Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894), and Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896).
Sawyer also appears in at least three unfinished Twain works, Huck and Tom Among the Indians, Schoolhouse Hill and Tom Sawyer's Conspiracy. While all three uncompleted works were posthumously published, only Tom Sawyer's Conspiracy has a complete plot, as Twain abandoned the other two works after finishing only a few chapters.
The fictional character's name may have been derived from a jolly and flamboyant fireman named Tom Sawyer with whom Twain was acquainted in San Francisco, California, while Twain was employed as a reporter at the San Francisco Call. Twain used to listen to Sawyer tell stories of his youth, "Sam, he would listen to these pranks of mine with great interest and he'd occasionally take 'em down in his notebook. One day he says to me: ‘I am going to put you between the covers of a book some of these days, Tom.’ ‘Go ahead, Sam,’ I said, ‘but don’t disgrace my name.’" Twain himself said the character sprang from three people, later identified as: John B. Briggs (who died in 1907), William Bowen (who died in 1893) and Twain; however Twain later changed his story saying Sawyer was fully formed solely from his imagination, but as Robert Graysmith says, "The great appropriator liked to pretend his characters sprang fully grown from his fertile mind.
, 1h30 OriginUSA GenresDrama, Action, Adventure ThemesFilms about children ActorsJoel Courtney, Jake Toranzo Austin, Val Kilmer, Katherine McNamara, Sonja Kirchberger, Dan van Husen Rating51% The adventure unfolds as Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn - Tom's friend from the streets - witness a murder in the graveyard. Tom and Huck flee to Jackson Island and make a pact never to tell anyone about the incident. However, when the good-natured Muff Potter, who has been blamed for the murder is sentenced to death by hanging, Tom breaks his promise and returns to exonerate Muff Potter. Injun Joe, the actual murderer, makes a hasty exit from the courtroom during the trial. A short time later, Tom and Huck find references to a treasure and have to face Injun Joe again.
, 1h37 Directed byPeter Hewitt OriginUSA GenresDrama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Action, Adventure ThemesFilms about children, Children's films ActorsJonathan Taylor Thomas, Brad Renfro, Eric Schweig, Charles Rocket, Amy Wright, Michael McShane Rating54% The film opens with Injun Joe (Eric Schweig) accepting a job position from Doctor Jonas Robinson (William Newman). Tom Sawyer (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is seen running away from home. He and his friends ride down the Mississippi River on a raft, but hit a sharp rock, which throws Tom into the water. His friends find him washed up on the shore, and Tom finds it was Huck Finn (Brad Renfro) who carried him to safety. Huck learns of an unusual way to remove warts - by taking a dead cat to the graveyard at night. There they witness Injun Joe and Muff Potter (Mike McShane), the town drunk, digging up the grave of Vic "One-Eyed" Murrell for Doctor Robinson. A treasure map is discovered and when Doc tries to betray the two men, Injun Joe murders him with Muff's knife.
, 1h44 Directed byDon Taylor OriginUSA GenresAdventure, Musical ThemesFilms about children, Films about music and musicians, Musical films, Children's films ActorsJohnny Whitaker, Celeste Holm, Warren Oates, Jeff East, Jodie Foster, Lucille Benson Rating63% Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn play hooky from school and have a plan to revive a dead cat with the spirit of a man named Hoss Williams who is on his death bed. Sawyer and Finn talk with Muff Potter, the town drunk, but are interrupted when Injun Joe says that Doc Robinson wants to see them. Muff and Joe meet Robinson and he informs them that they have a job to dig the grave of Williams. Joe is angry that Robinson didn't fix his leg correctly. Meanwhile, Tom continues to skip school and comes up with fantastic stories about why he's not home for dinner, where he tricks the children of the town to do his punishment chores for him.
, 1h33 Directed byGeorge Cukor, Norman Taurog, H. C. Potter, William A. Wellman OriginUSA GenresDrama, Adventure ThemesFilms about children ActorsJackie Moran, Tommy Kelly, May Robson, Ann Gillis, Walter Brennan, Victor Jory Rating69% The United Artists release includes most of the sequences familiar to readers of the book, including the fence-whitewashing episode; a wild raft ride down the Mississippi River; Tom and Huckleberry Finn's attendance at their own funeral, after the boys, who were enjoying an adventure on a remote island, are presumed dead; the murder trial of local drunkard Muff Potter; and Tom and Becky Thatcher's flight through a cave as they try to escape from Injun Joe, who is revealed to be the real killer.
, 1h26 Directed byJohn Cromwell OriginUSA GenresDrama, Comedy, Adventure ActorsJackie Coogan, Mitzi Green, Junior Durkin, Lucien Littlefield, Tully Marshall, Clara Blandick Rating61% After arguing with his sweetheart, Becky Thatcher, Tom Sawyer seeks solace from his friend Huck Finn, who tells him about a mysterious cure for warts that requires them to visit the local cemetery at midnight. While there they witness a murder committed by Injun Joe, who convinces Muff Potter, who also was there but in an inebriated state, that he is guilty of the crime. Tom and Huck promise each other they will not divulge what they have seen.
Directed byWilliam Desmond Taylor OriginUSA GenresDrama, Comedy ActorsMartha Mattox, Esther Ralston, Lewis Sargent, Frank Lanning, Katherine Griffith, Edythe Chapman Rating64% As described in a film publication, Huckleberry Finn (Sargent) has been adopted by the Widow Douglas (K. Griffith) who plans to "civilize" him. With Tom Sawyer (G. Griffith) he forms a robber gang, and in a cave has the local boys take an oath to stick together. In his bedroom he runs into his no-account father (Lanning) who steals Huck's small change and later kidnaps Huck, taking him in a small boat down the river, while Tom and the gang wait for their leader to appear. Huck later escapes from a cabin where his father mistreated him, making it look as if he drowned while getting away in a canoe. Rumors of Huck's death spreads. Jim (Reed), the widow's slave boy, hears that he is to be sold and runs off, and joins Huck on a raft. Duke (Humphrey) and King (Bates), two broken-down actors fleeing a crowd they had fooled with a mock theatrical performance, join them. At the next town the actors again fool the people with a pretend theatrical performance with Huck acting as the doorkeeper. Further downstream the actors then impersonate the brothers of a deceased man named Wilks in an attempt to obtain the inheritance, but Huck takes the money to keep it from the actors after he is smitten by the daughter, Mary Jane Wilks (Ralston). Huck and Jim leave to escape the wrath of their former companions just as the actual relatives of the dead man show up. After peace is made when King and Duke rejoin the group, a shabby trick is performed when King sells Jim to a man named Phelps and then tells Huck that Jim has been lost. Upon learning the truth, Huck sets out to rescue his friend. He discovers that Mrs. Phelps (Moore) is the sister of Tom's Aunt Polly. Huck poses as the nephew Tom, whom Mrs. Phelps has never met. Then the real Tom arrives, who is surprised as he believed that Huck had died. After exchanging signals, Tom poses as his brother Sid and they go through with a plan. In a struggle to get Jim away, Tom is shot in the leg. Jim escapes, and while the two youngsters are congratulating themselves at Tom's sickbed, Aunt Polly arrives and says that Jim had been freed a month earlier. She informs the Phelps of Huck's actual identity and takes him back, cured of his wandering, to the Widow Douglas.