Rating: NR
Genre:
Adventure
Release Date: 01/31/2006
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 111 Minutes
Flags: Child Classic
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
A boy learns life-changing lessons about the importance of friendship and the dignity of labor in this
adventure saga based on a story by
Rudyard Kipling. Young
Harvey Cheyne (
Freddie Bartholomew) is the working definition of a spoiled brat; the only child of a wealthy widowed businessman,
Harvey has everything he needs, but never stops asking for more, convinced he can get anything if he yells, pouts, or throws the right tantrum. Even other boys his age are disgusted with his antics, and when he accompanies his father on an ocean cruise, he finds he has no friends to play with. After wolfing down six ice-cream sodas,
Harvey gets sick to his stomach and while vomiting over the side of the ship, he falls into the drink. He is rescued by
Manuel (
Spencer Tracy), a Portuguese old salt who drags him on board a Gloucester fishing boat where he's a deck hand and doryman.
Harvey shows no gratitude to
Manuel for saving his life and demands to be taken home immediately;
Manuel and the crew, not the least bit sympathetic, inform him that once they've filled the ship's hold with fresh catch, they'll return to shore, and not a moment sooner. Over the next few weeks,
Harvey grows from a self-centered pantywaist into a young man who appreciates the value of a hard day's work, and in
Manuel he finds the strength, guidance, and good sense that he never got from his father.
Spencer Tracy earned an Academy Award for his performance in
Captains Courageous and even sings a bit; the story was parodied years later (with a few rather drastic changes) in the
Chris Elliott vehicle
Cabin Boy.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
;)
