Figure 1.--
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Figure 1.-- |
The Butter Cream Gang is set in a modern small town in Utah. The gang is an old tradition in this town; it was created among its adolescent boys to do good deeds and provide service to community members in need. One service, helping with butter making, earned the gang its name.
The ButterCream Gang is almost certainly a made for TV (probably Trinity Broadcasting Network or the Odyssey Channel) movie. Despite a limited budget, the
western scenery is beautiful, and the unknown young actors turn in unselfconscious and genuine, if occasionally understated, performances. The test of Scott's sturdy and beautiful faith is sensitively and effectively portrayed. The Director was Bruce Neibaur.
The main characters are Scott, Pete, Lanny, Eldon and their friend Margaret. They form "the Buttercream Gang", a group of four boys in junior high who belong to a special club dedicated to helping others.
Jason Johnson played 'Scott' in The Buttercream Gang.
The setting is the sunny little town of Elkridge.
Orphan Pete Turner (played by Michael D. Weathrred) has left the Butter Creamers to
live with his aunt in Chicago. He has been living with his grandfather and was a good member of the Butter Creamers. Scott Carpenter (Jason Johnson), is Pete's best friend, and the leader of the gang. He corresponds regularly with Pete by mail. Pete is wrongly accused of a theft in Chicago and now resents all authority. When he joins a gang and
runs into trouble, his aunt sends him back to his grandfather.
Scott is disturbed by the changes he sees in Pete and tries without success to get him to rejoin the Butter Creamers. Scott and his family are devout Christians and extend Pete unconditional love and acceptance. Pete refuses them and joins a gang of young hoodlums, instead. They rob from friends and bully other children. Scott shows great bravery,
confronting by himself Pete and the other gang members. Later, Scott is ambushed and beaten up by this gang, and they taunt him with cruel pranks.
Throughout his ordeal, Scott, though hurt and angered by Pete, never loses faith; determination and a Christ-like spirit will change Pete. Overwhelmed by self-hatred, Pete flees to Chicago. Scott continues to write to him, though all of his leters go unanswered.
Finally, Scott's faith is rewarded when he learns that Pete has formed a gang much like the Butter Creamers in Chicago.
The boys wear a mix of conservatively styled clothes, typical of the early 1990's: T-shirts with sports logos, uncollared pullover shirts, jeans shorts and above the knee walk shorts, blue jeans, and tennis shoes. They wear long dark trousers, short sleeved
white shirts, and ties to a dance. All of the boys wear neatly combed short hair.
Some web reviewers savaged this film, calling it a waste of film and making personal remarks about the young performers. Ridiculous. The film is quite wholesome, but hardly cloying or saccharine. It has no pretensions about being a feature film blockbuster;
it's a simple and definitely kind hearted film great for children and early adolescents to enjoy with parents and grandparents. It nicely depicts casual clothes from its era, too.
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