The Happy Years
Film poster
Directed by	William Wellman
Written by	Harry Ruskin
Based on	The Varmint: A Lawrenceville Story by 1910 book Owen Johnson
Produced by	Carey Wilson
Starring	Dean Stockwell Darryl Hickman Scotty Beckett Leon Ames Margalo Gillmore
Cinematography	Paul C. Vogel
Edited by	John Dunning
Music by	Leigh Harline
Color process	Technicolor
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	1950
Running time	109-110 mins
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,393,000[1]
Box office	$855,000[1]

The Happy Years is a 1950 film based on the 1910 novel The Varmint by Owen Johnson. It concerns the adventures of Dink Stover, a boy attending the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. Robert Wagner made his film debut in a small, uncredited role as Adams, the catcher for Cleve House.

Plot

Expelled from other preparatory schools, most recently after causing a campus explosion, young John Humperdink Stover is given one last chance by his father to find maturity and discipline along with a proper education. On the way to a new academy, Stover promptly disrupts the trip of a fellow carriage passenger, Mr. Hopkins, by causing the horse to break into a gallop. He is unaware that Hopkins is the Latin teacher and house-master at his school.

Promptly given the nickname "Dink," he becomes acquainted with other students like "Tough" McCarty and "Tennessee" Shad and immediately starts getting into fights. The rivalry spills onto the football field and also includes elaborate pranks played on a girl, Connie Brown, during the summer break. On the verge of being kicked out of yet another school, Dink comes to his senses just in time, making his father proud at last.

Cast

• Dean Stockwell as Dink Stover
• Darryl Hickman as Tough McCarty
• Scotty Beckett as Tennessee Shad
• Leo G. Carroll as Mr. Hopkins
• Leon Ames as Sam Stover
• Margalo Gillmore as Maude Stover
• Elinor Donahue as Connie (billed as Mary Eleanor Donahue)
• Claudia Barrett as Dolly Travers
• Robert Wagner as Adams

Reception

According to MGM records, the movie earned $680,000 in the US and Canada and $175,000 elsewhere, making a loss of $1,096,000 for the studio.^[1]