're not going to get it. It's called Jack the Bear, starring Daniel DeVito. Not in a thousand years. Yeah, exactly. The rest of the top ten consisted of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3, Born Yesterday, Point of No Return, The Crying Game, Unforgiven, and it's 35th week at the box office. 35th week? I think it had just won the Oscar for Best Picture,

[00:17:08] so it probably got re-released into theaters is kind of my guess. But on Box Office Mojo, it counts as it's 35th week. That's crazy. And then also Groundhog Day, and it's eighth week at the box office is the number 10 spot. The IMD plot synopsis for The Adventures of Huck Finn reads, In Missouri, during the 1840s, young Huck Finn, fearful of his drunkard father and yearning for adventure, leaves his foster family and joins with runaway slave Jim in a voyage down the Mississippi River towards slavery-free states.

[00:17:37] So Mike D, going into this movie, obviously you've read Huck Finn a little bit, but it sounds like you haven't thought about it in quite a long time. Have you ever seen any other adaptations of Huck Finn onto film before? I don't think I have, but just to put a pin on the crush thing. Yeah. We do have to follow that up. Yeah, absolutely. I do have to follow up. Apparently they were sued post the movie coming out by the people it was loosely based on. Oh, okay. And so they re-edited it to change the name of the character

[00:18:07] in the later, like the home video releases. Gotcha. So anyway, that's where that was going. Okay. But back to Huck Finn, the actual point of why we're here. No, I don't think I've seen any other adaptations of it. It's one of those things that, you know, I think in modern times is fraught with controversy, a particular Jim's character's name in the book, you know, including the N-word. Yes. And it's one of those. I was looking into that and I guess he's only referred to as N-word Jim once in the entire book.

[00:18:37] Otherwise he is. Yeah. I mean, people, the N-word is thrown around a lot. Yeah. Yeah. In the books, but he's only referred to as that character name exactly one time in the book. But somehow like just our cultural memory has like kind of like transplanted that as the character's name in a weird way. Yeah. I mean, a hundred percent in my memory, that's like how they talk about it. That's his name. Yeah. Which is interesting. So, but yeah, I don't know. I feel like I just haven't really seen any of the other, other versions.

[00:19:05] And it kind of makes sense that there wouldn't be, you know, larger or like more frequent big studio. Like that'd be a TV movie more often, I guess is where I'm going. Yeah. It makes sense. It'd fit that kind of like Sunday morning or whatever special thing or something. Yeah. I think that makes sense too. I mean, I, when I, when I watch this, I kind of get a sense of like, yeah, it kind of makes sense that like, yeah, the kid version, like this seems like money in the bank, all that stuff. But at the same time, both Tom Sawyer and Hook Finn just feel like incredibly

[00:19:34] old fashioned stories to be telling, like to be aiming at kids, I guess. Yeah. Just like speaking at it from like a, not, not necessarily an artistic and artistic perspective, but just from like a studio standpoint of like what will bring us money and what will draw kids in, you know, these are books that like you are forced to read in school, you know, that kind of thing. So, you know, I think it's a gamble. I think it kind of works, but yeah, sorry. I think I derailed your point a little bit, Mike. I don't even know what my point was other than that. I haven't seen any other versions.

[00:20:04] I mean, maybe I had seen something in school or something, like one of the TV movie, like a, you know, rolled like TV and on a cart kind of things. Sure. We watched a version of it in English class, but I don't really remember anything like that, but I think it's just so interesting the way that like, you know, this kind of like a long American literary past reaches all the way to, to now. I remember we, we read less the Mohicans in my, one of my English classes, which is part of a big, long novel series. I can't remember the character.

[00:20:33] I remember he's called Leatherstocking, but I don't remember his, like the actual character's name that Daniel Day-Lewis is playing. I just remember that my, my professor talking about Last of the Mohicans when it came out was published, serialized, you know, like whatever monthly or something in chapters in literary magazines and newspapers of stuff across the country. And he was like, this is Die Hard 2 of 1780. Like this is like, people were so excited, like, Oh my God, a new leather stocking story. Like, Oh my God. And like, that's sort of what I feel like.

[00:21:02] And here we are 200 years later while, you know, seeing a Michael Mann version of it or still, still reading it, which is crazy. And the same thing goes for Huck Finn. And I feel like you kind of feel that stretch across time when you, when you engage with these kinds of stories. Um, yeah. I mean, we talked about that a little bit, I think in our one, we in like a Shakespeare adjacent episode, we kind of talked about, right? Yeah. What do we, yeah. You know, and I'm blanking on which, Oh, I think it might've been, uh, maybe the King of Texas episode. I probably was. Yeah. Where,

[00:21:29] which of course is a TV movie at cowboy version adaptation of King Lear. The, that's kind of the remarkable thing about art in some ways, right? Is that, yeah, you know, it can survive sometimes. I mean, very, very rarely in like very select cases, but like it can survive and like retain a cultural memory for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Christopher Nolan is making the odyssey into a big budget blockbuster movie this summer. Like that's crazy. You know, that's insane. Um, so yeah, for like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, for these books that were written in the 1800s to,

[00:21:59] still be relevant, to still be adapted, uh, on, into different mediums and all that kind of stuff. Uh, you know, there's a, there's a power to that. There's an, there's an interesting, uh, you know, element of art there. And I was kind of wondering watching this movie, like, do the kids these days still get taught Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn? Like, I don't know. I don't know what's going on with the kids these days. They're all on their Tik TOks or whatever. They're on their Tik TOks. One, two, uh, who knows if this is not some kind of band book or some shit now. Sure. And then three, uh,

[00:22:27] like the pit has a running bit where a character is called Huckleberry. Like, yeah, that's true. Yeah. Like we're still at the forefront of culture. The Huckleberry, I mean, obviously, you know, it's right there. So anyway, even the Disney version, you know, like it's still got all the juice there. Uh, yeah, I think. And this movie is pretty good. It's pretty fun. It's pretty exciting. And I think that just talks to the, the, like the, the power or even the simplicity or whatever you, whatever you want to talk about, what quality of Mark Twain's writing of, of that story,

[00:22:57] uh, to just be like, even though it's still set in the period that it's takes place in, but like here we are in 1993, we're still in for a Huck Finn movie, you know, that story. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, I thought this was pretty solid. I had a good time with it. Uh, again, I have less of a memory of reading Huck Finn than I do Tom Sawyer, but I remembered kind of the basics of the plot where, you know, it is about Huckleberry, uh, and Jim, um, going down the river, sort of kind of getting into adventures. It's the adventures of Huck Finn. Uh, and it,

[00:23:27] and it's a fairly like episodic book, uh, where it's kind of just like every few chapters, like, you know, they run into a new thing and they deal with that. And then they go down the river some more and they run into another new thing and they deal with that. And then kind of just continuing from there. Uh, and the movie pretty faithfully translates that from what I remember, at least, uh, from, from what I understand that it like adapts most of the book. I think there is still a little bit of the book that like is not, that is left out, you know, obviously the, uh, this is the PG rated Disney version. So the N word is not nearly thrown around as much, uh, you know, zero times in fact, uh,

[00:23:57] in this movie. Uh, and so I think, uh, reading some of the contemporary reviews and stuff like that, reading Roger Ebert's reviews, like the movie got like pretty solid reviews. People liked it. Uh, and the general consensus seems to be that like, it is a sort of sanded down version of, uh, Huck Finn, a sanded down version of the novel, but at the same time, like still manages to get its point across and like still manages to kind of translate that for kids. Uh, and in that way it is successful. Yeah. I think that's the, that tracks, you know, it's interesting.

[00:24:25] Even by then Disney is known to remove problematic or whatever. Like I'm thinking, you know, uh, and then 20 years late, 25 years later or whatever, uh, they're going to have, they're going to own the French connection and take, and continue out of that. Yeah. Yeah. Continue their history. Um, so that's crazy, but yeah, no, I think that makes sense. I, I didn't look up any, uh, reviews from the time, but yeah, I could definitely see that being the, the response to be like, yeah, they,

[00:24:54] they kind of address the larger themes, but take out some of the more direct, uh, less subtle things, I guess you could say, but it is still certainly about Huck's journey towards realizing tradition. And, you know, just because that's the way things are, doesn't mean that that's correct. You know, I think that's even a direct line that somebody says to him in the movie. Um, but that's, uh, the whole, the whole shtick, you know? Yeah, absolutely. But so beyond it's a, it's qualities as an adaptation of Huck Finn, just as a movie,

[00:25:22] as a viewing experience for Mike D. Well, how did, how did this fall for you? How did, how did this play? Pretty good. I think, uh, I don't, you know, I was going to say the summers of it all, which, which is, you know, I don't really know. I've only seen, I mean, I guess I've seen all, almost all of his movies. No, I have no idea if I've seen all of his movies, but I've seen more than I would think. Should I run down the summer's filmography right now? Should I hit it? Should I hit it? Well, no, we kind of did a bunch of them already, but, uh, sure. But, uh, yeah. So it's catch me if you can is the, is the debut. We've talked about that. Yeah. Huck Finn is this.

[00:25:52] And then the jungle book is his third film. I have not seen the 94 jungle book. I feel like I have seen it, but not in the forever. And I don't really remember it. I feel like it was a staple of like blockbuster video. Like it was kind of just on the shelf all the time. And we had the, uh, the original animated version of jungle book at home. We had the Disney VHS, the 1967, it had Louis Prima in it. I'm not going to watch a different version. Uh, you know, you already got perfection with, with this one. Exactly. We're going to, we're going to sing the bare necessities and that's it. Exactly. Uh, so yeah,

[00:26:22] jungle book 94 was his third film and then it's deep rising in 98. Uh, the mummy in 99, the mummy returns in 2001, uh, Van Helsing in 2004. Uh, no wonder that movie riffs. Okay. You know what? I've never seen Van Helsing. Oh, Steven Summers, 27 coming in hot on the, makes my watch list. Uh, I, I, I've never seen Van Helsing. However, a couple of years ago, and this is a true story. I,

[00:26:51] I went back to New York for my friend's wedding. Uh, and so it was the night before the wedding. We were all hanging out, uh, in his hotel room. We were playing video games and stuff like that. And, at the end of the night, it was me and my friend who was getting married and one other friend. Uh, I think it might've been Kyle, like the other friend who was a producer, like a quote unquote producer, Kyle, music supervisor, Kyle, whatever we're calling him now. I think it might've been Kyle. And it was me and him and my other friend who was getting married. And it was like 2 AM and the wedding was like at, you know, in the afternoon, the next day I was like, okay,

[00:27:20] the groom should probably get to sleep at some point soon. Uh, and me and my friend, like me and Kyle get up and we're like, okay, we're going to head off to our rooms, like have a good night, man. And he like turns on the TV to like, you know, get ready to go to sleep. And as the TV turns on, we see that van Helsing is just starting. Hell yeah. And so me and Kyle leave. And then the next day we like wake up and we see him and he's like, and we're like, Oh, Hey man, you like sleep. Okay. All that kind of stuff. It's like, well, I stayed up watching van Helsing until four in the morning.

[00:27:51] I watched the whole thing and then got married the next day. I was like, hell yeah. Uh, so yeah, my housing on the list, my, my list for 2027 to make you watch is fucking deranged. Uh, which I know that's the bonus episodes, but it's one of the broken lizards. You know, I just want to get a set us marshals, orange County, homeward bound, and now van Helsing. Nice. I'm excited. Uh,

[00:28:19] so van Helsing was Oh four and then it's GI Joe. The rise of Cobra is also Steven Summers joint, which I saw in theaters and I think kind of rocked. Uh, I was, I was a fan of that movie back in the day. Uh, and then odd Thomas in 2013, which I have not seen. Uh, and then that's it. He hasn't made a movie since. So odd Thomas is the only one I haven't seen, which is insane. Um, turns out I'm a summer's boy all the way through. Um, so the summers of it all, I guess, I was getting into with, uh, with this movie, you know, it may be like, he's got, he's got some,

[00:28:47] there's some action ish stuff. I think the Ron Perlman sequence with Pat Finn in the, in the shit in the, uh, hut is terrifying. It's really scary. The, uh, the shootout with the Shepherdsons and the other family is really scary or intense, you know, for a movie with a 10 year old Elijah Wood in it. Uh, so I think he, I think it's got some, some like oomph to it. Some, some, some, uh, artistic vision going on. I think the, the raft,

[00:29:14] and the river itself is all foggy and misty and looks really scary sometimes. And just, uh, they're in a real place, even if they're obviously not literally on the Mississippi river, but like they're in water, like they're not just somewhere. Yeah, absolutely. They're not in the volume. And that's, you know, I feel like anytime we watch a movie from 1994 or whatever, it's like, man, they're not in the volume. You can tell they're in a real cabin. Uh, like, holy shit. Uh, and I really had like a moment watching this movie. Uh, so I, a couple other, uh, beyond just even summers directing it.

[00:29:44] This movie is, uh, scored by Bill Conti, uh, who does the score for the Rocky or for Rocky. Uh, and it's, it's an incredible musical score. This movie has, and it's also shot by Janis Kaminsky. Uh, Steven Spielberg cinematographer who started shooting for Spielberg. I think with Schindler's list, the, the same year as Huck Finn, uh, and has shot, I believe every Spielberg movie since. Uh, and this movie actually looks great as a result of those things.

[00:30:10] And I was watching this 1993 live action Disney movie and having the thoughts of myself, we used to have movie and like specifically it was very early on when, Huck, uh, goes and talks to Jim for the first time and he goes in Jim's cabin and looks like a bunch of people there and all that kind of stuff. Uh, and there's just like, it's dimly lit cabin, but like it's, it's vibrant and it's colorful and there's smoke. And just like, I was just watching that and being like, man, if you light a movie like this, they'll kill you these days. They won't let you do it.

[00:30:40] Yeah. I think that's my favorite like meme construction. If you try to do this nowadays, they kill you. They'll shoot you. Yeah. They'll take you out. And, uh, but I think it's true for, for this, this situation. cause yeah, that seems great or, or it looks amazing, you know? Yeah, absolutely. But all that said, Elijah Wood plays Huck Finn in this movie, Mike. Uh, so what did you think of, uh, his performance? He is, you know, front and center. He's the lead kid. He's the titular Huck Finn. Um, he sure is.

[00:31:10] He sure is. Yeah. It's, I think he's really good. Uh, I mean the whole thing that Huck Finn's a piece of shit. Uh, and he's great at doing that, but in like the trickster way, of course, you know, he's, uh, gonna bugs bunny his way through this whole movie basically. And, uh, I think that's all great. I think he is right down to the, I mean, right at the very beginning with the, with the Wilkes sisters or whatever, the, the people that have adopted him or, uh, where he's like, well, I ran into this old lady with her 10 kid, 10 kids. And this, that's like, well,

[00:31:39] last week that woman had eight kids. Well, she found two more, uh, you know, and just, that's the whole shtick. He's just a liar, uh, and a little, little trickster guy. And, uh, I think that comes off, um, great with Elijah Wood. I think he pulls that off really well. It's not really annoying. It's endearing. It's funny. It's, you know, uh, even towards the end when it's the, the Duke and the, the King when, when he's questioned by the doctor or whoever it is that like recognizes they're, they're not the brothers. And he makes up this whole story about, well, you see, I was born in Missouri and then I went to,

[00:32:08] I went to England and all this stuff. And he's like, well, kid, you're a good liar. And he's like, well, I thank you for the compliment. Um, it's just very, I don't know. It's just fun. It's, uh, it's really good. And it's interesting. Like he's, he's fully the lead of this Disney movie, you know, like here we go. He's not in some TV movie. He's not whatever he's no, he's the guy. He's the guy. He's the, well, I guess that's spike is three, but, uh, he, he's, he's fully the lead of this movie and that's exciting. And I think he's, uh,

[00:32:37] charming and charismatic and gives a good performance. So like, here we go. We're off to the races. It feels like, yeah, absolutely. I mean, he's been the lead a couple of times at this point, but I feel like often when Elijah Wood has been the lead, uh, it has been like, he, he is the lead in relation to like the other two adult leads in the movie or something like that. Right. So like paradise, you know, it's really, it's, it's Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith and Elijah Wood, like all three are kind of like the leads of the movie. And, uh, you know, there's a radio flyer is the only other one I can think of where like,

[00:33:06] it's really like from his and his brother's perspective. Right. Um, but, uh, yeah, with Huck Finn, like he's front and center, he's the kid. And this feels like a more traditional, like child actor, he kind of like put the kid front and center movie of this era, uh, sort of thing compared to a lot of what we've talked about already in the past. Uh, but at the same time, you know, I, I think doing this season of the podcast and kind of, you know, I think talking about child actors, always a gamble because, you know, notorious child haters, Mike and Mike, uh, you know,

[00:33:36] uh, I think I've gained a lot of like, uh, appreciation for Elijah. What is a child actor, uh, watching a lot of these movies that I had never seen before and watching them and being like, he's actually a really good kid. Like you can see like immediately, like why he caught on as an actor, like kind of what made him interesting as a child star. Uh, and so even though like the events of Huck Finn, like it was a solid hit, but it wasn't like a runaway success or anything like that. Um, but you could see like why he was just like making a shitload of movies in the early nineties, uh,

[00:34:04] as a kid and why people wanted to work with him because he was really charismatic. He's good. And I think Huck Finn is probably like the biggest and maybe most like difficult role he's done so far. Like radio flyer has the heaviest subject matter, I think. Yeah. Uh, but this I think requires him to, yeah, like you said, like be mischievous, be cunning, be, you know, fully in on the trickery stuff, have good chemistry with Courtney B. Vance have, you know, all of that stuff. And I think he does all of that really, really well in this movie. Yeah.

[00:34:32] You really have to believe when like in the second act or whatever, when Jim is going to like leave and he thinks Huck's going to sell him out. And he says like, you know, you're the best friend I ever had or the only friend I've ever had hook or something like the to himself. Yeah. Uh, well, Huck is swimming, paddling away on the log. Uh, you have to like really believe that relationship. And like, I think I do, I think you like that, that they totally sell that, that like Huck and Jim actually like care for each other, even if Huck doesn't realize why or how, or any of that stuff until later in the movie.

[00:35:01] But I think it's, I think he's great. Like, and yeah, I think compared to like forever young where it's like, that's a Mel Gibson movie that has Elijah Wood in it. Uh, yeah, it's like, no, this is, it was Elijah Wood movie. He's front and center. He's Huck Finn and, uh, he crushes it, uh, in this movie. So, you know, we're really, we're kind of getting towards the end of Elijah Wood child actor run too. Uh, cause you know, we have a couple, we have the good son next week, uh, which, uh, I'm excited to get to, uh, cause that's, you know, I, I have seen that movie. It's been forever,

[00:35:31] but I have seen that one, but I feel like everybody who I've talked to who have been like, oh yeah, we're doing an Elijah Wood season. Like, they'll be like, have you gotten to the good son yet? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, even more than like, you know, Oh, are you talking about Lord of the Rings soon? It's like, yeah. Have you gotten to the good son yet? Right. Uh, which has been interesting to see. Um, but yeah, it's the good son next. And then it's North, which, you know, will be, uh, I think a fun episode at least. Uh, and then, you know, uh, yeah. North is like the legendarily bad one. Uh, so isn't that Rob Reiner or something? It is. Yeah. It's the movie that, uh,

[00:36:00] killed Rob Reiner's like golden director streak. Yeah. They're, they're legendary run of movies that, you know, has been referred to often, uh, in his death, obviously, but North will be talking about. And then there's a movie called the war, which also has Kate, Elijah Wood. And then there's a couple, there's like a two year gap. There's a couple of years after that. Uh, and then it's flipper, which is kind of like the last gasp of like child actor Elijah Wood, but that's 96. So I think at that point he might be like 13, 14. Okay. And then from there, it's the ice storm, deep impact, the faculty, you know,

[00:36:30] like that's right. He's clearly like transitioning into older roles, teenage roles, young adult roles, that kind of thing. Uh, so we're really kind of hitting like towards the tail end of Elijah Wood, like cute little kid. Yeah, no, that's interesting. I guess it makes sense that, you know, at that age, 10, 11, 12, 13, a two year gap, you're an adult. Like, you know, you look like a totally different human when you come out of that. So yeah, I guess I didn't realize, uh, like how quickly that would happen. So we're, we're almost there. Yeah. We're almost there. Yeah.

[00:36:59] So Huck Finn is kind of one of the last major Elijah Wood child actor roles, uh, and he does a great job in it, but yeah. How do you think this fits into the Elijah roles that we've seen so far, Mike? And we've already kind of been talking about that with, uh, radio flyer and all that stuff, but anything else that comes to mind? Well, I think it's, I think it's kind of fascinating to think about this kind of last little group of movies, radio flyer, forever young, Huck Finn. There's one more, what, what, uh, is there another one in between there? Dayo? You think of Dayo? Dayo maybe? Yeah. That's a little less this, this kind of thing,

[00:37:29] but where, yeah, but like where it's like, they're kind of all similar coming of age, broken home. Uh, sure. You're thinking of paradise. Paradise is probably what I'm thinking of. Yeah. They're all very similar kind of territory. Plot wise, thematically, Huck Finn's a little less about healing a parental relationship or whatever, like those other three movies are. It's about escaping your parental relationship. Escaping one. Yeah, for sure. Um, actively killing. No, he doesn't kill him. Fix his death. But yeah, I think, I think that's just kind of fascinating that he,

[00:37:57] that he sort of tended towards those movies, this apparently, or his mom or whoever was helping him pick roles. I don't know. Uh, at this time, they're kind of similar and it's going to be interesting to see that kind of pivot into the sort of, you know, way down the line, the sort of like genre, darker horror kind of stuff we know that he gets involved in, uh, as an adult. Um, so it's like the kind of, the seeds are here. Even I think Good Son has like thriller elements to it. Right. If I remember correctly. The Good Son is like a full on thriller. Yeah. It's a, you know, the Good Son's an ironic title.

[00:38:25] It's a pretty bad son that you're dealing with. Whoa. And the Good Son. Who's the real Good Son? Um, I'm saying. And I think it's another, at this point, I mean, Summer is obviously not a major director, but will be, you know, even if it's briefly, uh, significant director. So that's another one in there. Like the Omen guy. What's the hell? Richard, Richard Donner. Richard Donner. Yeah. Who directed, uh, yeah. Who directed Radio Flyer. Radio Flyer. Uh, Barry Levinson directing Avalon, all that stuff. Yeah. He's been working with interesting people, kind of through us,

[00:38:55] even as a young kid. Zemeckis, of course, with, uh, Back to the Future. Exactly. Yeah. And this is a, you know, full on Disney mainstream, big release. So that's cool. Like, I don't, yeah, it's just an interesting progression. We've got to see him at 10 or whatever, however old he is at this point, making some pretty, working with significant filmmakers and studios and all that stuff. He's not, he's not only in day O or, uh, the Peter Pan son, the child of the night. Yes. Uh, yeah, he mostly, he did those two TV movies,

[00:39:24] but otherwise he's been making like some pretty major stuff, uh, or working with good filmmakers and like, you know, all that stuff, which has been cool to see, uh, and largely avoiding the kinds of movies that a lot of child actors find themselves in. Yeah. So yeah, no, it's been an interesting career. It's given me a lot of appreciation for like, you know, Elijah, what is a child actor, which, uh, you know, it's not that I didn't have that before. It's just that, uh, you know, I, I, I mostly knew like a lot of people, I mostly knew Elijah would growing up as Frodo, you know, like he was like,

[00:39:52] that was my entry point for Elijah would. I didn't, I didn't have, I, I, none of these movies in his early filmography were movies that were like in rotation at my house when I was a kid. Right. Yes. No, for sure. There probably was some earlier than that, that I pre Lord of the Rings, but I don't think I knew Elijah Wood's name or anything. It was just like, Oh, that guy I've seen him before, but I think also back to Huck Finn for a second. I think it's another movie that it's funny that it's like, Oh, there's one scene with another,

[00:40:21] it's like the guy for the kid from Pete and Pete, you know, like, you know, I mean, Thor Birch obviously is a main character in, in paradise, but like that one kid that was in the sandlot or whatever that's in a radio flyer. And it's like, Oh shit. It's fun to see him like paired up with the other child actors of the time. Exactly. So even though it's less of a factor here in Huck Finn, because it's about him and Jim, but like they're, they're still, they still got them. They still got one scene in there with other child actors that go on to become significant in the nineties. Absolutely.

[00:40:51] And next week we're talking about the De Niro and Pacino of child actors with Macaulay Culkin and Alisha Woods. So get ready for that. It really is heat. Yeah, it is two years before heat. Heat is really the good sign. You're right. Holy shit. But yeah, otherwise those that's all good. And I think I, one other quick thing that I wanted to say as far as fitting into the Elijah Wood filmography, looking forward a little bit, Huck Finn has the same ending as return of the King in which, yeah, yeah. In the bed, you're right. Huck Finn like wakes up in the bed after a long journey.

[00:41:20] And then he, like the person like Jim kind of walks in in the same way Sam does and all that stuff. And then much like the ending of return of the King, Elijah Wood leaves, he goes away. Journeys to the left. After the bed scene. Yeah. He journeys away. So yeah, it's, I'm just saying return of the King. Maybe lift some stuff from the Avengers of Huck Finn. Whoa. Did you, was J.R.R. Tolkien a fan of Mark Twain? Who's to say we can't possibly know these things. Maybe we can, maybe it's out there. I don't know. Yeah.

[00:41:47] Tolkien famously a guy that never wrote down anything in a journal. We'll never, we'll never know what he was thinking. Exactly. But yeah, we've, we've talked about Lord of the Rings a lot in this episode, actually, weirdly, but yeah. Looms large. Yes. Looms large over the Elijah career. And I guess over the relationship between Huck Finn and Lord of the Rings. Any other scenes or moments in this movie that stand out to you, Mike? Anything you want to talk about? Well, I mean, yeah, I think the movie structurally, like the book, you know, is episodic. Basically,

[00:42:17] like you said, they kind of travel down river and meet new characters and get up to some misadventures and then travel down the river some more. I did particularly like the, the, the Shepherds in family, you know, the half field of McCoys stand in kind of thing. Yeah. That's going on. Uh, that section is, is very tragic, but also very fun and also really dark because they end up on this plantation with Jim, uh, gets like taken as a slave by this new family and, and, and kind of, uh, uh, abandons him because he doesn't really like, well,

[00:42:47] it's not so bad. Whatever. Like, whatever. Like, well, it's not a big deal. I think sort of has to play along a little bit too. Right. Yeah. It's an element of it. It's an element of it. There's, it's particularly that one conversation they have when they're like in the wagon and they get to the house and, and Jim stops Huck and is like, okay, well we got to get out of here now. And Huck tells him like, you're so selfish. Oh, you can only care about you. You just want to leave. Cause you want to get to K row. Uh, but like, what about me? And he jumps off and storms off on the wet, like in, and abandons Jim to be tortured basically.

[00:43:17] Right. Um, so like, yeah, it's part of that sort of learning experience, which is, you know, probably one of the criticisms I could see of Huck Finn. Jim's character is used just as like a tool to like teach Huck the horrors of this. It's not like about Jim as a character. It's about how Jim teaches Huck this. Um, and it's like, well, what he has to go through doesn't really matter to the story. There's part of that too, but that whole, the rest of that is, I think very interesting and fun. The, the blood feud and, you know,

[00:43:46] nobody remembers who killed who first, but we just got to kill them all kind of thing. Yeah. And then the kid who befriends Elijah Wood dies in the shootout. Yeah. He's going to elope or something. Somebody's eloping. I don't really understand who's marrying who anymore. It was the 1840s, 12 year olds got married all the time. It's, uh, um, but yeah, another kid dies. And, uh, I think the moment where they find his body is a really great acting moment from Elijah Wood. But yeah,

[00:44:12] you mentioned kind of Jim being a sort of a tool to further Huck's story in the original book. Uh, and I think that's true to a degree in this movie too, but I think, uh, Courtney B Vance actually gives Jim like a lot of like really great, uh, humanity. Like he, he like really fills that character with a lot of soul. And I think a lot of the movie is very much about he escapes, but also he escapes with the desire to make enough money in the free States to return home and buy back his wife and kids, right? Like they're still enslaved by that family. And it is a weird, it's,

[00:44:42] it's a weird thing the movie deals with because obviously, you know, slavery, horrible, shouldn't have happened. The movie kind of paints it as like, Oh, he was a slave to like this family, but like, you know, it was good one. It was one of the good ones, right? It was like, Oh, they treated us all right. You know, a hundred percent, that kind of thing. So that, that feels a little icky, you know, that doesn't, doesn't feel great. Um, but I think that I, I think that's probably how the original text of the book is too. Uh, I would imagine. I'm sure. Like Jim's a pretty like,

[00:45:12] you know, comparatively for the time, like a, you know, he, well, he can't read, uh, in the movie, right? He can't. Um, but you know, is, is incredibly like civilized and well-spoken and all that kind of stuff, you know? And he's with a pretty upper class family in the South who like largely like, you know, raise them that way. I'm not sure how long he's been with the family or that kind of thing, but you know, that just feels like that's the environment that, uh, yeah, they grew up in. It feels weird, but at the same time, the movie is still very clear to like, yeah, even though they are one of the nice families,

[00:45:40] he still does not want to be there and he wants to escape and wants to get his family out of there too. Yeah. And the, the, the sort of inciting incident for him to run away is that the family is like sort of falling on hard times and is going to sell him to somebody, somebody that will split up him and his wife and his children. And that's why he, his plan is to run away and earn enough money to come back and like buy his family back. Uh, right. And he, and he uses Huck fakes his own death to get away from his father. And, uh, when that happens, there's like turmoil in the town,

[00:46:10] like, you know, Huck's dad, Ron Perlman like runs into town and tells everyone the Huck died and all that stuff. And there's panic in the streets, all that. And he uses that as his cover to get away. And then of course he runs into Huck in the woods. Right. And then of course the townsfolk assume that the runaway slave must've killed Huck. And exactly. So it all kind of, so it all kind of escalates and it all like intertwines both of their fates, uh, in a, in a fun way. Yeah. And I feel like I remember in the book, Jim is portrayed a lot more simply. Like he's like,

[00:46:37] I feel like he gets tricked by Huck a bunch and I don't really remember a ton, but, it's like what, what, that this is wrong. Uh, and all that stuff. Right. You know, he starts off the movie and, uh, you know, he's like absolutely like, he seems like ride or die. He's ready to help out Jim and his jam and like, okay, we're going to go. We're going to, I'm going to sneak into town and we're going to get some food, some supplies. And, uh, he dresses as a girl and all that stuff, which is a very funny scene. Yeah. A little bugs bunny scene, which is great. Uh,

[00:47:06] and then he gets caught and they have to run away and they get in their, uh, raft and they go on the river, all that stuff. And, uh, he seems pretty ride or die for Jim. And then something happens. I think he runs into like, or he has like a doubts in his mind, I guess, because of just the way society has been built around him. Uh, that makes him think like, Oh wait, you know, Jim's on the run. He's, he's escaped. He has to go back. I, if I don't help him, I'm going to go to, if I don't turn him in, I'm going to go to hell is basically kind of, into the thought process behind Huck, uh,

[00:47:35] which makes sense. He's like 12 years old. Like that's like, that's the thought process that would go through his head. He sort of hints at Jim that like, he's going to turn him in at the next chance he gets. And you know, Jim is like totally crestfallen. And then there's a moment where they're, you know, they stop and, uh, Huck sees some people on the other side of the river and he's going to go over there and tell them what's going on. And Jim is like kind of not guilting him necessarily, but is a little bit. Uh, and it's like, yep, there goes Huck Finn. The only true friend I have in this world, in this world. Man of his word, Huck Finn. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:48:05] Uh, and I, and I like Huck's, uh, change of hearts during that moment. You know, it's, uh, it's, uh, I think Elijah Wood plays that really well. And it's kind of him like realizing that, uh, you know, the world isn't like as black and white as, uh, as he believes it is like kind of growing up in that society and as a kid. Yeah. And that's when he runs into the like slave catchers. Uh, right. And like, he's how cruel they're going to be. Yeah. Forget what they say exactly that. Like they're looking to kill whoever they're hunting or something. And that's when he realizes like, Oh no, just kidding.

[00:48:34] What I said on the guy on the boats got the, the plague or something. I forgot what he, like tuberculosis or something like that. And they, that's how they get away from him. And yeah, that's when he sort of starts to realize like maybe what I thought or what I was taught is maybe not correct. You know, uh, society doesn't have to be this way just cause it is that way. And then, uh, what other, what other kind of moments they get up to shenanigans. They, uh, the Duke and the King, I think are very fun. Yeah, absolutely. One of them being Robbie Coltrane, uh, who is a lot of fun in this. Yeah, no, they're, they're very fun.

[00:49:01] And that's kind of like the last 30 minutes of the movie is the stuff with the Duke and the King, uh, and sort of them, uh, what is it? They're, they're like impersonating like British members of the Wilkes family, right? Uh, it's not the Wilkes family. That's who's adopted to Huck at the beginning, but it's somebody else. Yeah. They, they, uh, learn from somebody in town. That's he's just a wealthy person has died and his brothers from England are supposed to be coming here for the funeral and they just missed him. Oh man, he just died. Uh, or they were supposed to come.

[00:49:32] This is the Wilkes family. So it's the Granger for it. The Granger for it's the ones who adopt Huck and then die in the shootout. the Wilkes family is the one that, uh, they're dealing with towards the end. Uh, this is like with Anne Hayes, she's like the older sister. Yeah. There's the, they impersonate these English people claim to be this dead guy's brothers so they can get the money from the inheritance and they just keep escalating them. Like, well, if we give the money back, they'll let us stay. And then we could take it, rob the whole house and we'll take everybody back to England with us. This is like this, this absolute insane escalation of, of who's got the money and all this stuff. Uh,

[00:50:02] and of course it ends with everybody tart and feathered basically. Yeah. The, uh, the angry mob stuff is really great. Uh, especially just cause the angry mob also speaks in unison, uh, the entire time. Like a Greek chorus. Yes. Uh, which is very, very fun. And there's a lot of back and forth and all that kind of stuff. And the chase scene is very exciting. Uh, with Huck and Jim trying to run out of there. Uh, Huck getting shot in the back, uh, is, uh, you know, a pretty tough moment. And, uh, you know, Jim sees that and, you know, he's, he could get away. He could run, he can make the ship and get out of there,

[00:50:31] but he runs back, helps Huck and like, you know, brings him to the mob. And of course the mob, you know, is about to hang Jim. Uh, yeah, that's crazy. I really thought this movie was going to end with Jim getting lynched. And I was like, there's no way that's how this book ends or this movie ends. Or this PG rated Disney version of the movie. It was crazy. I think I may have also really liked this section because, uh, it's got the guy for major league, uh, as the sheriff. Yes. Which is pretty great. He's wonderful. It took me the whole movie to be like, who the hell is this guy? Why do I recognize this guy?

[00:51:01] I also had that too. And I was like, I just watched major league for Mike makes Mike watch like in the last year. So it was kind of fresh. Um, but yeah, he was great. And then also, uh, one of the guys in the town is Curtis Armstrong. The, uh, Tom Cruise's best buddy in risky business. Right. Right. Uh, who's also the voice of snot and American dad. That's like, I think that's the guy that tells them about, uh, the guy that died and his brothers are supposed to be here. Yeah. And then, so they're doing this, they're doing this really bad English accent the whole time that's coming in and out. And cause they're con men and all that stuff.

[00:51:30] And then the other two guys that may or may not be the real brothers show up. Very, very fun. Yes. Yeah. All that stuff is good. And there's a whole like back and forth. Like there was like a, a symbol on like the dead guys, like his tattoo or whatever. And it's like, Oh, what did you see? And it's like, I don't know. We didn't like in our, and it's like, yeah, he did have an art or whatever, like that, that kind of stuff, which is very fun. And then, yeah, when the, the mob ultimately sets them free because the sisters show up and they stop them and all that, uh, and reveal, I think that, uh, the King and the Duke are con men,

[00:52:00] but Huck and Jim should be free to go. Huck wakes up in the, the return of the King ending and, uh, Jim and stuff like that. It turns out that Jim's owner has like died in her will set Jim free. I think along with, uh, his, his wife and kids, right? Yeah. They're, they're able to go home basically. Cause that's the whole thing. Like they, that's sort of like the, um, the conundrum they're sort of in at the beginning is, well, we can go back and clear up, you know, when, when Jim is accused, they find the wanted poster, like accused of Huck's murder. They're like, well, let's just go home. And like, you'll be,

[00:52:30] I'm not dead, obviously. So like you can't have murdered me, so it'll all be fine. Uh, but that's the, but then Jim will have to return to the plantation, right? We'll return to slavery. And that's their kind of problem. They can't clear Jim's name without turning him back in. Yeah. To the, to his owners. Um, but here, his, his owner has freed him in her will. So now, now he can, they can go home. Yeah. So happy ending for Jim. And then, uh, Huck's other caretaker, the widow Douglas. Uh, she's, you know, she says something like, all right, Huck, I'm planning on civilizing you.

[00:52:59] And then Elijah Wood winks to the camera, uh, and says like, I don't think so. I've been there before. And he runs off into the sunset, uh, and like takes off all of his clothes and Jim's like laughing at the background. And, uh, yeah, it's a very charming ending. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a fucking stupid end of, uh, Shanghai nights with, uh, when Aaron Taylor Johnson, remember when he, have you seen that one? I have, I have not seen either Shanghai noon or Shanghai, high nights, Mike, if you want to add those both to the list. Oh man. Well, there's this, there's this, uh, I mean,

[00:53:29] I think we've, I feel like we've talked about this before, but, at the end of there, Aaron Taylor Johnson plays this like street urchin kid in Shanghai nights. Okay. That a seat that helps them out. And at the very end of the movie, they finally ask him his name and he's like, the name's Chaplin, sir. And he wipes his nose and he leaves a little black mutt. He's Charlie Chaplin? And he's Charlie Chaplin. And I think literally wicks at the camera and the movie ends. Uh, it's just like, that's basically what Huck, what he does at the end of this movie. That's a great ending to Shanghai nights. I have not even seen Shanghai nights and I'm like,

[00:53:58] that's a great way to end that movie. It's so funny. So that's basically what happens here. Yeah, absolutely. But all right. So that is, uh, the adventures of Huck Finn. Any other random bits that you want to talk about, Mike? The, uh, steam ship destroying the raft is a pretty cool scene. Yeah, that, I mean the, the like pirate ship with the dead body with his Pat Finn dead on the, on the ship. And the, all that is intense. And they, they're going to kill each other and they abandoned ship in the storm and all the other people drown and they get away on the raft. It's like, damn, this is intense.

[00:54:27] I feel like we haven't talked enough about Ron Perlman in this movie, actually, who is like, he's only in like 10 minutes of it. He's in the beginning of the movie, but, uh, yeah, he's fantastic. He's awesome. Yeah. Terrifying. He's a literal monster. Yeah, absolutely. And like the scenes with just like him and Huck alone in the cabin are like really scary and all that stuff. Yeah, no, Perlman's great in this. He's so good. And he realizes cause he's, he's, uh, found out his wife has left Huck Finn money after her death, but it's like in a trust until he's 18 or something. Yes. Uh, and then he realizes like, well,

[00:54:56] I'm technically your next of kin. So if you were to die, I should get that. And so he's like, I would kill him. Yeah. But he passes out drunk instead. It's like, damn, this is crazy. Yeah. Uh, and one weird thing, just like a weird connective tissue between this and Tom Sawyer, a lot of death faking in both books. Uh, and in this movie. Yeah. What's one of the, you ever think about that? Like not literally faking your death, but like how in the American past, at least probably in past other places, you can just like go to another town and be like, Nope, I'm Steve now.

[00:55:26] And everyone would be like, yeah, checks out. You're Steve. Yeah. You're Steve. Of course. Yeah. I think it would have been incredibly easy to fake your death back in these times. Yeah. A lot, a lot harder now. There's so much, uh, stuff going on. Yeah. There's pictures of us now for one. Um, but, uh, yeah, it's crazy. It's insane to think about. I listened to, you know, behind the bastards. Uh, it's always has like con men and grifters and stuff. And all of them inevitably are like,

[00:55:54] and he moved to a different state and went to change his name and nobody ever saw him again. Like, yeah, that's crazy. How could you, why is that? How that works? Yeah, no, but Huck fixed, fixed his own death in this movie and in the book. And then in Tom Sawyer, I think both Tom and Huck, I think both of them fake their death in that, book as well. Uh, and they go attend their own funeral, right? That's like a, it's a very famous thing. They're like hanging in the rafters, watching everybody grieve them, uh, and all that stuff. Cause they're mischievous little scamps. Classic. All right. Anything else on the adventures of Huck Finn, Mike,

[00:56:24] or should we start moving on to letterbox reviews? Um, I can't think of anything else for me off the top of my head. So what, what are the, what are the people have to say? All right. Let's see what the people have to say about the adventures of Huck Finn. I got a three and a half star review here from Matt Samal, which reads, I love how the only warning we get on Disney plus before this movie is tobacco depictions. Yet this movie is full of guns, children shooting guns, by the way, slavery, child abuse, stealing, alcoholism, tarring, and even an almost hanging fun for the whole family. Damn.

[00:56:55] Yeah. Which, uh, that is funny. I, I did watch in Disney plus. I didn't even get the tobacco depictions warning. Wow. I didn't even get that. Here's another three and a half star review from David Hatfield, which reads a fun film. That's shockingly mature for a Disney film in the nineties. Young wood delivers an excellent performance that stands up tall with his seasoned castmates. The story feels like it tries to do too much with Twain's classic character telling too many of his stories instead of focusing down and providing a more coherent tale. Still solid though, with real stakes instead of kidified ones, which helps make this more memorable. Yeah. I mean,

[00:57:25] I, I agree though. Like I said, I, I actually thought they were going to lynch Jim at the end. I forgot that this is like a PG Disney movie. You got swept up in it. That's the summer's Kaminsky magic. And one more review here. It's a three-star review from Nathan, not Nate, me, the entire movie. I'm your Huckleberry. I'm your Huckleberry. My mom, you're not Val Kilmer. Stop. This isn't the same movie. True. Good point. But tombstone also released in 1993.

[00:57:53] So Huckleberry big on the minds in film. Yeah. At that time. Real, real return to tradition going on in 1993. Yeah, absolutely. But all right, that is the adventures of Huck Finn. And I believe it's going to wrap up this week's episode of the complete works. Mike D where can we find you online this week? You can find me at MD film blog on letterboxed and blue sky. You can also donate to support the show on our Ko-fi page, ko-fi.com slash Mike and Mike pods,

[00:58:20] where you can donate $50 and pick a topic on the bonus episodes on Mike and Mike, go to the movies. You got a movie you want us to watch such as odd Thomas. Hey, such as Huck and Tom, Tom and Huck. What's the, the sequel to this is the sort of sequel to this movie co-written by Stephen Summers. So I feel like we got to cover it at some point. We could do it. Donate $50 for us to do that on our ko-fi page, ko-fi.com slash Mike and Mike pods. And if you want merch, we have merch available on our red bubble, Mike and Mike pods dot red bubble.com. That's right. You can find me online at Emma Smith film blog on Twitter and blue sky,

[00:58:50] Mike Smith film on letterboxed radio, Mike sandwich and Instagram. Thank you so much for listening to complete works. I'm Mike Smith. This is Mike Decrecio. Don't forget to bring to view the show on Apple podcasts or any other podcast app. And if you want to contact us, uh, you can skeet at us at complete works pod. You can find the rest of our podcasts and rapture press alongside many other podcasts, all kinds of comic books and movie news and all that good stuff. Our theme song was created by Kyle Cullen. You can reach for your own podcast themes, a Kyle's podcast themes at gmail.com. And our logo was designed by a Mac V or at fearless guard on blue sky next week.

[00:59:19] It's De Niro and Pacino child actors. It's the heat of its time. Elijah would and Macaulay Culkin in the good son, uh, which, uh, yeah, I'm excited to rewatch. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. Yeah, we're fine. We're finally there. We finally did it. I've seen that movie once and I don't remember it at all. Other than I think Macaulay Culkin says fuck or something. He sure does. Yeah. He says, don't fuck with me. And that was the big, like shocking moment of, uh, of the good son. Cause this is the kid from home alone. You know, he's, uh,

[00:59:48] I'm sure pearls were clutch. Um, and I can't wait. Yeah, absolutely. What's weird is Macaulay Culkin, like after the good son is still making like, like Richie rich comes out like a year later. Uh, so he's still making like those kid movies too. Uh, but just also through the good son in there while, uh, while he was at it. Uh, so yeah, very excited to dig into that one. I definitely seen it once when I was maybe in like high school and I remember thinking it was not that great, but who knows? Maybe things, maybe time has been kind to it. Yeah. I'm sure we'll be fine. Yeah.

[01:00:17] And I think it would be fun just to watch for, uh, the podcast purposes. It's going to be a fun one. Remember to check out other podcasts. Mike might go to the movies for all kinds of other movie related stuff, including recent releases, ranked lists, general discussions, and a lot more. Thanks so much for listening guys. Join us next time. Would you?