Don't Mess with the Butler!

I don't think a lot of the Disney live-action films from the '50s & '60s are as well-remembered as they should be. The studio was stuffed full of skilled storytellers and few of the films produced there were clunkers.

For instance, The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967) is an enormously fun movie. It is essentially the story of the world's most awesome butler, played with skill and humor by Roddy McDowell.

It's based on a children's novel titled By the Great Horn Spoon! I haven't read the book, though it is my understanding that the movie pretty much leaves the book behind and goes off in its own direction.

I have no idea whether making the movie was a fun experience for the cast and crew, but, by golly, I hope they did. Bullwhip Griffin is one of movies in which you have the distinct impression that the actors in it are really enjoying the roles they are playing. Of course, for all I know, making the movie was a miserable experience for all involved and it just seems like fun because they were all ACTING! But if I had to bet money on it, I'd go with them all having fun.

The story starts in Boston. Young Jack Flagg is reading dime novels about the California gold rush--most notably about a character called Bullwhip Brannigan--and gets it into his head that it would be fun to seek his fortune out West.

Since Jack and his sister Arabella (Suzanne Pleshette) live in a large mansion, it seems he already has his fortune. But when they find out their grandfather has died broke, Jack decides it is indeed time to stowaway on a ship heading to San Francisco, find a fortune in gold, then come back to take care of his older sister.

Griffin pursues Jack aboard the ship, but both end up stuck aboard when she sails. They team up with a down-and-out Shakespearean actor (Richard Haydn) who claims to have a map to the "mother lode." A thief and con artists known as Judge Higgins (Karl Malden) also enters the picture. He's after the map at first and later after stealing everyone else's money in any way he can.

Once in California, Jack and Griffin undertake a series of adventures in search of their fortune. The comedic elements of the story are sincerely funny as it gently satirizes Westerns, but what makes the film work on a storytelling level is that it's not the expected "Fish Out of Water" tale you would expect after thrusting a cultured butler into a rough-and-tumble world. Griffin (who is soon nicknamed Bullwhip after Jack's dime novel hero) keeps his head in dangerous situations and thinks quickly on his feet. There is both a sense of real danger and a sense that Griffin can really win out in the end if he just keeps plugging along.

There's also a real chemistry between Griffin and Arabella. It's obvious from the start that the two are in love with each other, but Griffin won't pursue a woman he considers above his own station. But when Arabella also shows up in San Francisco, she proves to be quite intelligent and capable in her own right. And, by golly, she sure looks purty at the same time.

The movie's climatic scene is an often hilarious bare-knuckled boxing match between Griffin and a big guy appropriately named Mountain Ox (played by Mike Mazurki), in which we learn that brains--and a good deal of dumb luck--can always win out over brawn.