Posts Tagged ‘movie review’


lasteaglescoutOne of Boy Scout Troop 68’s Eagle Scouts stopped by Sunday afternoon to watch a new movie I had recently received in the mail. Both of us had been waiting for “The Last Eagle Scout” to be released since we had read about it on Facebook a couple years ago. Here is the synopsis from the movie’s website:

In the not-so-distant future, society has allowed political correctness to go beyond the point of the absurd. For years the Boy Scouts have been under the government microscope and finally have been mandated to close their doors for good. Boy Scout, Cliff Elliot, stirs the pot as he tries to cling to the last shreds of patriotism and earn his Eagle Scout Award. In this ‘dramedy’, watch as Cliff jumps through ridiculous hoops, avoids the bumbling antics of government cronies, and tries to escape murderous plots against him, as he sets out to accomplish what he sees as the ultimate honor—becoming the Last Eagle Scout.

As we sat down with our pizza, popcorn, and soda Dakota and I understood that this was an independent made film, not a major studio financed super blockbuster. We had both seen the trailer which looked interesting and promising. We hoped that it would be a decent and fun film.

By the time the end credits rolled across the scene Dakota and I both agreed that we enjoyed the movie. The plot may have been simple but the film moved along at a nice pace and kept our interest. A few of the special effects may not have had the polish of a high budget Hollywood film but the acting was good and the action sequences were fun.

The movie is described as a dramedy in the description above, but I felt it played a bit more toward the drama side. There were a couple scenes that gave me a good chuckle though. Cliff, the hopeful Eagle Scout, decides to go against a government ban of flying the US flag on public property and in teenage fashion may not have though about the repercussions before doing the deed. The slow moving chase scene was another part I found humorous. I also enjoyed the homemade “iWatch” used by the Scouts in the movie.

One thing Dakota did not like was that for a lot of the movie Cliff was not wearing his uniform properly. It did not bother me because Cliff was on the run for nearly half the film. Keeping your shirt tucked in would be a low priority when you are running from government stooges.

Dakota and I both felt the “political correctness run amok” theme was a bit frightening. To tell the truth, we felt the tone set at the beginning of the film may not be that far in our future if this country continues on its current course. Can you imagine a United States of America government that decides to shut down the Boy Scouts of America?

Like I stated earlier, Dakota and I both enjoyed The Last Eagle Scout and give it a thumbs up. I consider it a solid addition to my Scouting-themed movie collection. Have you seen the movie? What did you think about it?

The trailer for the movie can be scene at:
http://lasteaglescout.com/ .

Our buddies at Three Coin Productions have posted a new video to their Youtube account. The new post is the music video to the theme song of Scout Camp: The Movie, “Born To Be A Scout”, and features many scenes from the movie. The video can be seen below or at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlIE9cF4j0s

If you have not seen the movie yet I would encourage you to get a copy and watch it with your family and troop.

There have not been many feature films about Scouting made during the decades. Most people involved with Scouting have heard of a little film by Walt Disney called Follow Me Boys, but I bet most people would be hard pressed to name another five movies that include Scouting as a major part of the plot. I own a few Scouting related movies so I thought that I might write a short review of each of them over the next couple of months.

My first review will be of a movie made many years ago, 1953 in fact. Mister Scoutmaster is a black and white film which stars Clifton Webb as a children’s television show writer for NBC Studios. When the sponsor decides they may not renew their option on the show unless ratings improve Webb’s character, Robert Jordan, decides to do some research on what boys currently enjoy. He begins by buying an arm full of comic books which does not help him very much. Later, as he and his wife talk to their minister about adoption, the scoutmaster of the troop sponsored by the church charges into the room and declares his resignation. Mr. Jordan sees an opportunity to do research for his show and jumps at the opportunity to become the scoutmaster. The movie follows him and the troop through a troop meeting, a camping trip, and an emergency search and rescue situation.
Mr. Jordan’s nemesis soon turns out to be a young Cub Scout names Mike who holds the rank of Wolf. He wants to become a Bear Scout and tells the Jordans, “Gotta be square, or I can’t become a Bear.” But Mr. Jordan becomes suspicious when he discovers Mike is lying about his life at home. This becomes a nice subplot of the movie.
I like the movie. I found it to be entertaining and a fair representation of Scouting. There is a touch of the “Hollywood” view of Scouting but I did not find it distracting. If I use the Boy Scout ranks as a rating system, with Tenderfoot being the low end and Eagle being the top, I would rate this as being a Star Rank. Have you seen this movie? What rating would you give it?