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Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer

Family · Music · Adventure · 1973

Tom Sawyer and his pal Huckleberry Finn have great adventures on the Mississippi River, pretending to be pirates, attending their own funeral, and witnessing a murder.

Movie details

Tom Sawyer

“A Musical Adaptation of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer”

1973 Family · Music · Adventure 1h 43m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

Tom Sawyer and his pal Huckleberry Finn have great adventures on the Mississippi River, pretending to be pirates, attending their own funeral, and witnessing a murder.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Tom Sawyer?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Curly Top

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Godspell

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Summer Magic

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Don Taylor

Written by

Robert B. Sherman · Richard M. Sherman

Johnny Whitaker

Johnny Whitaker

Tom Sawyer

Celeste Holm

Celeste Holm

Tia Polly

Warren Oates

Warren Oates

Muff Potter

Jeff East

Jeff East

Huckleberry Finn

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster

Becky Thatcher

Lucille Benson

Lucille Benson

Widder Douglas

Henry Jones

Henry Jones

Senhor Dobbins

Court is in session

Put Tom Sawyer on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.