Old Yeller (1957 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (March 2008)

This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Old Yeller
Directed by	Robert Stevenson
Produced by	Bill Anderson
Written by	Fred Gipson William Tunberg
Starring	Dorothy McGuire Fess Parker Kevin Corcoran Tommy Kirk
Music by	Oliver Wallace Will Schaefer
Cinematography	Charles P. Boyle
Editing by	Stanley E. Johnson
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release date(s)	December 25, 1957
Running time	83 mins
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	0.01
Followed by	Savage Sam
IMDb profile

Old Yeller is a 1957 film directed by Robert Stevenson, produced by Walt Disney Productions, and released to theaters by Buena Vista Distribution. Based upon the 1956 Newbery Honor-winning book Old Yeller by Fred Gipson, Old Yeller is a story set in post-Civil War Texas about a boy and a stray dog he befriends. The film's success resulted in more films about a boy and his pet, including an Old Yeller sequel, Savage Sam.

The film stars Dorothy McGuire, Fess Parker, Kevin Corcoran, and Tommy Kirk, and also features Chuck Connors, Jeff York, Beverly Washburn, and animal actor Spike as "Old Yeller."

[edit] Plot

The Coates family consists of father Jim (Fess Parker), mother Katie (Dorothy McGuire), older son Travis (Tommy Kirk) and a younger son Arliss (Kevin Corcoran). The Coates are so poor that their children have never seen a dollar bill, other than now-worthless Confederate dollars.

While Jim is away on a cattle drive, a scruffy "yeller" mutt visits the family uninvited. Travis unsuccessfully tries to shoot him off, while his younger brother Arliss is crazy about him. Their mother intervenes and Yeller eventually gains Travis' respect and love till the two are close in the way only a child and a pet can be.

At one point, the rightful owner of Yeller, Mr. Sanderson (Chuck Connors) shows up looking for his dog. He realizes that this family needs the dog more than he does and agrees to trade the dog to Arliss in exchange for a horny toad and a home-cooked meal.

Toward the end, Yeller develops hydrophobia (rabies) after being bitten while defending the family from an infected Gray Wolf. To protect his family, Travis tearfully shoots Yeller and in doing so takes a painful first step into manhood. Depressed from the death of his beloved dog, Travis even turns down the offer of a new puppy from his family, a pup of Old Yeller. But then his father explains to him the facts about life and death. Travis understands, and then adopts the puppy, starting a brand-new friendship.

[edit] In other media

• In the April 25, 1983 Garfield comic strip, the fat cat names Old Yeller as his favorite film, stating "I love movies with happy endings."[1]
• In an episode of Animaniacs, entitled Bumbie's Mom, Slappy Squirrel and Skippy Squirrel watch an in-flight movie called Old Yellow, a not-so-subtle pun on Old Yeller.
  
• In the film Turner & Hooch, Tom Hanks tries letting the dog know he is not so valued by telling him that, as a little boy, when he saw the scene from Old Yeller where Travis shot the dog, he "did not cry!"
• In an episode of Friends entitled "The One Where Old Yeller Dies", Phoebe watches the end of the movie and having never seen the ending of this or any other sad film, she refers to it as "a sick doggy snuff film".
• In an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air entitled "Grumpy Young Men," Carlton breaks out a video from his collection, which just happens to be Old Yeller. Will tries to shoo him out in order to get some alone time with a girl named Valerie, but fails to do so, leading her to instruct him to take a walk if he's not interested in the movie, which he proceeds to do, but not before letting them know that "they shoot the damn dog."
• On the March 24, 2008, edition of WWE Raw, Shawn Michaels reminded Ric Flair of the story of Old Yeller, leading the Heartbreak Kid to say that he was going to take 'Old Yeller' behind the woodshed and put him out of his misery, which was reference to the fact that their match at Wrestlemania XXIV was a career threatening one for Flair and that he would be forced into retirement if he lost. Flair retaliated by slapping Michaels twice and yelling "I've got your Old Yeller!" He went on further by asking Michaels to take 'Old Yeller' behind the woodshed right then, but Michaels' only reply was his repeated statement that he was going to put Flair out of his misery, which was followed by him walking out of the ring. In the end, Flair lost the hard fought battle at Wrestlemania and had no choice but to leave his 35 years in professional wrestling behind him.