When his father (Preston Foster) finally agrees to let him choose a foal, Ken picks Flicka, a beautiful but high-spirited filly who comes from a bloodline considers hopelessly wild. "In this touching family film based on the celebrated novel by Mary O'Hara, ten-year-old Kenny McLaughlin (Roddy McDowall), a rancher's son, desperately wants a horse of his own. 89 minutes of pleasant schmaltz beats a Cheaper by the Dozen or a Happy Feet any day. I'm recommending My Friend Flicka for you and your family. I never believed him I kept thinking that this guy would grow up to play one effeminate killer after another on the NBC Mystery Movie. McDowell holds his own on screen with the older professionals, but it's that suppressed accent and his wimpiness that put the greatest strain on the movie. Hale is so cutesy in her attempt to do a Shirley Temple impression through the movie that you want her shipped out to whatever passed for kindergarten back then. Probably the only faults in the movie are in the star Roddy McDowell and his little friend, Patti Hale. It sounds silly, but it makes the movie work. Flicka stands out because most of the exteriors are shot in outdoors instead of in a large sound stage. Also, notice how good the color looks, how crisp the images are, and check out some very mobile camera work out on the north forty. If you can get past the occasional side trip into the corn field, there's a lot of straightforward emotion and values in MFF. It had a nice, simple feel to it and you can just see how comforting this movie might have been to the nerve-jangled America of 1943. Good family film, still holds up well since the World War II years.įrom some of the comments about the first version of My Friend Flicka, you'd think the movie was 89 minutes of pure schmaltz, but I enjoyed it. The color cinematography here makes My Friend Flicka timeless and salable for today's taste. 20th Century Fox probably did more color features than other studios, mostly for their splashy musicals. Studios which were starting to use color before the war pretty much switched to black and white. This is where Preston Foster gets his doubts, but love between the boy and horse win out. The colt's mother has a streak of crazy wildness in her and a particular piece of wildness kills her. It's quite touching and real and the two see through some rough patches. The bonding of the colt Flicka with McDowell is something to see. Johnson decides that he should get a colt anyway to teach him a sense of responsibility and Foster goes along with the idea, a bit reluctantly. McLaughlin has become quite the headache for his parents Preston Foster and Rita Johnson, his grades slipping and his chores on the horse ranch they have left undone. The film has deservedly become an international children's classic. The cat is only visible in a couple of Purr Blur moments for the rest of the film.One of Roddy McDowell's most endearing roles as a child actor was as young Ken McLaughlin in My Friend Flicka. The next time the cat is seen he is sleeping in a chair when Ken’s father comes along and dumps him out! That’s bad enough, but the man then shoves the cat aside with his leg! She climbs onto a fence and the cat approaches her as she complains, “I don’t see why I can’t be a boy!”Īs she picks up the cat she comments, “Even you’re a boy … I guess!” The most notable appearance by the cat is when a little girl named Hildy (Diana Hale) is left behind because, as Ken explains, she is a girl. The cat is next spotted preening in Ken’s parent’s room as they talk. The cat remains until the father leaves and Ken and his mother start to talk. The gray and white tuxedo cat first appears on a windowsill behind the father during a breakfast scene. Synopsis: A boy named Ken (Roddy McDowell) longs for a colt of his own, but his horse rancher father (Preston Foster) isn’t sure the boy is up to the task.Ĭat Burglar (Scene Stealer): There is a cat which is seen living in and around the house on the horse ranch. Starring: Roddy McDowell, Patti Hale, Preston FosterĬat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
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