Scouting in Popular Culture - Film

Film

• Scouts to the Rescue (1909) UK; Boy Scouts track a gang of kidnappers through the woods and rescue an abducted baby
• Charley Smiler Joins the Boy Scouts (1911) UK
• Remise du drapeau aux boy-scouts au Cinquantenaire (1914) Belgium
• Boy Scouts Be Prepared (1917) US
• The Little Boy Scout (1917); Justina disguises herself as a Boy Scout and joins the troop to escape her evil uncle.
• Drum Taps (film) (1933) US; Ken and his brother Earl's Boy Scout troop go after a gang of rustlers. With Los Angeles Boy Scout Troop 107
• The Gang Show (1937) UK: A Boy Scout Troop stage a musical show to raise funds, when the lease expires on their meeting place.
• Good Scouts (1938) US; Donald Duck becomes Scoutmaster of the Junior Woodchucks and goes camping
• Joy Scouts (1939) US; Boy Scouts go camping but the kids from Our Gang aren't old enough.
• Scouts to the Rescue (1939) US; "Adventure! Thrill! Suspense! Action!..as Eagle Scout Jackie Cooper leads his hardy troop through breath-taking exploits!"
• Sea Scouts (film) (1939) US; Donald Duck goes to sea with the Junior Woodchucks
• I Love You Again (1940) US; William Powell plays a leader in the Boy Rangers where Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer is trying to achieve his First Class Ranger.

• Henry Aldrich, Boy Scout (1944) US; The teenage Henry Aldrich, played by Jimmy Lydon, is the irrepressible Senior Patrol Leader of his Boy Scout troop as they compete in a Council camporee while coping with a troublemaking Tenderfoot who learns the meaning of Scout's honor the hard way. This picture had the official support of the BSA, which supplied a technical advisor to Paramount Pictures during filming.
• The Great Lover (1949) US; Bob Hope is a "Scoutmaster" to a group of "Boy Foresters". The "Boy Foresters" are more mean than helpful, courteous or kind, although they do ensure that lover-boy Hope walks the straight-and-narrow in the face of many temptations.
• Room for One More (1952) US; Cary Grant adopts a handicapped boy whose life is changed by family and Scouting, becoming an Eagle Scout. Also called "The Easy Way".
• Mister Scoutmaster (1953) US; TV star Clifton Webb worries that he is out of touch with the younger generation and becomes a Boy Scout leader.
• Scoutmaster Magoo (1958) US; Mr. Magoo
• It Happened to Jane (1959) US; Stars Doris Day as a Cub Scout den mother trying to save her local business during hard times.
• Follow Me, Boys! (1966) US; Lem Siddons (Fred MacMurray) decides to put down roots and ends up starting a Boy Scout troop during World War II.
• Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966) US; stars Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller and Elke Sommer. Hope is a real estate agent who gets in trouble trying to hide an actress (Sommer) from the studio who wants her to film a bubble-bath scene she refuses to do. Some Boy Scouts stumble upon their cabin hideout in the woods; hilarity ensues.
• Destroy All Planets (Gamera vs. Viras) (1968) Japan; At a World Scout Jamboree in Tokyo two young scouts get mixed up in Gamera's battle with world conquering aliens.
• Scout's Honor (1980) US, TV; Gary Coleman as a Cub Scout
• Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) In occupied France in 1944, Julien Quentin goes to a Catholic boarding school. When a new student Jean Bonnet arrives, Julien discovers that Jean is Jewish and the priests are hiding him. During a game with the school Scout Troop, the two friends get lost in a forest and are rescued by Germans. Eventually, Jean ia arrested by the Gestapo.
• The Wrong Guys (1988) US; Five former Cub Scouts have a reunion and go camping on the mountain they never conquered. Stars Louie Anderson, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer, Tim Thomerson, and John Goodman
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) US; in this top-grossing film, the beginning of the fictional Indiana Jones' career as an adventurer is depicted as a teenage Boy Scout in 1912. The Life Scout is trying to save the fictional Cross of Coronado crucifix from the villainous graverobbers while on a horseback riding trip in Utah.
• Troop Beverly Hills (1989) US; Shelley Long leads a troop of Wilderness Girls.
• Edge of Honor (1991) US; Stars Corey Feldman about "Northwest Wilderness Explorers" who stumble upon some stolen weapons hidden in a shack in the woods of the Olympic peninsula in Washington. The movie follows the boys as they try to escape from the bad guys, and how they finally deal with them, with a little help from an unexpected source.
• This Boy's Life (1993) US; Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) is forced into the Boy Scouts by his stepfather (Robert De Niro); a recurring real-life issue with the BSA is the admittance of homosexuals as an obviously flamboyant boy (Jonah Blechman) is one as well.
• Father and Scout (1994) US; Stars Bob Saget in a made-for-TV movie about a wimpy dad and his son on a camping trip as part of a Scout-like group.
• Bushwhacked (1995) US; Stars Daniel Stern as a deliveryman framed for murder; he hides out by pretending to be a Scoutmaster to a group of "Ranger Scouts"; PG-13 due to some off-color jokes.
• Arlington Road (1999) US; Thriller starring Tim Robbins. Anti-government terrorists are also leaders of a scouting organization which indoctrinates children and facilitates the carrying out of terrorist attacks.
• Christmas With the Kranks (2004) US; Stars Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. Cub Scouts selling Christmas trees are very unsympathetic characters in a movie with characters we mostly don't care for.
• Without a Paddle (2004) US; Stars Matthew Lillard, Seth Green and Dax Shepard; at the end of the film, the Dax Shepard character (Scoutmaster Tom) tells stories of his adventures around a campfire with his troop of Boy Scouts.
• 14 Hours (2005) US; Stars Rick Schroder; Boy Scouts assist in the evacuation of Memorial Hermann Hospital during Tropical Storm Allison.
• Down and Derby (2005) US; Cub Scouts and their dads compete in a pinewood derby.
• The Pacifier (2005) US; The younger daughter Lulu is a member of the Fireflies. She and her fellow Fireflies attempt to sell cookies in the Costco parking lot and get tormented by the boys from the Grizzlies troop.
• Outlaw Trail: The Treasure of Butch Cassidy (2006) US; 16-year old Life Scout Roy Parker (Ryan Kelley) and other members of Circleville, Utah, Boy Scout troop 14 seek the infamous western outlaw's treasure.
• Up (2009) US; One of the main characters, Russell, is an eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer, which are clearly modeled after Scouts.
• Scout Camp (2009) US; The Fire Dragon patrol, with their ever-supportive scoutmaster (Kirby Heyborne, Saints and Soldiers) is headed to Camp Rakhouta for what might be the best week of their lives. But when the legendary "Spirit Stick" of the prestigious camp goes missing, the entire tradition of the camp is threatened. Now the Fire Dragons, led by York Hayes (Shawn Carter, High School Musical 1, 2, 3) must do whatever it takes to find the stick, return, and restore the legacy of the camp. Writer/Director Garrett Batty.
• Den Brother (2010) US; Disney Channel Original Movie about a high school hockey player who must lead his little sister's "Bumble Bee" troop.
• Lucky Christmas (2011) US; Hallmark made-for-TV movie about single mom (Elizabeth Berkley) whose son is building a pinewood derby car; Cub Scout theme is minor subplot.
• Moonrise Kingdom (2012) On an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, a young Khaki Scout runs away with his girl friend. The whole town, including his troop, sets out to track them down.