A young man from Boston heads west to join the California gold rush with the hopes of restoring his family fortune, but his dedicated butler sets out to find him and bring him home.A young man from Boston heads west to join the California gold rush with the hopes of restoring his family fortune, but his dedicated butler sets out to find him and bring him home.A young man from Boston heads west to join the California gold rush with the hopes of restoring his family fortune, but his dedicated butler sets out to find him and bring him home.
- Bandido
- (as Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez)
- Barfly
- (uncredited)
- Police Officer
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRichard Haydn replaced Tony Hancock due to Hancock's erratic on-set behavior. Hancock reportedly also had trouble with the mock-Shakespearean dialog.
- GoofsBefore the fight, Bullwhip says that he must follow the Marquess of Queensberry Rules, which were published in 1867. The film is set around 1850.
- Quotes
Eric 'Bullwhip' Griffin: Now that was not fair. You simply must observe the Marquess of Queensberry rules.
Mountain Ox: Huh?
Referee: [pulling Bullwhip aside] Stop usin' them cuss words. I said "a clean fight."
- ConnectionsReferenced in Screen One: Hancock (1991)
With the news that his estate is to be liquidated following his grandfathers death, 12 year old Jack Flagg (Bryan Russell) heads to 1840's San Francisco to try and make his fortune in the gold rush. His loyal family butler, Griffin (Roddy McDowall) tracks Jack to the shipyard, but then is stuck on board when the ship departs. Learning of a map to a 'motherload', the pair team up with Quentin Bartlett (Richard Haydn) to discover it, but the villainous Judge Higgins (Karl Malden) also has ideas on that gold and is prepared to cheat and threaten to get it.
As I said, I rather enjoyed "Bullwhip Griffin" it was mostly knockabout fun, with some really good comedic performances from McDowall and Malden especially. Judge Higgins gave me similar vibes to Count Olaf from the "Unfortunate Events" series, repeatedly showing up in different outfits with only our heroes able to spot him. There is an episodic nature to the film in general, which perhaps stems from the fact that it's adapted from a book, but unlike other things that I've criticised for being like that, I don't feel that this film lost sight of the characters overall goals.
The version on Disney plus both is edited somewhat, to remove some racial slurs, but also has the new "negative cultural stereotypes" warning, that will appear in front of a number of films. There is a scene with a Mexican bandit that I didn't think was too bad, but the scenes with the Chinese actors and Malden dressing as one of them, is where it starts to get a bit less acceptable.
I don't tend to comment on how women look in films, being a modern 21st century guy like I am, but I can't not mention how beautiful Suzanne Pleshette is, playing Jack's (much) older sister Arabella. (The horizon tries but it just not as kind on the eyes).
Whilst I don't think it's some forgotten masterpiece, given that my expectations were low "The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin" was a pleasant surprise.
- southdavid
- Feb 7, 2021
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Bullwhip Griffin oder Goldrausch in Kalifornien
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1