Good-bye, My Lady

I was introduced to this movie by my niece, who had seen it at her vocational school. She and her friends (about a dozen girls) sat and watched it over and over, and cried their eyes out at the end every time! For a 50 year old movie to have that much impact on a group of modern 15 and 16 year old kids really says something about the quality of its content. It is certainly out-dated in many ways, and shows training techniques that would, no doubt make the ASPCA cringe today. For those of us that grew up in a little less gentile world it brings back memories of how life used to be. The acting in the film is good throughout, the characters are generally believable. If you have ever had the pleasure of interacting with a Basenji, than you will realize that most of what is depicted in the movie concerning the dog is quite plausible. It is one of the best dog movies I have ever seen, and really worth a look (if you can find it).

There is a very interesting item about this film that is not mentioned on the information page about the dog. Without exception, this is the only film that features the basenji, also known as the African barkless dog. I know of only a couple other films that show a basenji, but just briefly, one of which is "The African Queen", where, near the beginning, you see it for only a moment. The film gives a good depiction about the nature and characteristics about the breed. I can attest to it since I grew up with this breed and have been around them for over 40 years. It's a shame that the breed is not used more often. If only this movie were available on DVD!

Brandon deWilde & Walter Brennan star in this affectionate 1956 tale of a boy's love for his dog. DeWilde, a latch key kid living w/his uncle, Brennan, doesn't seem to have things going his way. Brennan won't let him have a rifle to shoot varmints with or have a pet of his own which all changes when he hears a yippish cry from the woods finding a rare dog from Africa. They soon bond & develop a love for each other but as night follows day, sunnier times turn dark as the original owner, sending an envoy to collect the pooch, wants what's his back. Will deWilde relinquish his pal at the end or put up a good fight? Touching upon many boy & their pet yarns like The Yearling (my personal favorite of this type) & Ol' Yeller, this film is in a lower register w/simple guitar strumming for a score, copious amounts of Southern drawls heard throughout & direction by William A. Wellman (the original A Star is Born/Wings) as deliberate as the clearing of one's throat so if you love your canine & old films, what a pair this film'll make. Also starring Sidney Poitier as a friendly neighbor & Phil Harris (that's right Baloo from the animated Jungle Book) as a kindly general store owner.

I remember seeing Goodbye My Lady back when I was a lad as the second part of a double feature. I was pretty amazed at this most unusual canine.

Young Skeeter, who lives with his Uncle Jesse in the swamp area near Pascagoula, Mississippi comes upon a most unusual dog in the swamp. It grooms itself like a cat, has a hyena like laugh instead of a bark, and has the speed of Secretariat. Any kid like the one I was when I saw this would want to possess an animal like this. When Skeeter finally does capture him he finds he's got the most natural hunting dog ever seen those parts.

Brandon DeWilde was a pretty popular child actor in the Fifties, Shane and The Member of the Wedding cemented his career. He and Walter Brennan playing Uncle Jesse are a winning combination. They get good support from Phil Harris as the local grocer, Sidney Poitier has a small role as a young black neighbor and William Hopper, the Yankee visitor from Connecticut.

Would you believe this film was produced by John Wayne? His Batjac Production company occasionally did films that did not star the Duke. Duke got a top director in William Wellman with whom he had just finished The High and the Mighty to direct Goodbye My Lady and Phil Harris and William Hopper who was in the cast of same. Wellman mixes all the elements just right for a winning film.

This unusual dog turns out to be a basenji from Africa and of course the dog is lost from it's real owner. The ending isn't what you would expect from a boy/dog picture, it's more real and that's as far as I go at this point.

Living in Buffalo as I do now, there's a bit of humor here that non- Buffalonians can't appreciate. Phil Harris has a hunting dog named Millard Fillmore, named after our 13th American President. Fillmore is somewhere in the middle rank of Presidents generally, but as a native of Buffalo, you'll find a few people in this part of the world who will accord him as great.

Harris makes a joke about nothing ever being named for Fillmore. Where I live there's a page or two in the phone book for things named Fillmore. That must have sent up a few howls back when I was a kid in theaters here.

This is a nice film directed by William Wellman about "Skeeter" (Brandon DeWilde) who finds a most unusual dog in the swamps near Pascagoula. He lives with his uncle (Walter Brennan) and decides to keep the seemingly stray dog and name her "Lady".

Lady turns out to be a very good hunter who can stand "on points" when she finds birds, but also has a penchant for chickens and rats as well. She is a sort of terrier, is what they assume, not realizing she is actually an African Basenji, rare and unusual.

There are a few amusing scenes, as when Brennan's neighbor brings his heeler, old "Millard Fillmore" to hunt with Lady, and Lady out bird-dogs "Old Mill" (what kind of name is that). Also when a kennel owner from Old Lyme, CT comes to look at the dog, and says the dog should be fed meat every day, ...Yankees treat their dogs good....they muse. Oatmeal and bacon fat isn't good enough?.

There are also some nice scenes of the mangrove swamps and Spanish moss. Pretty scenery, rough to live in though. Sidney Poitier has a brief role also, as he reads up on the dog and finds out its history. Won't spoil the ending here.

It's a sweet film without being overly sentimental, just the bond, unconditional love of a boy and his dog. 10/10.