Follow Me, Boys! Movie Review (1966)

This. This movie. See, discovering this movie was one of the reason why I started doing this project. It was adorable, it was fun to watch. I loved it. Anyway, back to the review. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.

A Brief Summary

(Taken from D23)

Dissatisfied with his life as a saxophonist in a traveling jazz band, Lemuel Siddons impulsively settles down in the small Illinois town of Hickory (population 4,951), not realizing that he will remain there the rest of his days. This heartwarming and humorous story tells how Lem becomes the local scoutmaster, and how he courts and marries the lovely Vida. But, mostly, it is the story of a man who sacrifices his own personal goals to devote himself to several generations of boys, teaching them enduring values through scouting. And, for Lem, this brings the love, respect, and recognition he so richly deserves.

What works

• Feels like a story with 3 acts (and much, much better put together than the Merlin Jones movies). I did try to keep my notes organized in the order of the ‘acts’ that they appear in.
  • act one (1930)
    • arrival in Hickory
    • marriage
    • boy scouts
    • whitey
  • act two (1944)
    • boy scouts
    • law trial
  • act 3 (1950)
    • getting old
    • war over
    • whitey comes home
    • Lem Siddons Day
• Within minutes of the movie starting, it establishes Lem’s first motivation: to get a stable job and put down roots. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that.
• I’m seriously getting strong Mr. Holland’s Opus/The Emperor’s Club vibes from this movie. That mentor/mentees plot trope is one of my favorites which might have been why I enjoyed this movie so much or at least was a big help for why I enjoyed it.
• I appreciate the speed at which the plot moves forward when necessary, whether it was by speeding through Lem settling down in Hickory and then through the majority of Lem and Vida dating. As much as I enjoyed this movie, it would have slowed down tremendously had they not jumped forward in time.
• Lem’s straightforwardness is not even a bit annoying. In fact, it’s quite charming
  • I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I really like Lem. He’s straightforward and doesn’t shy away from admitting he doesn’t know something
• Ralph Hastings is a minor antagonist. He doesn’t do any major harm, just minor obstacles here and there. Considering how little drama is actually in this movie, his presence was appreciated because he didn’t really do much damage.
• I love that the whole point of this movie, Lem being the Scoutmaster, came about because at the town meeting, Lem took Vida’s written suggestion to help the town’s boys (B.S.A) and announces it as his own in order to impress her. And, AND then offers to be scoutmaster himself to really impress her. Mission accomplished.
• intro of Whitey, the rough-around-the-edges lad with a good heart(ish)
  • several foreshadowing signs that his dad would die and he would be adopted by Lem & Vida
• Okay, but actually the Follow Me song is good and catchy. I enjoyed it which is far more than I can say about previous ‘march’ songs in the Disney movies (I’m looking at you, Parent Trap!)
• At one point in the first ‘act’, Whitey breaks into the shop that Lem works in. I loved that Lem let him go. It made such a good turning point for Lem, Whitey, and Vida.
  • You could see the seeds planting for Whitey’s character development which I always support.
  • You could also learn more about Lem’s background in an easy natural way. The fact that pretty much all background information in this movie was shared in such a natural way was just one of the charms of this movie. It was so refreshing not having to feel forced to learn anything. That the first kiss occurred right after for Lem and Vida was just icing on the cake.
• Vida and Lem are so good together even when they fight, it’s light on drama and they were a good match when it came to dialogue. Thank you to the writers!
  • The movie overall is low on heavy drama, which is so nice. It fits the small-town setting and lets the characters/story shine.
• One of the most beautiful scenes comes when Vida’s sewing Whitey’s merit badge on. She’s sad, which everyone starts to pick up on, because she found out she can’t have kids and that was something that both she and Lem had really wanted. But Lem comforting her and pointing out that they have 15 boys already? Priceless. It was still a little bittersweet but it was so beautifully done.
• I’m so glad that Whitey’s dad isn’t a violent drunk, the fact that he was a drunk added enough tension as it was. Had he been violent as well, it would have added a heaviness to the movie that would not have worked well with the rest of the story.
• I love that both Lem and Vida are in agreement to take Whitey in after his father passes. A clean transition is always the best and anything else would have gone against the characters and the plot itself.
• Ralph Hastings’ conversation about the value of lake property is the setup for the later law trial. The lake property specifically was a minor or major plot point in each of the 3 acts. A minor plot point in the first act, but certainly a major plot point in the 2 following acts.
• Aunt Hetty (Mrs. Sieberts) is one of the hidden gems of this movie. Every scene she’s in, she just sparkles.
• Whitey trying to run away (to not bring trouble to Lem and Vida after the hiking accident/rescue) and Lem agreeing not to quit the scouts was a good way end to the first act.
  • I like that they don’t show Lem discovering he was gone and focused instead on the reunion and Lem calming the townspeople down after deciding to not quit scouts.
    • As a side note, Whitey’s reaction to Lem resigning is beautiful. Definitely one of my top scenes from this movie!
• “Boy, I bet I’ll be a good soldier, won’t I Lem? just like your son, Whitey, the one that’s in the medical corps.”
  • a good bit of dialogue to update the audience on what’s going on with Whitey
• The hearing for Mrs. Siebert’s mental competency is a work of art.
  • Not only was getting Mrs. Siebert’s tragic backstory worth it
    • “Oh, I wanted that more than anything, a place where boys could play just as my boys did.”
  • But her explanation of the tax shelter to the judge reminds me of Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny. Slam dunk explanation. what a boss. (both Sieberts and Tomei)
• Lem doesn’t take the bar again, this time for good, and then the radio announcement that the war ended effectively ended Act 2.
  • “I’ve had my day in court.”
• Act 3 is set in 1950, 20 years after Lem’s arrival in Hickory (6 years after events of Act 2)
• Leo, from the original troop, is the executor of the estate for Hughes. I love seeing all of the original scouts grown up, they were all just so successful! I was just so gosh darn proud of them (even when they were only on screen for a few moments here and there).
• After it’s clear that Lem can no longer physically handle all of the duties of being the Scoutmaster, Whitey and the Troop committee resign Lem from Scoutmaster, making him Scoutmaster Emeritus. This seriously was one of the finest scenes in Lem’s character arc as he finally steps back from what he’s spent 20 years doing.
• The entire ending section was absolutely beautiful: from Lem not thinking the original troop came back to the overwhelming support by town & troop 1 on Lem Siddons Day’. There was even a speech from the governor ( a grown-up HooDoo) who even bestowed an honorary law degree for Lem
  • “all of you who’ve made my life the happiest life a man could have, and Mrs. Siebert, a very special thanks to you for making all this possible.”
• Absolutely satisfied with this movie. A winner.

What may or may not work

• So pretty much the whole first part of the second act (or what I call the second act) takes place when the camera panned over from the campsite to the army truck, I hadn’t realized during the first viewing that the army was actually right there for war games. I thought they were showing some of the grown original scouts in the same troop. But I was wrong. Though seriously, let’s talk about the war games/scout camp scenes. I had read that they had cut the movie down after the early release (though obviously the scenes were restored for the copy that I rented) and now having seen the movie, I’m pretty sure that it was this section of the movie that had been removed. It really doesn’t do much for the plot.
  • a pretty detailed war game, they’ve got tanks, an airplane, an ammo dump, cannons, lots of cannons.
  • that Lem gets taken POW by the army. And can’t convince them that he’s telling the truth because he still can’t do a sheepshank knot.
  • It is entertaining watching the boy scouts survive and win the war game. A chaotic mess, but entertaining
  • While it makes for some entertaining scenes, it’s a bit hard to believe that they, while in the states, would not think that there aren’t civilians around. Or that there wouldn’t have been a notification by the army informing the civilians of the closure of that area.
  • The boys even identify themselves as ‘Hawk Patrol BSA Hickory’ and still the war game people think that they’re part of the game….dumbbells

Honorable Mentions

• Lem and Vida go on their first date to a movie called Altar Bound. It’s the simple things that make me smile, haha.
• Okay, so I just really loved the dialogue from this movie, so this time around my ‘Honorable Mentions’ are pretty much all coming from the dialogue (I highly recommend watching this movie as me just typing out these quotes doesn’t do them justice):
  • Boy Scouts’ serenade outside the Siddons’ home post-honeymoon (Let me call you sweetheart)
    • “Lem, a serenade, what a charming thing to do. -Vida
      • “pretty awful, isn’t it?”-Lem
  • The scouts after the war games have started.
    • “Never mind Lem, we gotta get outta here. We’re being invaded.”
    • “They must have come up from Mexico or come down from Canada.”
    • “Hey guys, come back here. It’s only war games.”
      • (So did they know?! I’m so confused by who actually knew what was going on in this entire section)
    • “All I did was pull a cord and look what happened.” – Tiger
  • “Flour, nothing but flour.” – one of the scouts
    • “Doesn’t taste like flour to me, tastes like something poisonous.”
    • “Cyanide?”
      • well that escalated quickly… (after flour bombs were dropped during war games)
  • ‘Holy jumping blue-eyed cow’
  • “and I did it, Lem. I started the whole war, I pulled the string.” – Tiger

Side Questions

• I still just question the entirety of the war games portion. Why didn’t the army put up solid perimeters, why didn’t Lem know that there was going to be a war game going on, all the things. And “because the script said so” is a weak answer.

Would I watch this movie again?

• Absolutely in a heartbeat. This was one of the new-to-me treasures and I so enjoyed watching it. I’m a tad disappointed that it’s not on Disney+ yet but it’s certainly one of my new top films from this project.

If you’ve seen Follow Me, Boys!, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!

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