Old Yeller

Plot

In the late 1860s, Jim Coates leaves his family—wife Katie, teenage son Travis and small son Arliss—to sell cattle in Kansas. While Jim is away, Travis sets off to work in the cornfield, where he encounters a Black Mouth Cur he names "Old Yeller", as "yeller" is a dialect pronunciation of "yellow" and the dog's bark resembles a human yell. Travis unsuccessfully tries to shoo the dog away, while Arliss defends him. Yeller's habit of stealing meat from smokehouses and robbing hens' nests does not endear him to Travis, but his mother agrees with the idea of Arliss having a dog.

Later, Arliss tries to capture a black bear cub by feeding it cornbread and grabbing it. Its angry mother hears her cub wailing and attacks, but Old Yeller frightens her away, winning over the family. Travis grows to love and respect Old Yeller, who comes to profoundly affect the boy's life.

Bud Searcy and his daughter, Lisbeth, come for supper one day and Lisbeth takes Travis aside to tell him Old Yeller has been stealing food all over the county. After she and Bud leave, Travis scolds Old Yeller, but the next day, Old Yeller proves himself as a cow dog by protecting Travis from Rose, their cow and restraining her while Travis milks her.

One day, Old Yeller's original master, Burn Sanderson, arrives looking for his dog. Realizing that the Coates family really needs Old Yeller, he agrees to trade him to Arliss for a horny toad and a home-cooked meal. Sanderson later takes Travis aside and warns him of the growing plague of hydrophobia (rabies) in the region.

One day, Travis sets out to trap a family of feral hogs. Advised by Bud Searcy, he sits in a tree, trying to rope them from above as Old Yeller corners them. However, Travis then falls into the group of hogs and one of them attacks him and injures his leg. Old Yeller defends Travis, but is also severely injured by the hog and Travis hides him in a large hole. Travis' mother then retrieves Old Yeller and uses mule hair to suture his wounds. As Old Yeller recovers, Searcy warns the Coates family of hydrophobia in the area but Katie chastises him for trying to scare Travis. Searcy leaves and Lisbeth stays with the Coateses to help them harvest corn. Travis assures Katie that the hogs were not rabid and both he and Old Yeller recover.

Cast

Spike as Old Yeller

Fess Parker as Jim Coates

Dorothy McGuire as Katie Coates

Tommy Kirk as Travis Coates

Kevin Corcoran as Arliss Coates

Jeff York as Bud Searcy

Beverly Washburn as Lisbeth Searcy

Chuck Connors as Burn Sanderson

Production

Some scenes were filmed on location at Lake Sherwood, California. Tommy Kirk later said "Fess Parker, at that time, was on the outs with Disney—I presume over money. This was simply his last contractual obligation and he only worked about three days on this film, but good, competent, professional that he is, he came in and did it. I think he helps the movie a lot. l liked Fess Parker very much; he was very nice to me."

Comic book adaptation

The film was adapted into a 1957 comic book published by Dell Comics. It was issue #869 of Four Color comic series and was reprinted in 1965.

In 1959 Japan also released a comic adaption, drawn by Leiji Matsumoto. It is considered very rare nowadays.

Reception

Box office

During its initial theatrical run, Old Yeller earned $5.9 million in box office rentals from the United States and Canada. The film was re-released in 1965 and earned an estimated $2 million in domestic rentals.

Criticism

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised the film's performers and called the film "a nice little family picture" that was a "lean and sensible screen transcription of Fred Gipson's children's book". He further described the film as a "warm, appealing little rustic tale [that] unfolds in lovely color photography. Sentimental, yes, but also sturdy as a hickory stick." Time magazine felt the "action, in short, is exciting for everybody, but all too often the dialogue is only for the very young", but they heralded the film as being "for the kids that adults will stay to enjoy themselves. Old Yeller propounds a major tenet of Disney philosophy: a dog should be a dog and a boy should act like a man."

Harrison's Reports wrote the film "is fine entertainment for all, even though it has a special appeal for the children". John L. Scott of the Los Angeles Times praised the two child actors for "their naturalness and ability", as well as Spike the dog, writing that he "may be well be the next movie star dog". In summary, he wrote that "[t]he production is not a great one; but it will bring families back to the theater."

Legacy

Old Yeller went on to become an important cultural film for baby boomers, with Old Yeller's death in particular being remembered as one of the most tearful scenes in cinematic history. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 22 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.20/10. The critical consensus reads: "Old Yeller is an exemplary coming of age tale, packing an emotional wallop through smart pacing and a keen understanding of the elemental bonding between humanity and their furry best friends". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". One critic cited it as "among the best, if not THE best" of the boy-and-his-dog films. Critic Jeff Walls wrote:

Old Yeller, like The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, and Titanic has come to be more than just a movie; it has become a part of our culture. If you were to walk around asking random people, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who did not know the story of Old Yeller, someone who didn't enjoy it or someone who didn't cry. The movie's ending has become as famous as any other in film history.

Sequel

In 1963, Walt Disney Productions released Savage Sam, the sequel to Old Yeller adapted from the book written by the same author, Fred Gipson. Norman Tokar directed the live-action movie, but it did not enjoy the success of its predecessor.