Flipper’s New Adventure *** (1964, Luke Halpin, Pamela Franklin, Helen Cherry, Tom Helmore, Francesca Annis) – Classic Movie Review 10,970

‘Here comes Flipper the fearless… he’s back with some brand new friends, new fun, new thrills, as he tackles a band of desperate pirates!’

Director Leon Benson’s family adventure film Flipper’s New Adventure [Flipper and the Pirates], the hasty, attractively cast and nicely shot sequel to James B Clark’s 1963 hit Flipper, was filmed in Metrocolor in late 1963 by Ivan Tors Productions and released on 24 June 1964 by MGM.

The 16-year-old Luke Halpin returns as the teenage fishing boy called Sandy Ricks, who has run away in his father’s skiff motorboat with his pet dolphin Flipper to the Bahamas, where they find that they have to tackle three recently escaped convicts who have kidnapped the holiday-making English family of Sir Halsey Hopewell (Tom Helmore). The father is taken hostage, while his wife Julia (Helen Cherry) and daughters Penny (Pamela Franklin) and Gwen (Francesca Annis) are forced into a small boat and told to row to the nearby island where Sandy is hiding.

Brian Kelly replaces Chuck Connors (the original Porter Ricks in the 1963 Flipper) in the second movie as loving father Porter Ricks, Chief Warden at the fictional Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve. Porter is now a single parent as, for the second film, the producers decided to script that Mrs Ricks had died.

The 1964 songs ‘Always’ and ‘Imagine’ and ‘The Flipper Song’ (lyrics by ‘By’ Dunham, music by Henry Vars) are sung by Chris Crosby, with ‘It’s a Cotton Candy World’ (lyrics by ‘By’ Dunham, music by Henry Vars) performed by Jerry Wallace.

The main cast are Luke Halpin as Sandy Ricks, Pamela Franklin as Penny Hopewell, Tom Helmore as Sir Halsey Hopewell, Brian Kelly as Porter Ricks, Helen Cherry as Julia Hopewell, Francesca Annis as Gwen Hopewell, Joe Higgins as L C Porett, Lloyd Battista as the lead convict Gil Bates, Courtney Brown as Convict, William Cooley as Second Convict, and Ricou Browning as Dr Burton. Mitzie played Flipper in the first movie but Suzy performs as Flipper in this one. Halpin said Mitzie was more affectionate.

It is written by Art Arthur, based on the characters created by Ricou Browning and Jack Cowden. Browning said that he conceived the story after seeing his children intently watching the TV series Lassie,

The film, released before the TV series premiered, was well received and a bigger box office success than the popular first film, taking $1.6 million (US/ Canada).

Flipper’s New Adventure [Flipper and the Pirates] runs 94 minutes, is shot in Metrocolor by Lamar Boren, produced by Ivan Tors and scored by Henry Vars. It is shot in the Bahamas and Key Biscayne and Miami, Florida.

Sandy Ricks romances Penny Hopewell on screen, and the then 16-year-old Luke Halpin and 13-year-old Pamela Franklin had a real-life romance, which Halpin later described as being his first girlfriend and his first kiss. Halpin’s three trademarks were his cut-off jean shorts – he wears just cut offs for 90 per cent of the movie – his mop of beach-blond hair and his tanned ripped swimmer’s body.

Brian Kelly, Luke Halpin and Tommy Norden in Flipper.

The TV series Flipper ran three seasons on NBC from 19 September 1964 to 15 April 1967. Halpin was the sole lead actor/ character to appear in both movies and the entire TV series. Brian Kelly and Luke Halpin played their characters for all 88 episodes of the TV series, joined by Tommy Norden as Porter Ricks’s younger son. Bud, a character created for the TV series.

Brian Kelly said about his character being single: ‘I’m going to bring a couple of bikini girls on. I want some groovy-lookin’ girls because a lot of fathers who see the show say “Where are the chicks?”‘

Flipper was revived in 1996 with Elijah Wood. A 1990s TV revival features Jessica Alba.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,970

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Helen Cherry plays Sir Halsey Hopewell’s wife Julia.