Original subtitles

♫ Now listen here folks my name is Tom Sawyer

♫ I don't want to be no doctor or no lawyer

♫ Fishing by the river that's the only place to be

♫ I want to be free sitting under a tree that's me

♫ Ha ha

♫ These are the stories of Tom Sawyer

♫ Me and Huck Finn just playing by the river

♫ Chasing that steam boat teacher let me be

♫ I want to be free sitting under tree

♫ That's me, ha ha

- [Tom] Don't get me wrong, I think rain's just dandy

in reasonable amounts but the drops have been coming

down so hard, for so long,

it sort of puts me in mind of Noah's Ark.

It started raining the day

that famous theatrical company left and hasn't slacked off

so much as single day since.

Mean weather is especially hard on my friend Huck Finn,

him not having a proper home and all.

Asides which he's about as mopey as a muskrat

on account of Lisette leaving.

I declare I never seen a boy suffer so

for losing a girl he was sweet on.

I feel even sorrier for him than I do for me,

but I don't just see there's much I can do for him.

So I figure he'll have to recover in his own good time.

Sooner or later I reckon things'll get back to normal.

Meanwhile that blank rain is making me so droopy

I can't hardly see straight.

All the excitement of seeing Lisette and the play

and the ruckus Huck started feels like a hundred years ago.

Now I'm stuck with having to spend all my time with Sid,

which is bad enough on a sunny day.

But I'm trying to make the best of it.

What are you reading now little brother?

- About anything I can find.

- Oh well.

If it don't let up soon, I'm gonna build an ark.

Say, I do believe I see it starting to clear up.

By golly, I think it is.

- No fooling?

Reckon so.

There is a little blue to the north.

Could still rain for hours, Tom.

- Maybe Huck will cheer up a little now.

He's been feeling so low, he could walk

under a rattlesnake on stilts.

- Tom.

- Because of Lisette.

- Oh, how can you be so terribly unfeeling?

Poor little Lisette.

- (laughs) Yep, everybody wound up being sweet on Lisette.

- Especially Huck.

- Mhm.

- [Tom Voiceover] Who could blame Huck?

Lisette was about the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

She had told us it was a pathetic story

and it sure enough lived up to its promise.

Why, not more than halfway through the first part

of the show, everybody in the audience was ready

to run up on stage and tar and feather

that villainous archduke for being so rough with Lisette.

Then there was little brother Sid,

who thought he had died and gone to heaven

whenever Lisette was around.

But whatever Sid felt for Lisette,

it couldn't hold a candle to what Huck had been feeling.

He'd been plum swept off his feet.

(Huck sighs)

(water dripping)

- I can't keep going on like this.

Okay, Huck, come on, pull yourself together.

(cat meowing) - Ssh.

- [Mary] Where you off to, Tom?

- Uh oh.

- Tom, you'll drown if you go out there now.

- There ain't a drop in the sky.

The ground is almost dry.

- Well bless me, it is clearing up.

- [Polly] Tom, Tom, where are you?

- Tom just scooted out of the house, mother.

- Where's he off to, do you reckon?

- To play, I imagine.

- I could skin him alive.

- Well mother, now what's got you so worked up?

- Mary, that boy pinched another loaf of bread

and a whole rasher of bacon.

- Ma.

- [Tom Voiceover] Now if'n I know my friend Huck,

I know he hadn't et much of late, if anything at all.

That was one thing I could help him out with.

You see, in his present mood, Huck would have figured

that scaring up food was more trouble than it was worth.

Sometimes I worry he'd just waste away

to nothing more than a stick.

I reckon Aunt Polly would figure the vittles I took

had gone for a good cause.

It's Tom, Huck, are you up there?

Come on out.

Huck, howdy.

- What are you doing out on a day like this?

- I reckon you'd be a mite hungry.

- Mm-mm.

- That bread is fresh baked.

Mary made it just this morning.

Try some of the bacon too.

Yeah.

- Thanks.

- I got here just in the nick of time.

- Oh boy.

That there's the first real meal

I've had since yesterday, Tom.

- What in the world you gonna do

if it keeps on raining like this, Huck?

- If I had a mind to, I could always find a barrel

to sleep in back at Mr. Roger's store,

but I just feel more at home here.

- Appears to me like you got one hard row to hoe, Huck.

- Oh, it ain't as bad as it might seem.

Like I said, if worse comes to worse, I can always find

a barrel to sleep in.

- But what if there ain't no barrel?

- [Huck] I'd go up to the sawmill.

The stable is warm too.

I'd find something.

- I wish I could invite you to come stay with me

at Aunt Polly's.

- I appreciate the thought, Tom,

but you know your Aunt Polly and me don't get along.

We're just two different breeds of cat, I reckon.

- It ain't that Aunt Polly don't like you, Huck.

It's just that she's set in her ways about certain things.

She thinks youngins ought to live with their kin

in a regular house.

- My pap and me used to live together in a regular house,

but I wasn't one bit happy then.

Why, you couldn't pay me enough to live that way again.

The way I live now is heaven compared to that.

I'm much happier with my life now,

even though I do have to go without a few meals

and sleep under a leaky roof.

- Your pappy must have been powerful stern with you

to make you feel that way.

What was he like?

How come he didn't send you to school?

Did you have any friends?

How was it living with him?

- Pa never was a believer in work.

He always wanted me to do everything for him.

After my mama passed away,

it was like it just sort of busted his main spring.

He just stayed drunk all the time.

I got good and tired of getting whooped,

so one night when he was drunk, I up and ran away.

- Do you have any idea where he is now?

- Let me see, the last I heard about Pap,

I believe somebody saw him upriver a piece in Quincy.

He was drunk and mean as ever.

- Quincy, that's only a few miles from here.

- Well, that was some time ago.

I doubt he's still hanging around

the same places these days.

Hey, hanged if I know why we're even talking

about my pa, Tom.

I'd really rather not stir up all that stuff again.

- Hey now, I wish you'd look at this, Huck.

Appears the weather is clearing up at last.

Why, I bet things will dry out in no time.

- Not a lick too soon for my taste.

- [Tom] So what do you feel like doing now, Huck?

- Well, we could do some treasure hunting.

- When?

- Right now.

We can see what the rains washed up

alongside the river bank.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

Every time we have a downpour like this one,

all manner of stuff gets washed up on the river bank.

Why, I couldn't begin to tell you the stuff

I've found there.

- Can't think of nobody I'd rather go hunting with than you.

- Same here, Tom.

Show you how ornery the river can be.

Years ago, folks fished out a fella

by the name of Mafe Lodgett.

And when they searched his house boat,

they found all manner of goods.

Sack of beans, two pistols, six dresses,

most of a keg of kerosene, and a piece of paper

stuck in the back of Mafe's bible

with a note about a bag of gold he had hidden away.

- Did folks figure he stole it?

- Mhm, sure did.

- If nobody ever found that there gold,

it might still be in the river.

And if nobody has ever claimed it yet, just think.

We'd be as entitled to it as anyone.

- That would sure take a heap of hunting, Tom.

- I'd be willing to hunt all day for a bag of real gold.

That's the way it is with pirates, you know.

They never give up till they find

the treasure they're after.

- Come on, let's do it.

- Lead on, First Mate Finn.

Here I come.

- Hey, not too steady there, are you?

- That's all you know.

- Turned out Mafe Lodgett had stole the gold

from a bunch of Indians that had burned out his home.

- Wow, the Injuns?

- Mhm, but he got back at them by stealing their gold.

You see, he figured they owed him that much

after burning down his house and everything.

- Didn't they light out after him?

- You just bet they did.

- How come he didn't just lam out

across country into the woods?

- On account of Old Mafe was a river man.

Had all his gear on his houseboat.

Some people just belong to the river, Pa used to say.

And old Mafe was just one of them folks.

- Couldn't he move his houseboat down river a little?

- Well, he tried.

- What happened?

- All they found was the wreckage.

And as for Mafe, they found his body

with a knife in his back.

Nobody knows to this day who done him in.

- I'm glad I didn't find that body.

- You bet.

I wouldn't want to find it either.

- Still and all, pirates ain't scared of dead bodies.

- [Huck] Well, I reckon you might find one or two

who would be.

- Hey.

- So what's the matter?

- What if somebody else had the same idea

about the treasure hunt?

- Uh oh.

- We better hop to it.

- Mhm.

- [Tom] So the two of us lit out for the river.

Tom Sawyer, the black avenger of the Spanish Main,

and Huck Finn, the red-handed, figured to beat

everybody else to that sack of gold if it was there.

With the miserable rain already forgot,

it was turning into a perfect summer day

with adventure on the high seas right around the next bend.

- There's sure a gang of stuff piled up

in that logjam there, Tom.

Yes sir, some rooting around in there ought to turn up

a few wonders, I bet you.

- Appears to me the quickest way to get to the river bank

is down this here slope.

- You'll break your neck.

Go this way, Tom.

- Can't, Huck, I'm already sailing.

- All right, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Easy now, them rocks is slicker than lard on a hot skillet.

I'm going around the long way, Tom.

I'll catch up with you at the bottom.

- Okay, but hurry up.

(Tom yelling)

Now let's find us some treasure.

- Tom?

Yoo-hoo, have you found anything yet?

- Nothing worth mentioning.

- Go all the way down to the bank.

- Ain't you coming down, Huck?

- Hmm.

- Nothing but trash so far.

Huh?

Oh no, it's a, it's a--

It is!

(Tom groaning)

- Huh?

(Tom groaning)

- Huck, it's awful!

- What happened?

- Wait a minute. (groaning)

I can't talk yet.

I can't believe it.

- What's in there, anyway?

A rattlesnake?

- No.

- What in in the world is it, then?

- I found a--

It's a--

- Try it again.

- A dead body floatin' in the water.

- Dead body, you mean a human one?

- Yes.

- Wait here, Tom.

I'm gonna get Sheriff Collins.

- I ain't staying here alone with that thing, Huck.

- Come on then.

- Wait up.

Huck, you gotta help me.

I can't make it on my own.

My legs won't hold me up.

- Don't take on so, Tom.

- All right, hang on.

I'm coming.

- Easy.

- Oh, Huck, that thing scared the liver out of me.

- And the body is about half a mile

above Wilson's Bluff, hm?

- Yes, sir.

- I want to thank you boys for coming in here

to tell me about it.

- Do you want us to take you there?

- Tom, that won't be needful.

I am familiar with Wilson's Bluff.

So I reckon we can fetch it up in short order.

- Do you reckon somebody killed him?

- You boys see anything to make you think so?

- No, sir, but I didn't get close enough to really tell.

- I ain't surprised.

You boys can run along.

Hitch up the wagon, Patrick,

and let's get on up there.

- Yep.

- [Sheriff] And bring a hunk of canvas.

- Yes, sir, Sheriff.

- Dad gum it.

First drowning so far this year.

- Sheriff Collins?

- What is it, Tom?

Something pressing on your mind there, young feller?

- Something else just occurred to me

that I reckon I ought to tell you about, Sheriff.

- All right, let's have it, son.

- I only got a quick glance at that body but--

- Yes?

- Well it seemed to me he looked a mite familiar.

- Who might it be?

- I mean, I didn't really want to talk about it

in front of Huck but it might be his pa.

- You sure you'd know old Finn if you saw him?

- I think I would, Sheriff.

- How about Huck?

Does he reckon that body was his pa?

- No sir, Huck didn't even see it.

- Where is your friend Huckleberry now?

- Waiting for me outside.

- Well now, that being the state of things,

stay right here while we fetch that corpse, all right?

- Yes, sir.

But as I said before, I only had a glimpse

so I ain't really positive it's him.

On the other hand, it just might be.

- Yep, I see.

I'll have some other folks take a look at it too.

Go ask Huck to come in here, would you?

- Mhm.

Huckleberry, come here.

- What is it?

- [Tom] Sheriff Collins wants us to hang around here

till he gets back.

- [Girl] Who found the body?

- [Woman] I hear it was the Sawyer boy.

- [Girl] Tom?

Oh, how awful.

- [Woman] The sheriff said it was Old Man Finn.

- [Man] Who you reckon it is?

- [Old Man] They say it's Old Man Finn.

- [Girl] You don't say.

- [Woman] The old coot's finally gone to his reward.

Dear, dear.

- Huckleberry, a bunch of folks looked at the body.

Some said it was your pap, others said 'tweren't.

- What?

My pa?

What in tarnation you talking about, Sheriff?

- Nobody knows for sure.

Thought Tom might have told you it might be your pa.

Sorry to be breaking it to you this way, Huck.

That fella was in the water for so long,

we couldn't make out his features for certain.

(Tom gulps)

- [Tom] I was mighty popular that afternoon

because everybody in town wanted to hear about me

and Huck's adventure.

There was a lot of disagreement about whether

it was Old Man Finn or not.

By nightfall though, I started worrying

that whoever it was might come back to haunt me,

since I was the one that found the body.

Somehow Huck figured out that it was his pa that I found.

Huck paid his last respects as best he could.

He forgave his pa for all the bad he'd done

and asked his pa to forgive him for all the bad he'd done.

Somehow it all seemed to leave Huck feeling

a lot more peaceful, not having to wonder

and worry about his pa no more.

Once the body was buried, life got pretty much

back to normal in St. Pete.

- It's hard to believe Huck's all alone in the world now,

isn't it, Tom?

But I'm surprised he didn't grieve a lot more.

- Well, Becky, you gotta remember Huck's family life

weren't nothing like what you and I have been accustomed to.

- I think your family is your family no matter what,

and you grieve when you lose a loved one.

- I reckon Huck is grieving in his own way.

He's just got a real relaxed way of going about it.

Hey, here comes the old city of Cairo.

- I'd like to travel to different places

when I grow up, I think.

- Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna be the captain of a steam boat.

I'm gonna sail all around the world and back again.

- Oh?

And will you write me lots of letters?

- Sure I will.

(cow mooing)

Huh?

Oh no!

- Do you know that man, Tom?

- It must be a ghost, or else it's Huck's father.

- Mercy me.

- I know you, don't I?

I remember now.

You're that rapscallion friend of my good for nothing boy.

Well, ain't you?

(Tom yelling)

Hey, you come back here.

Hey.

I'm gonna find him yet.

- Huck, are you home?

Wake up, Huck.

Huck!

You won't believe it.

I've seen him, Huck.

- I'm sleeping.

Quiet.

- Your pa's alive and he's back in town!

- What?

Oh, no!

You mean it?

- How do, Sheriff?

Say, you've seen my boy Huck around here of late?

I ain't laid eyes on that little rascal since he was--

- Old Finn?

Well, I'll be.

- What in the nation is going on here, Sheriff?

You folks seen a ghost or something?

It's just Old Finn looking for my Huck.

(cat meowing)

- Where are you, Huck?

- I'm coming.

Howdy, Tom.

- Where you hiding out these days, Huck?

- Out at the old Limon house, seeing as nobody

is living there anymore.

- He'll never think of looking there.

- Where's Pa now?

- He's still stomping around town, looking for you.

- What do you reckon he's got in mind for me, Tom?

- From what I hear, he's been talking about taking you

back upriver to Quincy to make you go to work for him.

- That's Pa right enough.

- At least we know where he is.

- [Huck] And we know where he ain't.

Tom, my stomach is a ball of knots again.

(cat meowing)

- [Tom Voiceover] Huck scooted back to the Limon place

on the hill and laid low.

I doubt his pa could have found him

with the help of a divining rod.

But I sure enough have to give that crazy old fella

credit for trying.

He scoured all over St. Pete.

A few days later, Old Man Finn just up and vanished

as sudden and mysterious as he'd appeared.

Never did know for sure where he'd come from

nor where he went to.

Anyhow, Huck could breathe easy again.

After a while, I got to wondering,

since that weren't Huck's pa whose body I found,

who in the world was that poor soul

resting in his grave?

I wonder if we'll ever find out.

♫ These are the stories of Tom Sawyer

♫ Me and Huck Finn just playing by the river

♫ Chasing that steamboat, teacher let me be

♫ I want to be free sitting under a tree, that's me