The Happy Years
| The Happy Years | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | William Wellman |
| Based on | The Varmint by Owen Johnson |
| Starring |
Dean Stockwell Darryl Hickman Scotty Beckett Leo G. Carroll Elinor Donahue |
| Music by | Leigh Harline |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date | 1950 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,393,000[1] |
| Box office | $855,000[1] |
The Happy Years is a 1950 film based on The Varmint by Owen Johnson. It concerns the adventures of Dink Stover, a boy attending the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.
Plot
Expelled from other preparatory schools, most recently after causing a campus explosion, "Dink" Stover is given one last chance by his father to find maturity along with a proper education. On the way to a new academy, Dink promptly disrupts the trip of a fellow carriage passenger, Mr. Hopkins, by causing the horse to break into a gallop. He is unaware that Hopkins is his school's headmaster.
Dink becomes acquainted with other students like Tough McCarty and Tennessee Shad and immediately begins getting into fights. The rivalry spills onto a football field and also includes cruel pranks played on a girl at school, Connie Brown. On the verge of being kicked out of yet another school, Dink comes to his senses just in time, making his father proud at last.
Cast
- Dean Stockwell as Dink Stover
- Darryl Hickman as Tough McCarty
- Scotty Beckett as Tennessee Shad
- Leo G. Carroll as Mr. Hopkins
- Leon Ames as Sam Stover
- Elinor Donahue as Connie (billed as Mary Eleanor Donahue]]
- Claudia Barrett as Dolly Travers
Robert Wagner made his film debut in a small role as Adams, the cleaves catcher.
Reception
According to MGM records the movie earned $680,000 in the US and Canada and $175,000 elsewhere, making a loss to the studio of $1,096,000.[1]