Still the Beaver (1983 TV Movie)
7/10
Great if you are a fan of the original series...
24 April 2024
... but if you have no idea what the show is about, or maybe you know what it is and have seen just an episode or two, I'm just not sure how much you are going to get out of it, as there are more than a few ironic tie ins to the original LITB show. Plus, if you are younger, you may have trouble with the concept of superimposing the 50s on the 80s if you are unfamiliar with both decades.

Beaver Cleaver's wife has just thrown him out of the house. His rich father in law therefore fires him, and he doesn't even have a car to call his own since he is driving a company car. He takes a bus back to Mayfield, to his mother's house, and tries to pick up the pieces of his life in a place that seems familiar and safe. He also tries to have a better relationship with his sons, who resent the divorce and the dislocation it has caused in their lives.

Beaver's older brother Wally is a successful attorney, and in his 30s has only recently married his high school sweetheart, Mary Ellen Rogers. But being mid to late thirties, they have a problem - possible fertility issues as they try to conceive a child.

A large number of the original cast members show up - Ken Osmond as Eddie Haskell, Frank Bank as Lumpy Rutherford, Richard Deacon as Fred Rutherford, Richard Correll as Richard Rickover, Rusty Stevens as Larry Mondello, Diane Brewster as Miss Canfield, and Tiger Fafara as Tooey.

One thing that I really enjoyed as a long time viewer were the many intercuts from the present Cleaver home to some relevant scene from the TV show. Hugh Beaumont, who played Ward Cleaver, died the year before this was made, in 1982, and many of those intercut scenes involve him. I thought these scenes were a tastefully done tribute to the actor and the role he played.
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