Walt Disney released this one ion 1957 in the USA but as far as I can see, it was not released in the UK until 1959 – I can’t think why that would be.
It was extremely successful at the Box Office – in fact Fess Parker, having been in the hit Davy Crockett scored bullseye again with Old Yeller.
It is a heart-warming tale of a boy’s friendship with a dog. Set in the late 19th century Texas, a homesteader leaves his wife (Dorothy McGuire) and his two sons for a few months to seek his fortune in the city. He leaves his elder son Travis (Fess Parker) in charge of the family. The very next day, the family comes across a stray dog. They name him Yeller and very soon he becomes a well-beloved family pet. Yeller is a smart dog and acts as a guardian for the family.
Yeller is in fact the protagonist of the story. His personality is well developed and he steals our hearts with no effort. The dog playing Yeller was one expressive canine. You can very clearly see the emotions on his face.
It is romanticised depiction of the old west but who cares. The location is picturesque. There are plenty of animals; lizards, snakes, toads, hogs, horses, cows, bears, wolves and of course dogs. They seem to be well-trained; most of their scenes look extremely natural. Add to that, the characters are all charming as simple, hard-working and good-natured folk and putting this all together you have a very enjoyable film for both children and adults.
For a number of years, Tommy Kirk, star of “Old Yeller” was Disney’s biggest child and then teenage star, but in 1964, Walt Disney found out that Tommy was a homosexual (the term ‘Gay’ was not yet in use) and was sexually attracted to other boys and men and, after he had finished filming “The Monkey’s Uncle”, Walt fired him to preserve the Disney company’s family image.
Years later, Tommy said: “I consider my teenage years as being desperately unhappy. I knew I was gay since I was a little kid, but I had no outlet for my feelings and I felt that I could not confide in anyone because of the fear of being discovered to who I really was. It was very hard to meet people and, at that time, there was no place to go to socialize”.
Thanks David. I didn’t know much about this child star. Quite a sad story. Neil
Travis was played by Tommy Kirk, while Fess Parker played his father. Although top-billed, Fess only appeared at the beginning and end of the film,
David. Fess Parker had a period in the fifties when he could do no wrong in terms of the Box Office. As Davy Crockett, he is still remembered – but less so for this film even though it was a Box Office hit as both films were. He invested his earnings buying property in Santa Barbara which in later life made him a very rich man. He also did the Daniel Boone TV series – so he did seem to be type cast but I doubt that worried him. Neil