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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Mark Twain (book), Tom and Huck (1995) (film)

Tom and Huck is a 1995 American adventure comedy-drama film based on Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Brad Renfro, Mike McShane, and Amy Wright. The film was directed by Peter Hewitt and produced/co-written by Stephen Sommers (who also worked on another Disney adaptation of Twain's work, 1993's The Adventures of Huck Finn). The movie was released in the U.S. and Canada on December 22, 1995.




In the film, mischievous young Tom Sawyer witnesses a murder by a vicious half-Native American criminal known as "Injun Joe". Tom befriends Huck Finn, a boy with no future and no family, and is forced to choose between honoring a friendship or honoring an oath, when the town drunk is accused of the murder.


Plot
The film opens with Injun Joe (Eric Schweig) accepting a job from mortician Doctor Jonas Robinson (William Newman). Then Tom Sawyer (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is seen running away from home. He and his friends ride down the Mississippi River on a raft, but hit a sharp rock, which throws Tom into the water. His friends find him washed up on the shore, and Tom finds it was Huck Finn (Brad Renfro) who carried him to safety. Huck learns of an unusual way to remove warts - by taking a dead cat to the graveyard at night. There they witness Injun Joe and Muff Potter (Mike McShane), the town drunk, digging up the grave of Vic "One-Eyed" Murrell for Doc Robinson. A treasure map is discovered and when Doc tries to betray the two men, Injun Joe murders him with Muff's knife.


The next morning, Muff is charged for the murder; unfortunately, Tom and Huck had signed an oath saying that if either of them came forward about it, they would drop dead and rot. The duo then goes on a search for Injun Joe's treasure map, so they can declare Muff innocent and still keep their oath. The only problem is, the map is in Injun Joe's pocket. After Injun Joe finds the last treasure, he burns the map and discovers that Tom was a witness to the murder. He finds Tom and warns him that if he ever told anyone about the murder, he will kill him. However, at the time, the entire town thought he was dead, and the friendship between Tom and Huck starts to decline because of the fact that their evidence (the map) to prove Muff innocent, while preserving their oath, is destroyed.


At the trial of Muff Potter, Tom decides that his friendship with Muff is more important than his oath with Huck and tells the truth to the court, which finds Muff innocent of all charges and goes after Injun Joe. As a result, Injun Joe decides to hold up his end of the bargain by killing Tom. When Injun Joe returns to the tavern, he kills his partner Emmett for cheating him. Huck becomes angry with Tom for breaking their oath and leaves town. During a festival the next day, a group of children, including Tom and Becky Thatcher (Rachael Leigh Cook), a girl for whom he has expressed romantic interest previously in the film, enter the caves where Tom and Becky become lost. They stumble upon Injun Joe (who was looking for Tom) in McDougal's Cave. He traps them, but Tom and Becky manage to escape. Then they find the treasure and Tom tells Becky to go get her father and bring him back.


Just then, Injun Joe finds Tom, and again tries to kill him. But Huck returns to help save Tom, and battles Injun Joe. But Injun Joe easily overpowers Huck, just as he is about to kill him, Tom holds the treasure chest over a chasm. Injun Joe then tries to get the chest from Tom, only to fall into the chasm to his death (with the chest which was empty). The boys reconcile, and are declared heroes by the people. Tom is praised on the front page of the newspaper, and Widow Douglas (Marian Seldes) decides to adopt Huck Finn.


Cast
Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Thomas "Tom" Sawyer
Brad Renfro as Huckleberry "Huck" Finn
Eric Schweig as Injun Joe
Charles Rocket as Judge Thatcher
Amy Wright as Aunt Polly
Mike McShane as Muff Potter
Marian Seldes as Widow Douglas
Rachael Leigh Cook as Rebecca "Becky" Thatcher
Courtland Mead as Cousin Sid
Joey Stinson as Joseph "Joe" Harper
Blake Heron as Benjamin "Ben" Rodgers
Lanny Flaherty as Emmett: Injun Joe's accomplice.
Peter MacKenzie as Mr. Sneed
Heath Lamberts as Mr. Dobbins
William Newman as Doctor Jonas Robinson
Andy Stahl as Sheriff
Bronwen Murray as Cousin Mary


Reception
Box office
The movie debuted at No.9. In its second week it rose to No.8. The U.S. and Canada box office for Tom and Huck was $23,920,048.


Critical
The movie received mixed to negative reviews, with a 'rotten' 25% on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes 
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