This is one of the movies I’m almost ashamed of not having seen. I’m not really sure why I never saw it. It’s quite possible that my parents never rented it in the 1980s because of my sister’s averse reaction to Bambi. (She still refuses to rewatch it.) Whatever the reason, it’s 2007 and I’ve finally seen Old Yeller. It’s a pretty good movie, too.

The story begins in the 1869 as Jim Coates (played by Fess Parker, the future Daniel Boone) prepares to leave his family in their Texas frontier home for a three month cattle drive. His wife Katie (left, with Travis) is left with their two sons. Travis is of course expected to be the man of the house with young Arliss left to be the annoying little kid with anger management problems. A stray dog arrives on Travis’s first day and warms the hearts of all who meet him, though they never get around to giving him a proper name.

Old Yeller came along right around the time that Disney was producing a lot of nature films, and that influence is evident here. There are several scenes that are included for the sole purpose of showing the magnificent surroundings. It’s kind of cool to see, but there’s some fairly clumsy storytelling that goes with it. For instance, there’s the scene where Travis (in front of green screen) marvels at the chipmunks while a deer he was supposed to be hunting sneaks up on him. It was a rather awkward way to show the dual role he had to take.

And that’s the real story in Old Yeller, the adjustment Travis makes as he moves from childhood to maturity, with Old Yeller serving as his teacher. In the beginning of the film, Travis is short-tempered, bossy, and makes every attempt to act like his father. His mother does a good job of nudging him in the right direction, but Travis, ever the strong-willed pre-teen, responds by pouting and throwing fits.

Yeller comes along to pick up the slack while Travis learns that maturity isn’t something that you can act (believe me, I’ve tried), it must be genuine. Yeller immediately takes over the protector role, then slowly releases it back to Travis as he comes to understand the responsibility. First Yeller saves the family from the attack of a bear while Travis looks on. Then Yeller saves Travis from a wild boar attack. Then Travis, in his first go round in the protector role, saves Yeller from the result of the attack. Finally, Travis mirrors Yeller’s first act of selflessness and saves the family from the rabies-infected Old Yeller.

Crap. I should have warned you about that. But we all know how it ends, right? I mean, it’s not like I’m spoiling the ending by saying that Travis shoots the dog. Everybody knows that, even if they haven’t seen the movie.

What we tend to forget, though, is that this first act of Travis’s maturity was not a simple matter of pulling out his rifle and shooting that darn dog (as he had previously threatened). It was a heart-wrenching, painful, adult decision. Tremendous acting from Tom Kirk (above) in that scene, by the way. It was very well done, and that performance is probably why this film is so revered.

Old Yeller does have some problems, of course, like young Arliss, who was a bit too much in need of a paddlin’, and the creepy daughter of the neighbor, who I kept expecting to say “I’m not going to be ignored, Travis.” Still and all, it’s a movie that’s well deserving of its reputation and place in American pop culture.

(Old Yeller comes packaged with the sequel Savage Sam. The sheer amount of awful crammed into the sequel made me vomit in my mouth a couple times. Now let us never speak of it again.)

Season 3, Dog of Death

Also:

Season 14, Old Yeller Belly

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Sorry for the lack of updates. Other things have crept in for the last week or two, so I just haven’t had time to sit down and write. I’ll be back next Monday morning with a review of Old Yeller, followed quickly by Reno 911!: Miami and Sorry, Wrong Number. In the next few weeks, I should have at least one book review up as well.

Until then, be entertained by this picture of me being a total wimp on a children’s roller coaster last Saturday. It’s really scary, I swear. (Pay no attention to the laughing three-year-old right in front of me.)

SCARY. No, really.

I’ll be honest with you, I was a bit down after I watched all those dramatic films from a few weeks ago. A man can only take so much drama. So when it came time to queue up a new movie, I decided I needed a good old fashioned comedy. Not some romantic comedy date movie, a real comedy. So I did what any self- respecting child of the eighties would do. I rented Three Amigos.

Now this is comedy. Steve Martin and Martin Short, two great tastes that taste great together. And Chevy Chase. . . nah, we’ll deal with him in a moment. All in good time.

Here’s the synopsis in 50 words or less: Three silent movie stars get fired. A woman from a Mexican village sees their movie, thinks they’re real heroes, and asks for their help. They think she wants to pay them them to put on a show. Hilarity ensues.

Oddly enough, hilarity really does ensue. All three actors play to type and have awesome names. Steve Martin (an old favorite of mine) is Lucky Day, the frustrated leader surrounded by idiots. Martin Short is the clumsy one, this time a former child star named Ned Nederlander. And Chevy Chase is Dusty Bottoms as played by … well, Chevy Chase.

Most of the movie comes from a simple misunderstanding (the meaning of the word infamous), and with masters like these, the movie holds onto the funny for the whole time. The chemistry the three have is wonderful, and I think a lot of the funny comes from the fact that they’d worked together so much and knew each other’s beats and when to get out of each others’ way. I love it when comedians know how to do that. It’s a skill all its own.

Randy Newman did the music for Three Amigos, and he did a beautiful job of it. Two pieces in particular, My Little Buttercup and Blue Shadows have stuck in my brain like Randy Newman songs tend to do, and for once I don’t mind it. My cube-mates think I’m a bit loony (what else is new), but doggone it, I like humming the songs. They should just be relieved that I don’t do the dance like I do at home…I mean, like I don’t do anywhere.

I haven’t said much about the plot so far, and to tell the truth, the plot is almost irrelevant. Sure, there’s stuff going on with Lucky falling in love with Carmen (played by the beautiful Patrice Martinez), and the townsfolk are terribly frightened by the horrible, evil, murdering, villainous monster infamous El Guapo, but the plot is really just a punchline delivery system, and it gets out of the way when it’s time for the joke.

Now, let’s talk a little about Chevy Chase. I’m not a fan. He always plays the same guy, and his delivery is always a self-conscious “Hey, I’m doing something funny!” thing, and that just grates on my nerves. Somehow, though, it works in Three Amigos. In fact, there were a couple laugh-out-loud moments from Chevy, and no one was more surprised than me. His standard delivery actually worked in the Invisible Swordsman scene (great fake-out punchline, by the way). And the scene in the desert when he was gargling the water was hilarious. I watched it a couple times. Very good work.

There are so many other good things I could say about this movie, and so many more great bits, but I’ll spare you. Watch it for yourself and be prepared for a silly, wild ride.

Oh, and on my 40th birthday? I want a sweater.

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