Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Robert Foxworth | ... |
Jim Burnie
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Joan Hackett | ... |
Lauriette Paxton
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Peter Ustinov | ... |
Dr. Ewing T. Snodgrass
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Vic Morrow | ... |
Spangler
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Johnny Doran | ... |
Davie Burnie
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Billy 'Pop' Atmore | ... |
Thad
(as Billy Attmore)
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Jane Wyatt | ... |
Aunt Effie
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Virginia Vincent | ... |
Aunt Lou
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Robert DoQui | ... |
Ben
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Don Knight | ... |
Skaggs
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Mills Watson | ... |
Catrell
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Dub Taylor | ... |
Sheriff Forbes
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Valentin de Vargas | ... |
Charlie
(as Val DeVargas)
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Dick Van Patten | ... |
The Gambler
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George Lindsey | ... |
Coahoma Sheriff
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In post-Civil War Kentucky, young David Burnie becomes the unexpected heir to the family secret: a map leading to buried treasure on the Florida isle of Matecumbe. The youth, joined by four fellow adventurers, begins his search for the treasure despite deadly interference by his late father's archenemy. The angry threat of a hurricane and the presence of hostile Indians set the mood for the frantic trek to the swampy site - a destination that could provide untold wealth for the searchers...or for their evil pursuers! Written by bmcole1984
I had always wanted to see this movie as it was based on one of my favorite books, the historical novel "A Journey to Matecumbe" by Robert Lewis Taylor, who also wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "The Travels of Jamie McPheeters." The book is a wonderful exciting and funny tale of a post-Civil War journey by a young boy and his uncle from Kentucky to the Florida Keys being pursued by the Ku Klux Klan and a vengeful southern aristocrat, with lots of great adventures in between.
I spent $10 for this movie and now wish I hadn't. The names of a few characters from the book are retained, but almost everything else is changed. It is neither particularly exciting or funny and it wastes the talents of a number of excellent character actors like Peter Ustinov, Dub Taylor, George Lindsay and Joan Hackett. It was also made on the cheap with lots of stock footage of the exotic locales that the characters are supposed to visit and lots of process shots filmed in front of blue screens. I suppose very young children MIGHT like it, but there are some violent scenes that make it problematic even for them. It's a probably eternal mystery why Hollywood buys the rights to film wonderful books and then doesn't put on the screen anything of what made the books wonderful in the first place.