UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Python Hyena Follow Me, Boys! (1966): Dir: Norman Tokar / Cast: Fred MacMurray, Vera Miles, Lillian Gish, Kurt Russell, Elliot Reid: Routine family comedy about leadership and inspiration as a lawyer played by Fred MacMurray quits his practice and settles into a small town where he eventually leads a scout troop. Simple plot is charming yet overdone with too many subplots. One involving a war game is perhaps too disturbing for its target audience. Director Norman Tokar wraps it up within a message regarding one life affecting so many but the material is at the mercy of its lead. MacMurray is excellent as a guy who is thrust into a lifestyle outside his comfort zone and he pretty much carries the film. Vera Miles as his wife is pretty standard issue. She provides reason and support but little else. Lillian Gish plays a victim of gossip. She is a reminder that she was part of the beginning of feature film but regardless of that, she is still cardboard here. A young Kurt Russell plays a boy on the wrong side of the track but even this is recycled. Are we to be surprised when the troubled Russell turns out to be misunderstood? Elliot Reid appears long enough to lose Miles to MacMurray and then hopefully he leaves the set in search of a better film. Message of legacy holds a lasting impression while the screenwriter leaves an impression that perhaps he is in the wrong business. Score: 4 ½ / 10

bkoganbing 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.

cutterccbaxter MacMurray plays a character named Lemuel Siddons, a member of a big band in the early 1930s who is tired of the endless traveling involved with that occupation. He wants to settle down somewhere so he can study law. On a whim he picks Hickory (Population 4,951) located somewhere in the Midwest of the United States of America. He immediately meet-cutes Vida Downey, who is played by Vera Miles, by stepping on her foot as he catches a fly ball from a baseball game played by a bunch of kids. She takes an immediate disliking to him, which means they are eventually going to get married. Before this happens, Lemuel, or as he is more commonly known as, Lem, volunteers to organize a Boy Scout troop at a town meeting which impresses Vida. The movie focuses on MacMurray and the positive effect he has on the various groups of boys he leads over the years. Sctructually the film flows somewhat awkwardly. That is the pacing lingers, and then leaps forward, and then lingers again. In a way, it's sort of a poor man's "It's A Wonderful Life" as Lem never really pursues his goal of becoming a lawyer, but instead finds great satisfaction in his marriage to Vida and his commitment as a Scout leader. The difference between Lem and George Bailey is that Lem knows he has it good the entire time, which means most of the drama comes from guiding the troubled Kurt Russle character. Once this part of the movie is concluded the films sort of feels rudderless until it makes it way to the final scene where Lem is honored by the community. The film has a nice positive spirit to it, but it still could have used more drama to make Lem's life all the more poignant.

guidafamily-1 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.