Old Yeller

The quintessential boy/dog movie. It does have obvious correlations with Marjorie Rawling's "The Yearling". I first saw this film on TV when I was six years old or so. Interestingly, at that time, I remember the Chuck Connors character as menacing and almost evil. On viewing as an adult, that character was a perfect gentleman, giving up the dog to the boy when he was under absolutely no obligation to do so. Also interesting to see the casual, and basically unnoticed cruelty of the Travis character toward the little girl. I don't remember even noticing that as a child. Disney knew how to make real family entertainment in those days. Now, it seems that material suitable for children is targeted directly at them, and is generally a chore for adults to sit through. OY found a way to split the difference. Truly a classic.

This film has a lot of heart, and there's not a phony performance in the entire movie. Fess Parker and Dorothy McGuire are perfect as the down to earth parents, and Tommy Kirk shines as the oldest son trying to become a man. Jeff York, who played Mike Fink in "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates", is funny as a lazy settler who doesn't do a thing. Even Chuck Connors has a fine cameo as the real owner of Old Yeller who gives the dog up to please a child.

Old Yeller still has the power to make me cry, and I've seen it at least 50 times. It's sentimental and pushes all the right buttons, but I still love it.

After watching this movie with my son I checked this site expecting a rating closer to 9 or 10 and was a bit disappointed some folks did not enjoy it as much as we did. It's a wonderful movie with a touching and believable story line. Travis and his younger brother Arliss perform flawlessly, though their mother may seem too passive for a frontier woman. The sudden appearance of Chuck Connors (Burn Sanderson) enlightens the story line with a light romantic undertone.

The movie teaches young kids the values of hard work, family love, neighborly support, hospitality and pretty much everything that today's movies seem to overlook as too mundane and banal. I strongly recommend this movie to young and old and give it a rating of 10. In my view the movie should be judged in its genre which is family/kids and not be compared with better adult performances in more serious movies. Surely, Tommy Kirk is not Gregory Peck in "To Kill a Mocking Bird" but his performance is just the same for a kid of his age in a family movie.

I must have seen this when I was a kid (on TV), but I'd forgotten just how good a movie this is. The technical aspects are great (that color!), the acting believable and naturalistic, and the story moves along at a really nice pace. There's nothing condescending or "cutesy" here, and the plot point of the kid trying to play grown up (ie, Tommy Kirk as man of the house while his father's away) is played out without the traps that so many coming-of-age films fall into: In this boy's world, being an adult is about working and taking responsibility, not sneaking drinks and experimenting with sex. Also, the "messages" were woven nicely into the script, not tacked on and rammed over your head. It also helped that they had actors, rather than "stars". This is really what family filmmaking (a term I generally hate) should be: Something that kids and adults can appreciate.

Old Yeller is one of Disney's Best. Superb performances all around, a very touching (especially for dog lovers, it might even be to painful for some i.e. my wife) with a very heart-wrenching ending. They don't make them like this any more. If you enjoyed Old Yeller, may I recommend you give The Yearling a try. Which is even better (if possible) than Old Yeller.