*** Spoilers Ahead ***
If you subscribe to Disney+, you could do worse than opt to let Old Yeller into your home. A classic that continues the beloved tradition of the family dog story.
The first film I ever saw in the theaters was a movie starring Benji. Having been partial to Lassie up to that point, Benji surprised me and won me over. The big screen tends to boost how I feel about a film. If you’re a dog lover or at least a dog movie lover, you probably crave this type of story. I certainly did as a kid. I also tended to watch all the films in the family library over and over with one exception – Old Yeller. Not because it was bad. It was devastating.
It’s hard to discuss Old Yeller without spoilers. Though you can probably predict the outcome of a family pet picture based on whether or not it becomes a franchise.
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The movie opens with a theme song that’s very much a pleasant earworm throughout the film. The lyrics make it very clear that he’s the best doggone dog in the West. Though it takes a while to convince Travis Coates, played with affection by Tommy Kirk.
Travis helps his mother, Katie, take care of the farm after his cowboy father leaves for a cattle drive in Kansas. You see Travis doesn’t take to kindly to this lab retriever mix at first, given his reputation for being a scavenger who likes to bathe in the family’s drinking water.
However, once Travis witnesses this yellow dog saving his younger brother, Arliss, from the clutches of a black bear, he welcomes him into the family. The dog gets his name from Arliss’ accented pronunciation of the word yellow. From there, shenanigans with various animals ensue including cows, racoons, and wild hogs. With each account, Old Yeller proves himself to be anything but yellow.
Fred Gipson adapted his novel along with co-screenwriter, William Tunberg, into a tight script with no scene wearing out its welcome. The dialogue feels authentic and foreboding at times. Several key moments foreshadow the emotional crescendo.
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Robert Stevenson was an interesting choice to direct this adaptation, given his vast experience up to that point included TV westerns and film noirs. Though his experience in shooting westerns helped him give the Coates’ farm a lived-in feeling and making it a little less stagy than some films in this era. His background in film noir gave the third act just the right amount of darkness without overdoing it. Old Yeller proved to be so successful that Disney would entrust him to helm many of its subsequent releases, including Mary Poppins, The Love Bug, and The Shaggy D.A.
Old Yeller is such a cultural icon that it was entered into the National Film Registry by the U.S. Library of Congress last year. It works as a western, a dog movie, and a family film. Just don’t make it your child’s first film. The trauma would be too much. Also, be prepared to have a discussion afterward if your family hasn’t yet experienced tragedy. If you’re watching by yourself, stock up on tissue beforehand.
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