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Flipper (1963)
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Overview
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Release Date:
14 August 1963 (USA)
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Tagline:
You'll have to see it to believe it! more
Plot:
Sandy is distraught when, having saved Flipper by pulling out a spear, his father insists the dolphin be released...
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Awards:
1 win
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User Comments:
Wonderful Scenery inhabited by Hardscrabble Folks
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Cast
(Complete credited cast) | Chuck Connors | ... | Porter Ricks |
| Luke Halpin | ... | Sandy Ricks |
| Connie Scott | ... | Kim Parker |
| Jane Rose | ... | Hettie White |
| Joe Higgins | ... | Mr. L.C. Parett |
| Robertson White | ... | Mr. Abrams |
| George Applewhite | ... | Sheriff Rogers |
| Kathleen Maguire | ... | Martha Ricks |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Mitzie | ... | Flipper |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
87 min
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Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
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Trivia:
Filmed in 1961.
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Goofs:
Miscellaneous: The roman numeral copyright date at the end of the movie shows MCMXLIII which would be 1943. For 1963 it should be MCMLXIII.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "That '70s Show: Ramble On (#5.5)" (2002)
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Soundtrack:
Flipper
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This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (8 total)
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Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Flipper (1963)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
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| Couldn't help notice | hunterjlc |
| Double-Feature DVD Query | Madness832 |
| Smaller roles not credited | jtissothatch |
Recommendations
If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
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| Flipper | Flipper's New Adventure | Finding Nemo | Of Love & Betrayal | Storm Boy |
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This is the film that began the whole "Flipper" legend. It's tough to realize that respect for dolphins and their abilities is only a fairly recent phenomenon. This film concludes with a very simple message along those lines, spoken by Chuck Connors, that meant something when it was made.
Chuck Connors is terrific as Porter Ricks, a man protecting himself and his family in a harsh and unforgiving environment. As a simple fisherman enduring a natural and hopefully temporary fish shortage, Connors projects a wonderful blend of empathy and firmness that set the standard for the various sequels, remake and TV series that followed. He certainly looks and acts like a man who lives a hard life and survives by his wits as much as his brawn. Kathleen Maguire is fine as Connors' loving wife, who tempers his hardness while understanding why he has to be that way.
Luke Halpin is great as well playing son Sandy Ricks. It is extremely tough for child actors to come off as sympathetic, but Luke pulls it off. He is in virtually every scene that doesn't include Connors, and he successfully carries the film. Playing it straight as an arrow, he keeps his relationship with "Flipper" believable without going completely overboard with sentimentality, as sometimes happened in later versions.
Flipper himself is wonderful, portrayed as a very vulnerable yet ultimately heroic sea creature rather than the the all-conquering wonder-beast that emerged later. Washed up on shore and dieing from a harpoon wound, it is impossible not to feel sad about his fate and, by extension, the fate of other defenseless sea creatures. This film did more for ecology than a hundred books by learned academics.
The tale is simple, of men and women against the elements. They live in simple, disposable shacks, and their fishing boats are their lives. Everybody is believable, from the fishermen struggling to find fish to the rules-bound woman who runs the tight community's de facto heart, the local Post Office. There is a fair share of melodrama, especially early on during the hurricane and at the film's climax, but that is certainly forgivable as being necessary to bring audiences a very different type of film.
The special quality of this film is amply demonstrated by comparing it with the following year's sequel, "Flipper's New Adventures." Besides lacking the irreplaceable Connors, it features Halpin as a Sandy who is much more grown up (he must have grown six inches taller in that one year!) and histrionic and, thus, much less sympathetic. The sequel began the rapid "Flipper" decline from a story about a strong family that helps a dolphin who ultimately repays the favor to a story about a cute dolphin who does tricks for the effectively parent less boy he has adopted. I prefer the former.
Recommended above all the subsequent versions.