One of Walt Disney's best feature films from the Sixties, Follow Me Boys is a two hour tribute to the Boy Scouts and to one man's dedication to them. And the odd thing is that Fred MacMurray got into Scouting for the most basic of all human reasons.Fred MacMurray arrives at this whistle stop of a Midwest town while with a traveling band in the Roaring Twenties. He's frustrated both trying to study law and play the saxophone for Ken Murray's band. On an impulse he's so taken with the town that he makes a decision right there to stay. He sees a help wanted sign in the window of Charlie Ruggles general store and Ruggles hires him right there. And of course there's the sight of Vera Miles working at the bank across the street that really makes him want to stay.In fact at a town meeting MacMurray suggests that a Scout Troop be formed as an activity for the kids. When Elliott Reid who is Miles's boss at the bank and MacMurray's rival demurs saying he doesn't have the time to be a Scoutmaster, MacMurray moves right on in, mainly to make an impression with Miles.After that the Scouts become his life and MacMurray like George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life becomes the leading citizen of that town. He's the moulder of the youth and biggest influence on their character. And in one case he and Miles become foster parents to Kurt Russell and save him from what would have been a dissolute life.There's a little bit of Boys Town in this film because there aren't any really bad boys here as Father Flanagan opined. But the main influence on this film adapted from a MacKinley Kantor story is Goodbye Mr. Chips. MacMurray does everything, but teach school for them.Best scenes are when the kids are trapped in some army war games and through Boy Scout ingenuity come through it just fine.Follow Me Boys gives Fred MacMurray one of his best roles in a Disney feature and it holds up well for today's audience.

Just thought I would share what little I know about this movie.Mackinlay Kantor was born in my hometown of Webster City, Iowa. He belonged to Boy Scout troop #17. He would have been 16 years old in 1920 so that gives you an idea when he was in scouts. My understanding is that he wrote the book to honor the Boy scouts and their leaders and he wanted to do so because of the great experiences he had a scout. I don't know how much of the movie is true but I do know there is at least one thing in the movie which reflects Webster City. It's nothing more than the name of a street but it's something anyway.When I was a scout in the mid 70's we met in the upstairs of an old school building. All over the walls were posters which listed the winners of some of the annual contests that the troop held each year. Mackinlay Kantor's name was up there several times for having won several contests.The name of my Scout leader in the 70's was a man named John McMurray. The man who founded Troop 17 in Webster City was a man named Murray McMurray. Their family has run a chick hatchery of all things in Webster City for years and it is still a thriving business today. Murray would have been Mackinlay Kantors Scout leader and I'm sure a big reason why he wrote the book. Murry, by the way, was a local banker who started the hatchery on the side. So he wasn't a musician like Lem was per say but his commitment to the town and to scouts is obviously reflected in the book and movie.At this writing it is Memorial Day weekend 2006. There is a reunion being held this weekend in Webster City for all scouts who ever were in Troop 17. Among other things John McMurray will be speaking and concerning the movie Follow Me Boys? They will be be playing it twice for everybody there to go and see.If you grew up in Webster City and were a scout this movie holds a little bit more than the usual emotions.

I as well have been waiting years for this movie to come out. My father took us to see it as children several years ago (no doubt a re-lease at the time since I am only 36 now.. much younger then Kurt Russell) I faintly remembered bits and pieces of it, and every scene I remembered took place in the first 80 minutes... the last "Stretched Out" 40 minutes was completely forgettable and after watching it again for the first time tonight in probably 32 years I can see why I forgot that part entirely. Maybe in the theaters it had all the children put to sleep. Either with Court Hearings, Legal Jargin or simpling getting older and not knowing how to end it. The first 80 minutes of the film is good enough to compete with ANY Live Action Disney film of the time, from "That Darn Cat" to "The Apple Dumpling Gang", it's wholesome and sweet and reminds you of everything that was once good about your life and that time period.. then out of nowhere the writers decide to "Advance" time for some reason and they take FORTY minutes to show how some of these great characters get old, retire or DIE. What could've been done in 5 minutes completely takes all the air out of the movie.. Kurt Russel's final scene takes place at around 80 minutes into it, and after that it's like trying to know new kids and a new troop and so on and so on. Granted, as an EagleScout myself, that's what a BoyScout Master goes through in their lives... one troop after another, with new faces, but for storytelling purposes and an audience getting to know the characters, this is a shot to the gut, like someone switched the DVD's on you and you're watching an entirely new film.Like I said, for the first 80 minutes of this, it was enough to be called a Classic with the Likes of "Swiss Family Robinson" and the "Love Bug" and they could've EASILLY wrapped up the "later years" in a 5-minute segment to leave you with a smile on your face instead of confusion or disappointment in thinking "well that was.... okay I guess." It could've been Perfect... It could've been a classic.

Fred McMurray is a saxophone player who is looking to settle down and finds the small town of Hickory to be just the place. To impress Vera Miles, he offers to form and lead a Boy Scout troop, which eventually leads to the title song, which I've had in the back of my mind since seeing this movie in 1966!The movie is a Disney-esque look at small town America and also how one person can make a difference. Kurt Russell is great and the scenes with him defending his father are poignant.This movie is unapologetically corny and wonderful. It has made a lasting impression on me and I recommend it heartily.