Those Calloways
Directed by Norman Tokar
Written by Louis Pelletier from a book by Paul Annixter
1965/USA
Walt Disney Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Ed Parker: Well, Sir, you take a goose and you put it in a pan. And you take a hand, a big hand, full of bread stuffing, you know? And then you mix that stuffing thoroughly with about, eh, oh, I’d say a half a jug of hard cider. Then you put in a pinch of nutmeg, just a pinch. Then you baste the goose for about, er, oh… about three hours. You baste it with a pint and half of good Jamaica rum.
Dell Fraser: [skeptically] yeah, well…
Ed Parker: Then, you throw the goose away. And you drink the gravy![/box]
Just what you would expect from a Disney family film. My enjoyment was marred slightly by my lack of sympathy for Canada Geese.
The Calloway family of backwoods New England – father Cam (Brian Keith); mother Lydia (Vera Miles) and grown son Bucky (Brandon DeWilde) – live a simple life and earn most of their income from fur trapping. They, like the local Native Americans, regard wild geese as their totem animal and thrill at the site of them migrating over their property twice each year. Cam is determined to build a sanctuary for them. An evil real estate developer has other ideas – he wants to sell the area as a hunting resort. Much drama – mainly domestic – ensues. With Ed Wynn and Walter Brennan in supporting roles as townspeople.
Anyone who has ever lived in an American suburb inhabited by Canada Geese and their droppings knows that this bird can fend for itself quite nicely, thank you very much. Which doesn’t mean I sympathize with hunters, just that they are not going extinct any time soon! So the quest fo the Calloways felt a bit empty to me, expecially since they have no problem whatsoever killing other wild things. Anyway, this has Disney quality and heart to recommend it as a family film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaD824a-yOM
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