Day 214 - Old Yeller

Sunday November 20, 2011

Old Yeller (1957) directed by Robert Stevenson

True story. When I was little there was a dog in my neighborhood that was almost as big as me. Perhaps he gets bigger in my memory as the years go by but I swear he was the biggest dog I've ever seen. He was aptly named Bear. I used to hate walking to school in the morning because every now and then Bear would be roaming the streets and as soon as I saw him I started to run. I now know that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do since he probably thought I wanted to play with him. Surely enough as soon as I started running Bear started chasing. I was terrified. For the longest time I was scared of dogs and it took me a long time to get over this fear. I still don't really care for them but recently I've grown to like a couple of them here and there. So despite my surprising emotional attachment to Eight Below, it is tough for me to get too involved with these type of dog movies.

I suppose Old Yeller is the ultimate dog movie. It's one of those stories that everybody knows even though many people haven't seen it. It's the timeless story of a boy and his dog which just about anybody, including myself who's never owned one, could relate to. I will say though that there are some flaws in the film, but they are easily forgiven when you're dealing with such a timeless classic. I am however compelled to point them out. The narrative is extremely simple and repetitive. How many times do we have to see Old Yeller fight off dangerous animals? How many times do we have to hear Travis fawn over him? The first two thirds of the film is incredibly lightweight but the last third makes up for it with an incredibly mature and tragic ending. I like how a family friendly film doesn't try to dance around or sugarcoat death and loss, so I have to give the film major props there. To be honest I wasn't super moved by the ending, probably because I've never owned a dog. Clearly it is a sad and sentimental scene, though another thing is that the ending is no mystery; everybody knows what happens in the end, so I guess I was too prepared for it. 

What I found interesting were the fight scenes. Old Yeller looks like he's really going at it with those animals. How do you even film that bear scene? Weren't they afraid the bear would just maul the dog to death? (And what about the little kid practically wrestling with the baby bear? That has a wrongful death lawsuit written all over it.) What about the vicious wolf scene? Do you realize how dangerous pigs are? I wonder if there were any major injuries during this film. These were pretty exciting scenes though precisely because they looked pretty real and quite dangerous.

All in all, it's hard to really hate on a timeless classic, but at the same time it doesn't mean I have to love it. There are its minor issues, namely its insipid simplicity and heavy handed sentiment, but it is what it is. I still think about Bear having me running for my life so you can forgive me if I didn't shed a tear for Old Yeller. It's a fine movie for what it is though.

Grade: B-