Old Yeller: 2 Movie Collection: Old Yeller (DVD)
Special Edition,,Savage Sam
APPROX. 0 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 0 - MPA RATING: G
" Of all the boy-and-his-dog movies Hollywood's ever made, Old Yeller remains among the best, if not THE best, of the lot.
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There isn't another studio in Hollywood so adept as Disney at repackaging its archival material. If you've seen any Disney movie once, you can be sure you'll see it again (and again and again). They used to revive their children's classics on the big screen every few years for a new generation of youngsters. Now, they issue them on tape and on DVD and in special editions and in double features like this one, which pairs up two of Disney's live-action adventures, "Old Yeller" and its sequel "Savage Sam."
"Old Yeller":
Yes, there was Lassie and Rin Tin Tin and Big Red and I'm sure a dozen other famous movie dogs, but I'm betting none of them affected people the way "Old Yeller" did. Come on and admit it: You saw it; you loved it; you cried. OK, maybe it depends on how old you were when you experienced it, but most of us saw it when we were kids, whether that was in 1957 when the film was made, or 1967 in rerelease, or '77 or '87 or '97 on tape, or in its first DVD incarnation, or now on a double bill. There have been dogs in movies and there have been dogs on TV, but there will always be only one "Old Yeller"; that title even now probably evokes a flood of nostalgia and fond memories.
The movie was based on the celebrated novel by Fred Gipson, who also wrote the screenplay, and it was directed by Robert Stevenson, one of Disney's A-list directors ("Darby O'Gill and the Little People," "Mary Poppins," "The Absent Minded Professor," "The Love Bug"). Its story is pretty simple and straightforward, centering on a frontier farm family living in the Old West just after the Civil War. The fact that the family look and dress like no one who might have actually lived at that time is beside the point. These are clean-kept folks even while they're working, dressed in 1950's style Western clothing, living in a grassy green valley filled with oak trees, with nary a mountain range in sight. They are the Coates, a mother and father and two young sons.
When Pa goes away on a cattle drive, leaving the family to tend the homestead, a stray, yellow mongrel shows up out of nowhere and wreaks havoc in the fields, chasing the mule and knocking over fences. It's dislike at first sight between the oldest boy, Travis, and the dog, but, of course, Yeller's love, loyalty, and intelligence soon win him over. They adopt the dog and before long Yeller is protecting the family against mad cows, angry bears, rampaging hogs, and rabid wolves. (Wolves seem to have always gotten a bad rap from Disney, starting with the Big Bad one.) Anyway, the story line contains no real central conflict, just a series of brief episodic adventures, culminating in one of filmdom's most emotional endings.
Dorothy McGuire plays the mother, Katie Coates. She and Fess Parker (TV's Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone) as the father, Jim Coates, are the kind of parents every kid thought somebody else had back in the fifties. They are perfect beyond compare, the mother gentle and kind, the father strong, soft-spoken, and wise. Tommy Kirk is the star, playing the oldest boy, Travis. He's the best part of the picture, genuinely portraying the angers and heartbreaks of a youngster. Kevin Corcoran is the younger brother, Arliss, and he's another story altogether. I could easily have done without his constant whining and yelling. Had I been his parent, I would have gladly traded him for a good horse.
Jeff York is probably the film's most memorable character, playing a lazy, freeloading, good-for-nothing neighbor, Mr. Searcy, who sends his daughter, Lisbeth (Beverly Washburn), out to do most of his work for him. The last major character is played by Chuck Connors (TV's "Rifleman") as a cattle rancher named Burn Sanderson who happens by one afternoon asking the Coates if they've seen "his" dog. Interestingly, he calls the dog "Yeller," just as the Coates named him. Coincidence, I guess.
Disney had had great success with theme songs in their movies, as they still do, so "Old Yeller" has one by Oliver Wallace and Gil George and sung by Jerome Courtland that's reminiscent of the popular "Davy Crockett" tune. The song begins and ends the movie in proper juvenile fashion. Also, be prepared for the usual assortment of cuddly Disney critters along the way, including squirrels, raccoons, bear cubs, and deer. Interestingly, in keeping with true fifties' sensibilities, Travis can't bring himself to shoot a doe or a fawn but has no reluctance about killing a nearby buck, the doe's probable mate and the fawn's probable father. Life was harsh on the frontier. I found myself growing tired about two-thirds of the way through, but the finish still carries an impact. My film rating for this DVD double bill is based on "Old Yeller" alone: 7/10.
"Savage Sam":
This 1963 sequel to "Old Yeller" is every bit as bad as the first movie was good. Just as before, "Savage Sam" is based on a novel by Fred Gipson, who again cowrote the movie's screenplay, and it's directed by another Disney regular, Norman Tokar ("Big Red," "Those Callaways," "The Boatniks," "The Snowball Express"). And again it's about the Coates family but minus the mom and dad, who the story explains are away in San Antonio, leaving the two boys to fend for themselves with a new dog by their side.
Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran return as Travis and Arliss Coates, the older and younger brothers, now grown up a few years. Naturally, it all begins with a song, this one far sappier than the one in "Old Yeller," with lyrics like "I call my hound dog Savage Sam" playing while we watch Sam chase various critter around the family homestead: bobcats, foxes, even some wolves at one point later on. Some of the same characters show up again, too, like the boisterous, comic Mr. Searcy (Jeff York), and his daughter Lisbeth (this time played by Marta Kristen). Lisbeth is now old enough to be the romantic interest for Travis, so watch for some sugary, sentimental moments. The primary new characters are Uncle Beck (Brian Keith) and Wiley Crup (Slim Pickins), and if the movie had been just about them, we'd have all been better off.
The movie's first half hour or so tries in vain to be affectionate and cute, with plenty of typically cuddlesome Disney animals like a kitten involved in a milking scene. Too much is too much. Moreover, young Arliss is more contrary and whiney than ever, making us root for anyone who's against him. In this installment, the people against him are Apaches, who are on the warpath and terrorizing the local settlers. Frankly, though, with farmers and ranchers like the ones depicted in this picture, I sympathized emphatically with the Indians.
