Rascal

Sometimes one can be pleasantly surprised when going into a new movie “cold” – knowing nothing about it beyond what one gleans from a poster or DVD cover. Such was the case for me upon viewing 1969’s Rascal, a film about a young man and his pet raccoon - but not really.

The year is 1917; the aforementioned youth is Sterling North, a young teenager played by Bill Mumy (known for his role as Will Robinson on TV’s Lost In Space) and the aforementioned Rascal is a raccoon adopted by Sterling following a run-in with his dog. As one can imagine, most of the plot involves Rascal growing into a feisty critter, sneaking out of the house at night to raid neighbor’s pantries and corn patches, and getting into other mischief. Sterling’s mother passed away some years back, while his father travels for his job and is gone for weeks at a time. His grown sister, Theo (played by Pamela Toll,) has been taking care of the household for them, but leaves to work in Chicago at the start of the summer (and to meet up with her fiancée, played by Steve Carlson.) As a result, Sterling ends up spending most of the season alone with his pair of animal companions, bicycling through the woods, building a canoe in his living room, and other youthful revelries.

Don't look into the camera, Rascal...

But beyond the montages of the boy, his dog and his raccoon frolicking down dirt roads and falling asleep together, the film is primarily a breezily nostalgic character piece. Sharing almost equal screen-time with the story of Sterling and Rascal are subplots involving the town’s citizens - including a busybody neighbor played by Piglet voice-actor John Fiedler, Sterling’s concerned school-teacher, Miss Whalen (played with gentle warmth by Bettye Ackerman,) and a horse vs. motorcar race between town rivals played by character-actors Henry Jones and Richard Erdman. Everything is tied together by a bittersweet narration by an adult Sterling, voiced by veteran actor Walter Pigeon. The narration, in all honesty, is a bit too heavy-handed in its wistful nostalgia, but it does help in providing some worldly perspective to the Dandelion Wine-style narrative.



Obvious favoritism: no root beer for puppy...

Sterling’s father, Willard (played by Steve Forrest,) should be an unlikeable character; most of the early scenes between he and his son consist of him spinning yarns about how wonderful it is to be a free spirit and see so much of the country by himself, all while Sterling nods along in silence. Plus, he tries to talk his daughter into abandoning her career (and fiancée) to stay at home and continue playing nursemaid to them, and dismisses a potential maid that Theo had lined up to work for them (played by Mary Poppins’ Katie Nanna, Elsa Lanchester – who seems to have made a late-career goal of playing rejected nannies in Disney movies.) Yet Forrest’s smooth, drawling voice and natural charm make Willard difficult to dislike. There’s a sequence in the middle of the film, in which Sterling’s school-teacher and a local reverend (played by Jonathan Daly) attempt to intervene into the family’s situation, out of concern for the boy’s well-being. By the time evening comes, Willard has stuffed everyone with a full dinner, warm apple pie, and a large jug of apple cider he’s brought home from the road, all the while regaling his guests with stories and witticisms picked up in his travels. The laid-back atmosphere and easy camaraderie between the three, as they sip their drinks and talk, is intoxicating, making one almost wish the film won’t inevitably cut away to focus on Rascal’s shenanigans.

It puts the raccoon in the basket or else it gets the hose again...

The whole film gives off a pleasantly melancholy feeling, as if the memories of Sterling’s long summer could be some of our own, if only the time period were a little more recent. This airy remembrance actually aids in setting up some late-film drama, as Theo returns home with her fiancée to discover a messy house and a scruffy, lonely younger brother. Suddenly the sunny tint of the previous hour becomes a harsh spotlight, as Theo scolds her father for allowing his carefree lifestyle to adversely affect the family. The scene between the two is fantastic, as Toll and Forrest underplay the drama, never allowing emotion to override realism. One believes and identifies with a family disagreement slowly escalating into a life-altering argument, so natural is the rapport between the actors. One can almost feel the bitter surrender in Theo’s voice as she tells Willard she will apparently need to quit her job and break her engagement, stating “I’m going to have to do your job.”

Don't try that old "oops out of gas" routine with me, buddy...

Of course, being a Disney family movie, everything wraps up in a more-or-less tidy fashion; yet the preceding story is told with such delicacy and attention to detail that one can gloss over the less-than-memorable sequences (such as one where the ladies of the town go ape-shit upon spotting Rascal loose in the general store, falling over each other into pickle barrels.) With a solid script and even stronger performances, this is one of frequent Disney-director Norman Tokar’s hidden cinematic gems that deserves another look.