Touches You

Too much of everything

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I loved this movie when I saw it as a teenager. I wish they would come out with it on DVD. Haley Mills had the "movie life" I wanted to live and loved every movie she was in. Her father John Mills was a special man and actor who always added to all of his roles, especially his characters. Too bad there aren't more movies like these for all of us to dream about. After all, movies should be entertainment and an escape from the boring, bad parts in life. This was a great movie and the idea of living on a boat going everywhere is such an adventure!!! James MacArthur was at his best too. I miss all these actors and movies like these.

Small-budget Universal film stars John Mills as the salty skipper of his own ramshackle fishing vessel whose teenage daughter finds romance for the first time with a law-school graduate on vacation; all three coast into trouble when modern-day pirates vie for a treasure map Mills has in his possession. Sub-Disney nonsense is brash and frantic, yet the high adventure we anticipate never quite arrives. Hayley Mills as Spring isn't allowed to act her age--she's too old to still be playing the kissless teenager--however her quieter moments with James MacArthur are sweetly done, and the film is certainly airy and lively, if not especially memorable. ** from ****

I, like most others in this forum, happen to love this little movie. There's something about its good-naturedness that is captivating, and its open-air-and-sea setting that gives it a timeless quality. The idea of being a capable young woman who travels around the Caribbean on a boat with a genial parent, leading an unstructured life with plenty of little adventures, must be quite attractive to young female viewers. And then there is Hayley Mills, the effortlessly charming English actress who forever inspires crushes. And why? Perhaps because she's pretty but not too pretty, English but not too English, quite lively but not brassy, and quite natural without the child actor show-offiness or affectations. Truly the girl you want to have next door. For fans of Hayley (note "HAYLEY": for some reason many in this forum can't spell her name correctly) this film has an air of poignancy about it because this is the last of her teen parts. After this she moved on to young adult parts ('That Darn Cat,' her next film, dolled her up and gave her a boyfriend right from the start --- and it was also her last Disney film). Here she'd just turned eighteen and co-star James MacArthur (son of Helen Hayes and famed screen & stage writer Charles MacArthur) was about 27. There had been a contest held by Hayley fans at the time as to who should co-star with her in this film and MacArthur (a Disney alumni) was given the top vote. He was married at the time so no off-screen romance developed. But they are cute together. In my opinion the scene where a trapped Hayley is teased with a rope that MacArthur drops down to her is a small showcase of Hayley's natural and economic comic timing: a kind of ability that Disney could never find again. And one of the pluses of this film is that it is NOT a Disney production, meaning that it has more of a laconic, low-key English flavor to it. It certainly could be mistaken for Disney, and might have made a bigger splash at the box office (it was a dud) and be easily available today on DVD or VHS if it had been, but as a trade-off, it has an easygoing charm without the Disney tendency to offer explosive, slapsticky finishes, or cartoony musical flourishes (e.g. 'In Search of the Castaways' or 'That Darn Cat'). There's also the pleasure of watching outstanding English character actors like Lionel Jeffries and Harry Andrews clearly enjoying themselves. And there's the obvious pleasure of watching the real father-daughter team of John and Hayley playing off each other. John Mills recounted how enjoyable it was making this movie because it was like one long holiday. And note that although the film's story takes place in the Caribbean, in fact, the movie itself was filmed along the southern coast of Spain. In addition, it was released in the UK as 'The Pirates of Spring Cove' and is available on video from England under that title (unfortunately, England uses the PAL video format, thus you have to have a video player that can play that format to view it). I agree that Universal Home Video has foolishly let this movie slip through the cracks, but sometimes movies have copyright problems, so it's possible that Universal would like to release this film but some rights issue is snagging things. Certainly this is not a lost masterpiece worthy of mass petitions or Congressional action, but I think it should be brought to Universal's attention that there ARE buyers out there waiting for a chance to own this little gem.

This is an excellent movie/ good clean movie that is well suited for the average pre teem and early teen years. young girls will enjoy the comedy and the romance.The acting is good and the story interesting and entertaining/ if you are able to locate this movie i highly recommend it as a gift for young girls