Flipper (1963 film)

1963 American feature film directed by James B. Clark

Flipper

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| James B. Clark
Screenplay by| Arthur Weiss
Story by| Ricou Browning
Jack Cowden
Produced by| Ivan Tors
Starring| Chuck Connors
Luke Halpin
Joe Higgins
Kathleen Maguire
Cinematography| Lamar Boren
Joseph Brun
Edited by| Warren Brown
Music by| Henry Vars
Distributed by| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release date

| August 14, 1963

Running time

| 90 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $500,000[1]
Box office| $2,500,000 (rentals)[2]

Flipper is a 1963 American adventure film written by Arthur Weiss[3] based upon a story by Ricou Browning and Jack Cowden. Produced by Ivan Tors and directed by James B. Clark, the film centers on a 12-year-old boy living with his parents in the Florida Keys who befriends an injured wild dolphin. The boy and the dolphin become inseparable, eventually overcoming the misgivings of the boy's fisherman father.

Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on August 14, 1963, the film introduced the popular song Flipper by Dunham and Henry Vars. It was a surprise hit at the box office[1] and inspired the subsequent television series of the same name (1964–1967) and film sequels.[4]

## Plot[edit]

Sandy Ricks is a young boy living in the Florida Keys who rescues and befriends a dolphin injured by a harpoon. His father, fisherman Porter Ricks disapproves since dolphins compete for fish, which jeopardizes the family income. He is also upset that, after befriending the dolphin, Sandy neglects his chores, especially those assigned by Porter to repair items damaged by the hurricane from which Sandy and Porter escape at the beginning of the film.

Sandy names the dolphin Flipper, and Flipper recovers from the wound and puts on a show to entertain the neighborhood children. Porter, seeing Flipper as both a threat to his nets and fish and a distraction to Sandy's chores, lets the recovered Flipper swim out of the pen to the open sea, despite Sandy's tearful plea to keep the pet that he has come to love.

Flipper returns to the Ricks' pen, much to Sandy's delight, but devours Porter's entire catch of pompano, which were caught only because Flipper guided Sandy to the fish. The loss is keenly felt because of a red plague killing local fish in large numbers. Porter harshly berates Sandy for allowing Flipper to jump into the holding pen of valuable fish waiting to go to market. Reduced to tears, Sandy retreats to his bedroom as Porter's wife Martha reminds Porter that Sandy is just a child.

Determined to make up for the loss, Sandy sets off to find more fish, and is led by Flipper to a large school of fish near a reef. Later, Sandy is rescued from a threatening shark by Flipper, and the grateful father draws closer to his son. Porter is finally convinced that Flipper did indeed help Sandy find fish and that there are enough fish for the local residents as well as the dolphins.

## Cast[edit]

* Chuck Connors as Porter Ricks
* Luke Halpin as Sandy Ricks
* Kathleen Maguire as Martha Ricks
* Connie Scott as Kim Parker
* Jane Rose as Hettie White
* Joe Higgins as Mr. L. C. Parett
* Robertson White as Mr. Abrams
* George Applewhite as Sheriff Rogers
* Sharon Roberts (Bertram) as pretty girl by water and Sabrina's mom

## Production[edit]

Co-creator Ricou Browning said that he originally conceived the story after seeing his children intently watching the TV series Lassie, which inspired Browning to create a similar story with a dolphin in place of the dog. After he sent the story to his friend, producer Ivan Tors, Tors expressed interest in making it into a film.[5][6]

Filmed in color in 1962 and released in 1963, Flipper has several underwater sequences, along with scenes of the trained dolphin performing stunts. Flipper was actually Mitzie (1958–1972), a female trained at the Santini Porpoise School (later the Dolphin Research Center) by Milton and Virginia Santini, who are credited in the film. Mitzie is buried at the Dolphin Research Center,

In addition to Mitzie, four other dolphins were filmed for the production of the movie. Two of the dolphins, Little Bit, a female, and Mr. Gipper, a male, mated at the Santini Porpoise School, yielding a calf named Tursi in 1973 who still lives at the Dolphin Research Center.[7]

## Sequels[edit]

A film sequel, Flipper's New Adventure, was filmed in late 1963 and released in June 1964. That same year, a television series inspired by the movie, also titled Flipper, began and ran until 1967. A 1990s television revival featured Jessica Alba. In 1996, a movie remake was released, starring Paul Hogan and Elijah Wood.

## See also[edit]

* List of American films of 1963

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "Lad-and-Pet-Fish Happy Surprise;May Hit $3 Mil". Variety. 20 November 1963. p. 3.
2. ^ "Top Rental Features of 1963", Variety, 8 January 1964, p. 71.
3. ^ "Flipper 1963 IMDb". Retrieved 2012-08-14.
4. ^ "Flipper - The Original Series: Season One". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2011-02-05.
5. ^ Cardinal, Scott (Producer and Director) (October 24, 2011). The Legend of Ivan Tors (Documentary film). United States: Campfire Network Productions.
6. ^ Gonzalez, Gaspar. "The House That Flipper Built," Biscayne Times, March 2012, available online at Biscaynetimes.com, accessed May 23, 2015.
7. ^ "Our Animal Family". Dolphin Research Center. Retrieved 2020-09-20.

## External links[edit]

* Flipper at IMDb
* Flipper at the TCM Movie Database
* Flipper at AllMovie
* Flipper at the American Film Institute Catalog

* v
* t
* e

Flipper

Films|

* Flipper (1963)
* Flipper's New Adventure (1964 sequel)
* Flipper (1996 remake)
* Flipper and Lopaka: The Feature (2006)

Television series|

* Flipper (1964–1967)
* Flipper (1995–2000)
* Flipper and Lopaka (1999–2005)

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by James B. Clark

* Under Fire (1957)
* Sierra Baron (1958)
* Villa!! (1958)
* The Sad Horse (1959)
* A Dog of Flanders (1959)
* The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio (1960)
* One Foot in Hell (1960)
* Misty (1961)
* The Big Show (1961)
* Drums of Africa (1963)
* Flipper (1963)
* Island of the Blue Dolphins (1964)
* And Now Miguel (1966)
* Death of a Salesman (TV movie) (1966)
* My Side of the Mountain (1969)
* The Little Ark (1972)

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