“Those of you paying attention may have noticed that I’d originally listed this as a film that didnt quite make the cut. I told you my list was always in flux. After I’d posted that, I kept thinking that it was wrong. Besides, four of the other five movies I’ve watched more times than any other are on the list. How could I possibly leave this one out? And I do have lots to say about it, or at least I think I do. For the record, the movie that got sacrificed for this one was Little Miss Sunshine. I think it had lucked its way on anyways.
Aw man, I’ve got the DVD on the menu right now while I start this write up and warm up breakfast, and the music has me so giddy. I woulda never for the life of me been able to tell you what it sounded like from memory, but as soon as those first few notes started playing it all came rushing back.
Like most preteeny boppers at the time when this film came out, I was crazy obsessed with Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Yup, JTT <3! That woulda been between my Macauly Culkin and Hanson phases. He was just so sweet and absolutely adorable. I've always had thing for pretty boys, and he certainly was the prettiest of them all. I think Man of the House was prolly the one that really got me going on him, but for the actual movie I preferred Tom and Huck. However, the reason I preferred Tom and Huck may actually have been because of Brad Renfro. As much as I was madly in love with JTT, it was Brad that had me swooning every time I'd watch it. Maybe its my bit of a Messiah complex (wanting to be someone's savior) that made me want to just hold Huck and take care of him and keep him for always. I think this is the only one of his films that's on the current revision of the list, but previous versions have included The Client and Apt Pupil. I actually just rewatched Apt Pupil after reading the Stephen King novella and fucking loved it. It feels kinda wrong how hot I found baddie Brad in that. Needless to say I was very distraught when he unfortunately passed a few years ago, and even more sad that it sorta became a footnote in Hollywood because there was that other pretty boy who died in Jan 2008 about a week later. (Im referring to Heath Ledger, who we will have several more opportunities to discuss in the future) As an only child, I've had to rely on my overly active imagination to keep me entertained. When I was really little, I didnt have just one imaginary friend. I had a whole posse of them. Then as I got older, but was still young enough to play pretend, I would write and cast myself in movie sequels that I'd play out alone in my room. One of the ones I remember visiting the most was a sequel for Tom and Huck. I dont remember too much about it, except that I was a love interest for Huck (naturally). Maybe I was Injun Joe's daughter or something? I really dont recall. While we're on the subject, the other sequel I remember was for The Mask. I was an orphan adopted by Jim Carey who came across the mask and hilarity ensued. I think I even started typing out a script for that one at some point. Oh my God, what was with Jon's hair in this film? No wonder I preferred him in Man of the House
Wow. Rachel Leigh Cook is so bite sized as Becky Thatcher. I’d wanted to be her oh so bad.
Just before this, I was watching Dumb and Dumber (finishing it off since I fell asleep last night). I couldnt figure out where the \m/ I’d seen the kidnapper guy before. I tried IMDB-ing him, but wasn’t sure if I had the right person and nothing in the “”known for”” jumped out at me. Now while I’ve got Tom and Huck on, I realized who he was about five seconds before he stepped on screen. Its Judge Thatcher!
Back home, I used to watch movies over and over and over. I woulda kept up with that here, if I didnt have such a huge collection, to the point where I have a backlog of movies I’ve bought but havent seen yet. So far, Im only a few into the project but with each of the ones that I’ve loved for 10+ years, I find myself still able to quote along with it even if I haven’t seen it in ages. Tom and Huck is no exception, and I get so giddy every time I anticipate a line, esp if its one of Huck’s lines.
Mmm that was a fun way to kick off a Saturday”