My Friend Flicka
Ken McLaughlin is a precocious 10-year-old who lives with his family on a remote Wyoming ranch. When Ken returns home from school with failing grades, his father, Rob, blames the boy's lack of personal responsibility. At the suggestion of his wife, Nell, Rob allows Ken to choose a single colt from the herd to raise as his own. Much to his father's dismay, Ken chooses a fiery mustang filly -- but the two soon become fast friends.
-
- Cast：
- Roddy McDowall , Preston Foster , Rita Johnson , James Bell , Patti Hale , Jeff Corey , Arthur Loft
Similar titles
Reviews
You won't be disappointed!
Great Film overall
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
One of Roddy McDowell's most endearing roles as a child actor was as young Ken McLaughlin in My Friend Flicka. The film has deservedly become an international children's classic.Young Mr. McLaughlin has become quite the headache for his parents Preston Foster and Rita Johnson, his grades slipping and his chores on the horse ranch they have left undone. Johnson decides that he should get a colt anyway to teach him a sense of responsibility and Foster goes along with the idea, a bit reluctantly.The bonding of the colt Flicka with McDowell is something to see. It's quite touching and real and the two see through some rough patches. The colt's mother has a streak of crazy wildness in her and a particular piece of wildness kills her. This is where Preston Foster gets his doubts, but love between the boy and horse win out.Studios which were starting to use color before the war pretty much switched to black and white. 20th Century Fox probably did more color features than other studios, mostly for their splashy musicals. The color cinematography here makes My Friend Flicka timeless and salable for today's taste.Good family film, still holds up well since the World War II years.
This is a very dated movie with obvious sets. It is about a young, impressionable boy who does not seem to fit into the Wyoming ranch life his father loves. As a result, his father puts him in charge of a horse. The movie is replete with with its Hollywood make-up, perfect ranch clothing, sets, and backdrops that are just terribly apparent. The young boy speaks with such perfection of speech, such respect, and such politeness, it is just foreign to the backdrop of a Wyoming rancher. But---but,the story is timeless. What both the father and son learn---from Flicka--endures to this day. I saw it for the first time on television this afternoon. I was extremely touched and at the point of tears. It is, indeed, a classic, for children as well as for adults, and simply an endearing movie to enjoy. I recommend it. Great acting by the horse, too.
From some of the comments about the first version of My Friend Flicka, you'd think the movie was 89 minutes of pure schmaltz, but I enjoyed it. It had a nice, simple feel to it and you can just see how comforting this movie might have been to the nerve-jangled America of 1943.If you can get past the occasional side trip into the corn field, there's a lot of straightforward emotion and values in MFF. Also, notice how good the color looks, how crisp the images are, and check out some very mobile camera work out on the north forty. Flicka stands out because most of the exteriors are shot in outdoors instead of in a large sound stage. It sounds silly, but it makes the movie work.Probably the only faults in the movie are in the star Roddy McDowell and his little friend, Patti Hale. Hale is so cutesy in her attempt to do a Shirley Temple impression through the movie that you want her shipped out to whatever passed for kindergarten back then. McDowell holds his own on screen with the older professionals, but it's that suppressed accent and his wimpiness that put the greatest strain on the movie. I never believed him; I kept thinking that this guy would grow up to play one effeminate killer after another on the NBC Mystery Movie.But that's just me.I'm recommending My Friend Flicka for you and your family. 89 minutes of pleasant schmaltz beats a Cheaper by the Dozen or a Happy Feet any day.
I was about that, in a much quieter age, when I first saw Flicka. I was enthralled by the brave young hero and it left a very strong mark on me. Being young, and unsophisticated, I didn't have LOTR or Star Wars or any of today's high tech films to compare it to. I had Hoppalong Cassidy, the Cisco Kid and Roy Rogers, amongst other cowboy heroes. And then along comes this kid whose not a lot older than I was at the time being brave and honorable and fighting for what's right. I haven't seen it again since, and I'm not sure what my adult reaction to it would be. I'm sure the kids of today would be too sophisticated for the pleasures that I drew from it. So it goes....