Rascal | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Norman Tokar |
Produced by | James Algar |
Written by | Harold Swanton |
Based on |
Rascal by Sterling North |
Starring |
Bill Mumy Walter Pidgeon Steve Forrest Pamela Toll |
Narrated by | Walter Pidgeon |
Music by | Buddy Baker |
Cinematography | William E. Snyder |
Edited by | Norman R. Palmer |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
Release date
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June 11, 1969 |
Running time
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93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Rascal is a 1969 comedy-drama film adaptation made by Walt Disney Productions based on a book, Rascal by Sterling North, about a young man and his pet raccoon set in Wisconsin.
The movie is a dramatization of Sterling North's 1963 "memoir of a better era." Born near Edgerton, Wisconsin, North was a former literary editor for newspapers in Chicago and New York City. The movie relates a year in the life of young Sterling North (portrayed by Bill Mumy) and his "ringtailed wonder" pet raccoon, Rascal. Although set in Wisconsin, circa 1917, the movie was filmed in California.
The film features the song "Summer Sweet".
In the award-winning book of the same name, all three of Sterling North's real-life siblings are featured: his brother Herschel and his sisters Theodora (Theo) and the future poet and editor Jessica Nelson North. However, Theo is Sterling's only sibling in the movie version.
Rascal holds the distinction of being the very first print review by Gene Siskel (of Siskel and Ebert), written in the Chicago Tribune one month before he became the paper's film critic in 1969. His review of the film was favorable but received no stars by default since the paper did not use a star-rating system for films at the time.