TOM is a ‘Tom and Huck’ style adventure set in post-civil war America. Two boys, one white, Davey Burnie (Johnny Doran) and the other black, Thad (Billy Attmore), sail down the river trying to get to a treasure hidden in the alligator-infested Florida everglades before the evil Spanler (Vic Morrow) (who has his own sinister villain theme music every time he enterers the scene), and his gang of no good henchmen get to it first.
Along the way, as the two journey down the river, the story grows better as the party going down the river grows larger. They first pick up a runaway bride on a river boat named Lauriette Paxton (Joan Hacket) then followed by the con artist Dr. Edwing T. Snodgrass (The great Peter Ustinov) and then topped off by their uncle Jim (Robert Foxworth) who they rescue from being lynched by the KKK. The fake Sproce Juice they use for the con games, comes in mighty handy when thrown at the men in white.
The picture is somewhat fun and very hokey. It even has Disney Veteran Dick Van Patten in a small role as a card dealing con artist. Good ol’ Dick. The most amusing scene occurs when the party stops for supplies and Dr. Snodgrass and the boys play some music to sooth the potentially savage men on the dock. This inspires them to play some music themselves and tap their toes to show them how singing and dancing is really done. What starts out as a friendly show off dance turns into a free for all when the girl pops her head out of the boat and every rough neck wants to dance with her tossing her around like a rag doll, causing manly uncle Jim to start blowing punches. In the end he never kisses the girl.
Thad thinks Lauriete might have the hots for Davey because she hugged him for a long time. To find out if someone loves you, you dip their hand in water while they sleep and this will cause them to shout out the name of their beloved. Isn’t that a great thing for a kid to learn while watching this film? And this film is made for Kids. It’s not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but is imagitive enough to watch on a Saturday afternoon, providing you can’t find another decent kids adventure movie to watch.
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