Leave It to Beaver (1997)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Andy Cadiff

Writers (WGA):

Bob Mosher (television series) &
Joe Connelly (television series) ...

Release Date:

22 August 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family

Tagline:

The Beav is back.

Plot:

Cleavers are an all-American family living in Ohio - wise father Ward, loving mother June, teen-age son Wally and 8-year-old "Beaver" Theodore...

Plot Keywords:

Bicycle | Based On TV Series | Dating | Children | American Football

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Christopher McDonald	...	Ward Cleaver
Janine Turner	...	June Cleaver
Cameron Finley	...	Theodore 'Beaver' Cleaver
Erik von Detten	...	Wallace 'Wally' Cleaver
Adam Zolotin	...	Edward 'Eddie' Haskell Jr.
Alan Rachins	...	Fred Rutherford
Grace Phillips	...	Miss Landers
Geoffrey Pierson	...	Football Coach Gordon (as Geoff Pierson)
Barbara Billingsley	...	Aunt Martha
Ken Osmond	...	Edward 'Eddie' Haskell Sr.
Frank Bank	...	Frank
Erika Christensen	...	Karen
E.J. De La Pena	...	Larry Mondello
Justin Restivo	...	Clarence 'Lumpy' Rutherford
Louis Martin Braga III	...	Gilbert Bates (as Louis Braga)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language and some elements of sensuality.

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | USA:PG (certificate #35435) | Argentina:Atp | Spain:T | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Lakewood, California, USA

Company:

Robert Simonds Productions

Trivia:

Ken Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell's father, was the original Eddie Haskell in the television show "Leave It to Beaver" (1957).

Goofs:

Continuity: In the Mighty Mites opening game, Beaver is on the kickoff team waving at his dad instead of paying attention when the ball is kicked. But with 38 seconds left in the game, the coach says "Okay, the rules say I gotta play everyone" and he puts in Beaver.

Quotes:

Ward Cleaver: June, you're vacuuming in pearls. You know what that does to me!

Movie Connections:

References The Lion King (1994)

Soundtrack:

Lloyd Likes Swimming

They Call This 'Wholesome?'

As someone who grew up watching "Leave It To Beaver" on television, and now on DVD, this "upgraded" movie version is disgusting.

Out-of-touch movie critics like Porter & Martin, who have a best-selling paperback book each year of short movie reviews of anything on tape or disc, called this "wholesome" fun. In fact, they said it was so wholesome kids of today might not want to see it, meaning it was too goody-goody for them. This shows you how out-of-touch film critics can be because compared to that 1950s show, this is HARDLY a wholesome movie.

In this LITB, the young guys are all after girls and sex, use the word "suck" all the time and the story is filled with 1990s-type Hollywood portrayals and comments (Beaver was excited because he saw an R-rated movie, etc.)

Overall, it's still a kid's movie and Cameron Finley is "cute" as Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver and his parents are nice, but there are too may moral problems with this version. Stick to the TV shows, especially now that the first two seasons on DVD. Those are fantastic.