Product Details

• Actors: Mickey Rooney, Walter Connolly, William Frawley, Rex Ingram, Lynne Carver
• Directors: Richard Thorpe
• Writers: Hugo Butler, Mark Twain, Waldo Salt
• Producers: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM/UA
• VHS Release Date: September 22, 1999
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301964268
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #483 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #7 in	Video > Action & Adventure > Adventure
  #12 in	Video > Kids & Family > Adapted from Books > Feature Films
  #16 in	Video > Action & Adventure > Classics

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is considered by many to be the greatest American novel ever written. Though none of the many film adaptations have done the book justice, the closest remains the 1939 remake with Mickey Rooney. Toning down his usual firecracker personality, Rooney's river-boy Huck is a fun-loving, superstitious kid who can't give up his free-and-easy life of fishing and smoking, despite the best efforts of his kindly guardians. When his souse of a Pap blackmails the well-meaning matrons, mischievous Huck fakes his death and heads down the river with his friend Jim (Rex Ingram), a slave he grudgingly helps escape to a free state. Rooney displays his underrated skills as a dramatic performer as he banters with Jim about slavery, fate, and destiny, and his slow realization that, slave or not, Jim is a human being ripples across his face like a remembered sin. The last half of the picture winds the destinies of the runaways around the schemes of con men Walter Connelly and William Frawley (who make a hilarious team as "the King" and "the Duke"), where the comic antics nuzzle against despicable plots and Huck's free spirit slams against his growing sense of responsibility. It's a generally faithful adaptation until the climax, which completely removes Tom Sawyer's appearance for a melodramatic, race-to-the-rescue conclusion. But for all the film's narrative liberties, Rooney's thoughtful performance captures Twain's Huck better than any version before or since. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best film version of the Mark Twain classic., July 26, 2002

By	J. Kane "AbleKane" (Balad, Iraq) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is probably the most accurate portrayal of Huck ever brought to screen! Here you see the young hero learn the power of loyalty and the evils of racism as he smokes and curses his way through one adventure after another.

Despite criticisms about the use of racially offensive language, this movie(and book) have done much toward bridging the gap between the races by imparting understanding and empathy. Accusations that the language of the book should justify its being banned are born of ignorance, not a true desire for tolerance.

Watch this and decide for yourself.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MICKEY ROONEY SHINES!, January 29, 2005

By	THIERRY "THIERRY" (CALIFORNIA) - See all my reviews

THIS MOVIE IS ONE OF THE GREAT STAR MICKEY ROONEY'S VERY BEST. WHO CARES IF IT'S NOT TOTALLY TRUE TO THE BOOK. THE FACT HERE IS THAT I WATCH IT TO SEE MICKEY ROONEY'S GREAT TALENT AND JUST TO SEE HIM. HE HAS SUCH A SCREEN PRESENCE, THERE IS JUST SOMETHING ABOUT HIM THAT MAKES ME BELIEVE THAT NO OTHER COULD BE ANY BETTER. THIS MOVIE IS GREAT! IF YOU ARE A MICKEY FAN AS I AM YOU WILL LOVE THIS MOVIE! HE'S GREAT AND ADORABLE!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun Movie, good acting -- not fairly true to the story, June 27, 1999

By A Customer

If you care for accuracy avoid this video. For fun, and a sort of neat feel - OK

Acting quite good.

But this is not the story written by Mark Twain (or Sam Clemens)