Thank goodness the people who made this film never got their hands on Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Willie Morris wrote a wonderful book about growing up in a small town in Mississippi. Skip charmed the reader just as he had charmed the people in Yazoo City. And, oh my! how neat it would have been to have had friends like Spit McGee and Henjie and Muttonhead and Rivers, when we were growing up!
Unfortunately some Hollywood writer decided he could do a better job than Willie Morris and re-wrote most of the story. What we ended up with was a cliche story about bullies, stern fathers, bad guys, and injured animals. I'm surprised they didn't decide to turn Skip into a Lassie-look-alike collie.
What is fortunate is that enough of Morris managed to seep through to make the film entertaining and worth seeing. But it deserved better.
Willie Morris wrote a wonderful book about growing up in a small town in Mississippi. Skip charmed the reader just as he had charmed the people in Yazoo City. And, oh my! how neat it would have been to have had friends like Spit McGee and Henjie and Muttonhead and Rivers, when we were growing up!
Unfortunately some Hollywood writer decided he could do a better job than Willie Morris and re-wrote most of the story. What we ended up with was a cliche story about bullies, stern fathers, bad guys, and injured animals. I'm surprised they didn't decide to turn Skip into a Lassie-look-alike collie.
What is fortunate is that enough of Morris managed to seep through to make the film entertaining and worth seeing. But it deserved better.