Flipper (1963)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I watched the Flipper TV series re-runs as a kid unaware of this movie that effectively kicked the entire Flipper franchise off. I discovered the movies quite by accident on TCM and they were a pleasant surprise.The first Flipper movie seems to catch the simple but hurricane fraught life in the Florida Keys in the early 1960s. The movie portrays a more spartan and difficult life for the Ricks family and neighbors than the more placid and prosperous life on display in the NBC TV series. Porter Ricks is more austere (played by Chuck Connors) and a fisherman versus the warmer all-American Park Ranger character played by Brian Kelly in the sequel movie and the TV series. The first movie has a Mrs Ricks (Kathleen McGuire) who dies by the time of the sequel movie filmed one year later. Likewise in the Flipper movies there is only the one child - Sandy (Luke Halpin) and no younger brother whereas by the TV series, the younger brother Bud (Tommy Norden) mysteriously appears. Luke Halpin is the only actor who played in both the Flipper movies AND the TV series (a career as one character spanning 5 years).So setting aside the evolution of the Flipper franchise, the first movie sets the scene for the enduring relationship between the dolphin and the boy. Seeing the movie after exposure to the TV series meant the first two thirds of the movie seemed to drag before we get to how Sandy came to have Flipper as his pet. Porter Rick's occupation as a fisherman plays a role in the plot as the finding then the fate of fish becomes intertwined with Flipper.The real draw card of this movie is how Flipper and Sandy become so bonded. Halpin is compelling as he persuades his gruff father to accept this bond. Luke Halpin was cast in the role of 12 year old Sandy Ricks at the age of 15 after 7 years of extensive TV and Broadway stage experience. Producer Ivan Tors was impressed by Halpin's acting history but was unsure if he was up to the intensive water related work the movie required. A quick trip to a YMCA pool near Halpin's Long Island, NY home proved Halpin's claim of water sport proficiency. By all reports, Halpin bonded quickly with the temperamental dolphins - a bond that Halpin described some 7 years later in a magazine interview that was so strong that both he and the dolphins would get homesick for each other after filming of a movie or TV series ended. The chemistry of this bond really makes this movie and overcomes the slow parts and the tendency of the story to drag.This Flipper movie carved an intriguing and popular niche that led to a sequel movie (Flipper's New Adventure) and then the popular TV series in quick succession. Tors was a master at underwater photography which was showcased by the move to full color. Halpin combined a depth of acting talent honed from many previous roles, a real affinity and skill at water related sports, a swimmer's physique and telegenic good looks with the chemistry with the dolphins. These factors along with the filming in the Florida Keys (which lent a rough tropical realism to the story lines) and the refining of underwater photography and the various trained moves of the dolphins laid the foundations for an endearing series that is still in syndication 50 years later. My younger kids and nephews/nieces really loved the movie so it still has a strong pull all these years later.

A plague in the waters off the Florida Keys has left fisherman Chuck Connors and his son scrambling to make a living; luckily, a dolphin rescued by young Luke Halpin seems to understand their predicament and leads the boy to fresh fish. Rather dingily-produced underwater tale for kids has a thin plot (with echoes of "The Yearling" besides), but does have a marvelous animal at its center. The acting, photography, and editing are all disappointing, but when Flipper is doing tricks for the locals--even interacting with a swimming dog--it's hard not to smile. Too bad the relationship between the boy and his parents is so stiff (with lots of homilies and fearsome dialogue) that the movie drags whenever Flipper is off-screen. Followed by a sequel and a TV-series. ** from ****

if you have a dolphin in your fish pen, you're probably the richest kid in the world.After a hurricane blasts through a small town in Florida, Sandy Ricks and his dad go out to clean out a ship. While Sandy bails water out of the lifeboat, a dolphin jumps out of nowhere and scares him to death. After awhile, this dolphin watches him carefully. it's a few days later he and his friend go out for a swim, and you'll see what happens if you see the movie.This movie had a lot of good creators behind it. the idea to watch and take pictures of flipper underwater was pretty darn good for those days. although some of those scenes were played over and over again, the movie is still good.8/10

Flipper is an exceedingly pleasant, modest picture about a boy and his dolphin, and features easygoing, natural performances from Luke Halpin, as the boy, and Chuck Connors, as his rugged, seafaring father. The film is the first in the franchise that led eventually to a popular TV show. Producer Ivan Tors, who was also the man behind the Sea Hunt series on television, struck gold again with this one, a nice alternative at the time (and now) to the prevailing Disney family fare. It's hard to pinpoint how this and other Tors projects differ from what the Disney studio was making. The kids are a bit less goody two-shoes, the grownups more realistic. One doesn't have the virtual insurance that nearly every Disney film at the time offered that everything would work out in the end, so the moments of suspense and danger have a real edge. Flipper, by the way, has a real personality, and has a way of making you care for him. For those who care for the sea, marine life or just simple movies about kids and animals, this one's a darn good show.