Leave It to Beaver (film)

Infobox Film
name = Leave It to Beaver


caption = The Beav Is Back!
imdb_id = 0119509
amg_id = 1:158618
writer = Bob Mosher
Joe Connelly
Brian Levant
Lon Diamond
starring = Christopher McDonald
Brenda Song
Janine Turner
Cameron Finley
Erik von Detten
Erika Christensen
Adam Zolotin
director = Andy Cadiff

producer = Robert Simonds
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = August 22, 1997
runtime = 88 min.
language = English
music =
awards =
budget =
followed_by =

"Leave It to Beaver" is a 1997 film that is a remake of the classic TV series of the same name. There are many in-jokes related to the original series within the movie.

Plot

Beaver (Cameron Finley) gets his heart set on a bike in the store window. He doesen't know how to get his parents to buy it for him. However, Eddie Haskell (Adam Zolotin) tells Beaver that if he sucks up to his father (Christopher McDonald), by signing up for football, he will be sure to get his bike on his upcoming birthday. Beaver signs up for football despite his small size, and he is tackled and thrown to the ground many times during practices. On the first day of school five days later, Ward and June (Janine Turner) tell Wally to drop Beaver off and pick him up at school for a few days because Beaver has never ridden his bike to school before. At school Beaver sits behind a very pretty girl named Susan Acustis (Brenda Song) and has a very kind teacher named Miss Landers (Grace Phillips). After school Eddie asks Wally to come in the soda shop to see him flirt with Karen. Wally leaves Beaver alone with the bikes telling him he will be back in a second.

Beaver is polishing his bike when a punk teenager (Glenn Walker Harris Jr.) comes over and admires the bike and asks Beaver if he can show him some cool bike tricks. Beaver agrees and the boy shows him some tricks before riding off with the bike. Inside the shop it becomes apparent that Karen likes Wally, not Eddie. When Wally and Eddie come out of the shop and hear that Beaver's bike got stolen they look for it but can't find it. During dinner that night, the boys try to cover up the fact that the bike was stolen, but to no avail. When Ward hears he is very upset not just at Beaver, but at Wally, because Wally wasn't watching Beaver. In the boys bedroom, Wally and Beaver get into a fight which sends the new computer flying out the window. Wally grabs the wire and tries to pull the computer in and does, but the wire to the monitor breaks, falls out the window, and crashes into many pieces.

Beaver decides to skip football practice and study instead, and Wally starts spending more time with Karen now instead of Beaver. When he is caught by Ward for skipping practice, Beaver is told that he can quit the team if he wants, but he doesn't. During the last game, Beaver gets a catch and runs it for a touchdown. By the concession stands, he finds the punk with his bike and takes it back. Ward reads Beaver a bedtime story.

Cast

*Christopher McDonald as Ward Cleaver
*Brenda Song as Susan Acustis
*Janine Turner as June Cleaver
*Cameron Finley as Theodore 'Beaver' Cleaver
*Erik von Detten as Wallace 'Wally' Cleaver
*Adam Zolotin as Edward 'Eddie' Haskell Jr.
*Alan Rachins as Fred Rutherford
*Grace Phillips as Miss Landers
*Geoffrey Pierson as Football Coach Gordon
*Barbara Billingsley as Aunt Martha
*Ken Osmond as Edward 'Eddie' Haskell Sr.
*Frank Bank as Frank
*Erika Christensen as Karen

Box office

The film grossed an estimated $10,925,060 in the United States and Canada.

Opening Weekend

*$3,252,450 (USA) (24 August 1997) (1,880 Screens)

Home video release history

*January 20, 1998 (VHS, DVD, and laserdisc)
*March 20, 2007 (DVD - Family Favorites 4-Movie Collection, with "The Little Rascals", "Casper", and "Flipper") (Note: All of these films are presented in anamorphic widescreen.)

External links

*imdb title|id=0119509|title=Leave It to Beaver