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 is set in the actual Florida Keys accessed from the long causeway to the mainland versus Key Biscayne located just south of Miami in the TV series which was 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. The frequent physical closeness of Sandy and Flipper is much more pronounced in this first movie versus even the sequel and especially the TV series perhaps because Halpin, whilst already a teenager, looks like a more vulnerable and childlike 12 year old whereas he was in his late teens in the TV series so was less playful with Flipper.
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 ripped swimmer's physique and telegenic blond 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.
The first Flipper movie seems to catch the simple but hurricane fraught life in the Florida Keys in the early 1960s. The movie is set in the actual Florida Keys accessed from the long causeway to the mainland versus Key Biscayne located just south of Miami in the TV series which was 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. The frequent physical closeness of Sandy and Flipper is much more pronounced in this first movie versus even the sequel and especially the TV series perhaps because Halpin, whilst already a teenager, looks like a more vulnerable and childlike 12 year old whereas he was in his late teens in the TV series so was less playful with Flipper.
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 ripped swimmer's physique and telegenic blond 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.