What the Huck?

No literary character, no matter how classic, is immune from being sexualized when Hollywood (or FH) gets involved. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is no exception. Although some have written about the sexual undertones in the book, especially between Huck and Jim, the character's age ranged only from 13 to 17 in Twain's two novels so any sexual tension was left unspoken, in the subtext in readers imagination.

But... out of the pages, Huck has been brought to life on screen in movies and on television over two dozen times since the character's first appearance on screen in 1920. Many of the actors who took on the role, including Brad Renfro, Elijah Wood were the same age as the character, but many of the other others cast in the role were a bit older.

Big River on Broadway (1985)

One of  earliest, and most famous Huck's was Mickey Rooney who was 19 when he took on the role. Jeff East (who I previously featured HERE:) was 17 and two of the recent actors to take on the role, Jake T. Austin in 2014 was 20 and Kyle Gallner in 2015 was 25.

Mickey Rooney in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)

Johnny Whitaker and Jeff East in Huckleberry Finn (1974)

That brings us to Mitchell Anderson, who was responsible for my choosing Huck as a character to spotlight. I never really watched Doogie Howswer M.D, but I did have a huge crush on Mitchell Anderson when I was a kid. His beautiful face and sparkling eyes were more than swoon worthy and seeing a recent shot of his turn 1990 turn as Huck had me interested to learn more about other young actors who took on the iconic role.

Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (1990)

Anderson was close to 30 when he took on the role in the Disney film which took at look at what Huck and Tom Sawyer (Raphael Sbarge) were up to 10 years later. I couldn't find a copy of the film, but there are some trailers on Youtube, the although set in 1800's, there was a distinct '90's vibe about the few clips I saw. .

Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (2014)

Actor Jake T. Austin certainly brought a doze of sex appeal when co-starring along side Joel Courtney (Tom Sawyer) in 2014's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I haven't seen this version yet, but I didn't need an excuse or reason to feature a few shirtless shots of Austin

Austin in The Fosters