Sarentrol
Masterful Cinema
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Guillelmina
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
jtyroler
Being familiar with Leave it to Beaver for most of my life, this is a mind-warping episode. If this was to be the Cleavers we all know and love, we probably wouldn't know them at all. June and Beaver are still Barbara Billingsley and Jerry Mathers, but there's no Hugh Beaumont, Ward is played by Casey Adams (Max Showalter) (I think he appeared as someone (Gilbert's?) father in a future episode). Wally is played by Paul Sullivan who doesn't seem to have the same chemistry with Beaver than Tony Dow had.Diane Brewster and Richard Deacon aren't Miss Canfield and Fred Rutherford. Harry Shearer is Frankie, the person who told Beaver about a contest being held by the local dairy. Beaver believed the story, they then collected the necessary bottle caps, and to the surprise of employees of the dairy. The local dairy manager, Mr. Baxter (Deacon) didn't know about a contest, calls the home office in Chicago and talks with Mr. Crowley (played by Joseph Kearns - better known as Mr. Wilson from "Dennis the Menace"). Suddenly there really was a contest and Miss Sims (Brewster) takes Wally and the Beaver to buy a new bike.When Baxter finds out there wasn't a contest, he takes the bicycle back. The upper management then thinks the contest is a good idea and Baxter tries to give the bike back to the boys. Do Wally and the Beaver take the bike? If you're a fan of Leave it to Beaver, it's worth seeing to have an idea where the producers and writers were coming from. It would be better, at least I think so, if they re-shot this with the Cleavers we all know and love.
tinkerpunkbell05
I've been looking for an episode and was wondering if anyone could help me.... i'm looking for an episode where beaver makes a Mexican friend named Frankie Mendoza.. and he invites him to come over... if ya'll know anything about this please reply i'm going crazy looking for it. i just bought leave it to beaver season 1 and i should be getting it very very soon! i cant wait! I've heard nothing but good things about it and seriously can't wait to receive it in the mail.... the reason i'm looking for this episode is because my father saw it when he was younger. he saw it about a month after his brother Frankie Mendoza passed away, he was alone at home and told his mom about the show when she got home. my grandmother just thought that my dad missed his brother so much he was going crazy, and my dad just wants to prove that there was such an episode. i've googled it and searched everywhere... beginning to think that he is crazy! but anything will help thank you
BumpyRide
This show was consistently funny until *gasp* the kids got older and somehow they lost their funny bones. The true death knell for any show- puberty! Aside from that, Jerry Mathers was a very talented little kid that seems to have bypassed the "Diffrent Strokes" curse of many a child star. While Ward and June were a little plastic, the Beav and his friends, especially Lumpy and Judy were always a hoot to watch. This was one show that got it right when it came to kids. They acted and did things that kids do. They weren't perfect like "The Brady Bunch" yet they weren't bad either. Just normal kids doing kid things which led to hysterical results. A comedy that still holds up today.
Roger Reynolds
I have read the other comments about Leave It to Beaver and noticed there was an important aspect about the late fifties that is not brought out by the writers. Several make general reference to the show reflecting its times, but not with anything elaborated on. Watching the show it would be useful to recall what was happening in the world while this show was on. People forget today the fifties were the peak of the cold war. Children in schools were practicing duck and cover air raid drills to get ready for the bombs to start falling. In the movies, a whole new generation of horror films began appearing, many of which were about monsters created by nuclear testing and science meddling where it shouldn't. The other side of this insecurity in the fifties was reflected in the TV shows that showed happy families living in safe town where problems always had a solution. It might be interesting for some viewer to try to study the show by correlating certain episodes to what was in the news at the time the show was being written. Also, by the way, I always liked the show.
