Plot
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn play hooky from school and have a plan to revive a dead cat with the spirit of a man named Williams who is on his death bed. Sawyer and Finn talk with Muff Potter, the town drunk, but are interrupted when Injun Joe says that Doc Robinson wants to see them. Muff and Joe meet Robinson and he informs them that they have a job to dig the grave of Williams. Joe is angry that Robinson didn't fix his leg correctly. Meanwhile, Tom continues to skip school and comes up with fantastic stories about why he's not home for dinner, where he tricks the children of the town to do his punishment chores for him.
After Williams dies, the two go to the graveyard and find out that Muff and Joe are digging up a grave on the advice of Robinson. Joe continues to be angry at Robinson and demands more money for the job. When Robinson refuses, Injun Joe picks up a shovel, accidentally knocking Huck out, hits Doc Robinson into the grave with the shovel, then grabs Muff's knife and jumps in after Doc Robinson. Tom and Huck witness all this and then run off, making a pact not to tell anyone what they saw.
Joe frames Muff for the murder and Muff goes to jail. Meanwhile, the beautiful Becky Thatcher moves to town which sends Sawyer into a romantic daze. At the trial for Muff, Tom is unable to contain himself as Joe is called to the stand and lies about the incident, continuing to frame Muff for the murder. As Tom is called to the stand, he relates what happened, not mentioning that Huck was with him. Suddenly, Injun Joe throws a knife at Tom, narrowly missing Tom's head and jumps out the window of the courthouse, fleeing.
After the trial, Tom and Becky get "engaged" but that quickly ends when Tom mentions he's also engaged to Amy Lawrence. After sulking, Tom is attacked by Finn for "breaking the pact" and they both decide to run away. While paddling down the Mississippi, their raft is capsized by a passing riverboat and they end up on an island where they enjoy freedom and muse over what happened to Injun Joe. While on the island, they witness some people "dragging the river", a process where a cannon is fired to bring up any bodies from the bottom of the river.
Tom and Huck decide to "go home" and find out that there's a funeral being held for them. The funeral service breaks up when Judge Thatcher sees them in the back of the church. The Widow Douglas takes Finn under her wing after that. Later, at an Independence Day celebration, Tom and Becky go into McDougal's Cave for a drink of water from the underground spring and run into Injun Joe. Joe chases them through the cave, intent to kill Tom. However, Judge Thatcher, Muff and Huck catch up to Joe and Muff throws a torch at Joe who falls to his death afterwards. Later, Huck disappears, worrying the Widow Douglas and Tom finds him at the old fishing place they hang out at. Tom berates Huck for worrying Douglas, and Muff decides to leave the town.
Read more about this topic: Tom Sawyer (1973 Film)
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
““The plot thickens,” he said, as I entered.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
“James’s great gift, of course, was his ability to tell a plot in shimmering detail with such delicacy of treatment and such fine aloofness—that is, reluctance to engage in any direct grappling with what, in the play or story, had actually “taken place”Mthat his listeners often did not, in the end, know what had, to put it in another way, “gone on.””
—James Thurber (1894–1961)
“The westward march has stopped, upon the final plains of the Pacific; and now the plot thickens ... with the change, the pause, the settlement, our people draw into closer groups, stand face to face, to know each other and be known.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)