Still the Beaver

This was simply awful. Jerry Mathers is a chumpy twit as the "grown" Beaver who still wears his goofy baseball cap and windbreaker coat despite being well into his 30's. He trudges home glumly to his mommy after losing his job and wife, and the cute Beaver we all remember is brought back to life. He hasn't changed a bit--all the dopey mannerisms are still in effect, and big brother Wally still has the upper hand in intelligence, strength, and female magnetism. Director Steven Stern seems to have forgotten that in the final seasons of the old Leave it to Beaver series, Beaver had grown up quite a bit and was well past the bumbling twirp we recall from the early days. I was looking forward to seeing the adult Beaver in some adult situations with some casual references to the past. Instead, the producers try to cash-in by heaping on the corny treacle with all the characters being much older yet none wiser.

Sorry, I don't agree that this one was a dud. The Beaver never grew up -why should we have expected him to? He was a whiny kid who grew up to be a whiny, clueless adult. I loved the first scene when his wife turns the sprinklers on him and later, when June is sitting in the graveyard saying "Ward, I'm worried about the Beaver." Meeting Eddie Haskell's kid, who is his father all over again, of course, was also great fun.

Leave it to Beaver was never fine theater or great writing,it was just a look at the way America never really was.

You can't reproduce the charm of the original 1950s/1960s series, Leave it To Beaver, but why would you want to? It was a product of its times, and Still The Beaver is just as well. With the exception of the late Ward Cleaver, the entire cast is there, and except for Whitey, are portrayed by their original actors.

Theodore Cleaver is an adult version of his child self... and it's led his wife to divorce him. Beaver wants to be a good father to his two sons, but he can't channel the stern but warm guidance that his father provided. After advice from his brother, Wally, now a lawyer married to this high school sweetheart, Mary Ellen, he decides that he wants custody.

Everyone in the cast is there, and most of them are adult reflections of their childhood selves... except a surprising comedic twist with Beaver's friend Larry, which I shall not spoil here. June Cleaver continues to provide the family the nurturing warmth required to keep them going. It's a reunion updated for the theme of the new era, covering topics as divorce, relationships, dealing with children with behavioral issues, and more. Plus, it's nice to see what has changed in the Cleaver residence, and in their lives, and what hasn't.

Still The Beaver is not expected to be able to compete with its own series, now with classic status. It's also not expected to be an award-winning piece of filmmaking with deep symbolism and subtle character traits. But as a new installment of a beloved series, seeing Beaver still struggling with confidence issues decades later, the movie should find a heartwarming sweet spot in the audience's heart. And seeing Eddie Haskell, character unchanged, is worth the time to watch!

... 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.

It was a pleasure for me to see this movie when it was first released. Unfortunately, I did not get my first VCR until 1984, so I was not able to tape it.

While I believe that the movie was a wholesome update, I feel that the absence of Hugh Beaumont (who passed away a year earlier) detracts from the 'luster' of the movie somewhat.

Nevertheless, Barbara Billingsley as the matriarch June Bronson Cleaver, does a good job of holding the family together.