8 Scouting Movies

1. Follow Me, Boys
   In my opinion, this is the best Scouting movie ever made. I use to watch this movie all the time as I had a copy as a kid and now have a DVD copy.

    

   

   Summary from IMDb...
   Lem Siddons is part of a traveling band who has a dream of becoming a lawyer. Deciding to settle down, he finds a job as a stockboy in the general store of a small town. Trying to fit in, he volunteers to become scoutmaster of the newly formed Troop 1. Becoming more and more involved with the scout troop, he finds his plans to become a lawyer being put on the back burner until he realizes that his life has been fulfilled helping the youth of the small town.
    

2. Down and Derby
   This is also a really good movie. I actually got to watch it in the theater. The movie features a pinewood derby race where, well let's just say the kids do not get to create the cars and others go nuts.
   
   Summary from IMDb...
   Down and Derby is a family comedy about a small town Pinewood Derby competition that transforms an average group of dads into an awkward bunch of competitors. On the outside, Phil Davis is the typical dad and friendly neighbor. On the inside, he is unresolved and at a breaking point with his childhood rival, Ace Montana. Desperate for the elusive first place, Phil sees his son's Pinewood Derby race as a breakthrough opportunity to beat Ace, who also has a Cub Scout son. Surrounded by more overzealous dads in the same cul-de-sac, they all disregard the event's ideals and completely take over the design, planning, and construction of the cars. In the crazed world of derby fever, the kids are lucky if they get to pick the paint color or attach a decal. Hilarity builds as the dads teeter on the edge of insanity and resort to backstabbing, cover-ups, and sabotage. Wives, families, and jobs are ignored with extreme consequences. The farce reaches comical and outrageous levels when in the end, the young scouts prevail in a surprise twist, reminding us to never take ourselves too seriously or underestimate what kids can do. This comedy satirizes the desperate behavior of parents who compete with one another through their children, a social dynamic seen in everyday activities ranging from little league to science fairs
    

3. Scout Camp The Movie
   I would not rate this movie as a blockbuster but for what it is a small budget Scout film is actually quite good. There are a few minor problems like the lack of 2 deep leadership, but let's face this is a movie about the story, not the details. Also, remember most of the kids that play Scouts in this movie are actual real Scouts found from Councils near where the film was recorded.
   
   Summary from scoutcampthemovie.com
   The Fire Dragon patrol, with their ever-supportive scoutmaster (Kirby Heyborne, Saints and Soldiers) is headed to Camp Rakhouta for what might be the best week of their lives. But when

   the legendary “Spirit Stick” of the prestigious camp goes missing, the entire tradition of the camp is threatened. Now the Fire Dragons, led by York Hayes (Shawn Carter, High School Musical 1, 2, 3) must do whatever it takes to find the stick, return, and restore the legacy of the camp. Writer/Director Garrett Batty delivers a respectful, funny, and true classic, in this timeless and nostalgic family film.
    

4. 759 Scouts of Harlem
   This is actually a documentary that follows Troop 759 of Harlem New York around. Most of the film takes place when the Troop goes to Summer Camp. I have watched this documentary several times and found myself cheering the Scouts on and getting emotional when they face certain struggles..... (yes I am the type that cries at many movies – eek did I just say that publicly)
   
   Summary from harlemscouts.com
   Be prepared to be amazed as Scout Troop 759 heads from the streets of Harlem to the woods of Camp Keowa. Eleven-year-old new scout Keith Dozier spends his first week at camp facing the challenges of the woods - the docking test in the deep dark lake, creepy creatures of the night, the daunting climbing tower, the raucous dining hall, and the seductive Siberian sirens in the kitchen. With help from his fellow scouts K.C., Devon, and Manny and wise Scoutmaster Sowah, young Keith faces the challenges and earns his place as a Scout.
    

5. Philmont Or Bust

This is an old historical documentary of sorts, filmed in 1963. On the back of the DVD case, it says... 

http://www.philmontmovie.com/

At Philmont, a boy learns and he has fun. After a while he can't tell the differences,” says the narrator of Beyond the Tooth of Time, a 1962 file depicting the backcountry camps and activities that perpetuate the experience of scouting at Philmont.

Through a montage of outdoor footage and narration this 23-minute informational film classic features varied camps – including forestry, photography, fly tying, and fishing, archeology, and conservation – where the experience for the Boy Scout is about “getting out there on his hands and knees and getting into it.”

Also on this DVD is another film called “Coming on Strong”. The write up on it says:

Produced in 1973 the second feature, Coming on Strong, which is 30 minutes in length, follows the escapades of one Scout as he recalls his adventures. Ad misadventures, at Philmont. “We hit the trail and the trail was hitting back,” he says of the extensive hiking routes experienced by his troop as they traverse the backcountry. “How do I get myself into these fixes??” he asks as he dangles and swings from the belay line draped over a cliff.

Whether reliving history at Kit Carson's home, flint-knapping, log rolling, or racing burros, this film depicts the adventures and camaraderie built around the Scouting experience. It's great nostalgia and great fun as you compare your scouting experience with those who hiked the trails before you!

        6. Scouts to the Rescue

This is an old movie from 1939, divided up into 12 chapters. It is nothing overly amazing but worth watching once.

Summary:
Filmed in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Sonora, California, this Universal serial (made in that short two-year span of time when they chose to be identified as The New Universal) is Universal's 40th sound-era serial, made and released between "Red Barry" and "Buck Rogers", and has Eagle Scout Bruce Scott (Jackie Cooper), leader of Martinsville Troop Number One, and his pack setting off in search of lost treasure, using a map provided by Tenderfoot scout Skeets Scanlon (Bill Cody, Jr.) Scoutmaster Hale (Jack Mulhall)leaves the expedition to rush home to an ailing wife, but Bruce and the scouts push on and the map leads them to "Ghost Town", where the treasure turns out to be a large cache of counterfeit $20 bills and the plates used to print them. The troop also discover a lost branch of Inca Indians living in the mountains and still undetected in 1939. The tribe gives ferocious efforts to keep the scouts from discovering their Temple cave because it contains a huge radium deposit known to them only for its ability to heal wounds. Joined by G-Man Hal Marvin (William Ruhl), on the trail of the counterfeiting ring led by Pug O'Toole (Ralph Dunn) and Doc (Jason Robards as Jason Robards, the only screen billing name he ever used, credited and/or uncredited, since Jason Robards Jr. wasn't making films when his father was), the scouts face many battles and opposition from both the gangsters and the tribe.
 

       7. Troop Beverley Hills
This is an ok comedy filmed in 1989 around a Girl Scout Troop theme. It focuses on a spoiled, rich girl troop from Beverly Hills California, and their adventures, or should I say misadventures.

Summary from IMDb:
As Phyllis, a Beverly Hills housewife, is in the middle of a divorce, she tries to find focus in her life by taking over her daughter's (Hannah) Wilderness Girl troop. Among the girls are Tiffany, (who her father has to bribe to attend meetings, Emily (the daughter of an out of work actor, whose financial difficulties hinders her wanting to participate in certain activities), the neurotic Tessa (whose parents divorce has forced her into therapy twice a week), the hostile Chica (whose parents are too busy with their own lives to even remember her birthday), and Claire (the child star who see the wilderness girls as her chance to lead a "normal" life). Phyllis then begins to take the girls camping at a Beverly Hills hotel and earn patches relating to material things. The district leader, Velda, feels the troop should be disbanded. However, the head of the Wilderness girls organization believes that as long as Phyllis has taken an active interest in the girls, that is the only thing that's important. Then Velda begins to sabotage the girls endlessly.
 

        8. Father and Scout
This is another ok movie, I would classify this one as a “b” kids movie. It has an ok story and plot. This is not amazing but I did not find it bad either. It was released in 1994 and stars Bob Saget.

Summary from tvguide.com
Spenser Paley (Bob Saget) reluctantly accompanies his son Michael (Brian Bonsall) on a "Dad and Lad" camping trip to Catalina Island. The unathletic Spenser is out of his element in the great outdoors. He sinks a canoe, steps on a jellyfish, and faints in a cave. Michael is embarrassed by his father's sour attitude and recurrent ineptitude. With his incessant whining, complaining, and sarcastic put-downs, Spenser riles the other campers, particularly Chet (David Graf). Chet and his son use underhanded tactics to try to beat the Paleys in the father-son pentathlon. But when the group is trapped in a mine shaft, Spenser and Chet work together to save their sons. Spenser and Michael win the contest and return home closer than ever.