The idyllic life of a young Cajun boy and his pet raccoon is disrupted when the tranquility of the bayou is broken by an oil well drilling near his home.
A young Cajun boy named Alexander Napolean Ulysses Latour spends his time on a Louisiana bayou. There he plays, fishes and hunts, worrying only about the alligators which infest its waters. The boy's innocent routine changes forever when his father signs a lease agreement with an oil company which brings a derrick into their corner of the bayou.—Shannon Patrick Sullivan <[email protected]>
The story follows the everyday life of a young backwoods Louisiana lad and his pet raccoon. The boy spends most of his time fishing, hunting or exploring the area where he lives with his parents. He becomes fascinated when an oil rig arrives in the area. The rig workers are friendly and don't mind the the boy is poking his nose in here and there. In fact they seem to enjoy a bit of company. Things get exciting for everyone when the well blows.—garykmcd
The film deals with the adventures of a young Cajun boy (Joseph Boudreaux) and his pet raccoon, who live a somewhat idyllic existence playing in the bayous of Louisiana. A sub-plot involves his elderly father (Lionel Le Blanc) allowing an oil company to drill for oil in the inlet that runs behind their house. An inland barge is towed into the inlet from interconnecting waterways. Most, if not all, of South Louisiana swamps and inland waters without land access were and are explored using dredged channels and barge rigs. The film presents the rig crew tripping pipe (an oilfield operations term), changing a bit, and closing valves on the blow out preventers. The rig crew are not actors, they are actual roughnecks. Even though there is a moment of probable manufactured crisis when the rig drills into a trouble zone, the crew's actions are not choreographed per se. The time-frame is pre-OSHA, however, there are serious doubts that drillers at that time allowed shoe-less kids to hang out on the rig floor --- ever. As the story progresses, the rig completes its operation and friendly drillers depart, leaving behind a phenomenally clean environment and a wealthy Cajun family.
Conflict and action for the plot is provided by the presence of a giant alligator in the area, which is believed to have eaten the pet raccoon and which is hunted in revenge. There is no individual or organized resistance to the incursion of the oil seekers, even after the (brief, off-screen) disaster, who are unequivocally portrayed as friendly, progressive humanitarians.
The boy, named in the film as Alexander Napoleon Ulysses Le Tour, but in the credits just identified as "the boy," was played by Joseph Boudreaux.
