Old Yeller, first a novel by Fred Gipson and then a 1957 live action film by Disney, is the story of a frontier family that adopts a mangy old mutt who proves to be a loyal companion and protector. The novel is required reading for many elementary school children, and the movie is a time honored children's classic. Old Yeller is also arguably one of the most disturbing children's stories ever, mainly due to the poignant, emotionally devastating ending. And yes, before you continue to read further, spoilers lie ahead.

The Coates Family, consisting of mother Katie (played in the movie by Dorothy McGuire), father Jim (Fess Parker), teenager Travis (Tommy Kirk), and younger brother Arliss (Kevin Corcoran), live on a Texas ranch a few years after the end of the American Civil War. The family is abysmally poor (the children have never laid eyes on a dollar bill, except for worthless Confederate money), but they manage to eke out a living from the land. At the outset of the story, we learn that Pa Coates has to leave on a cattle drive for several months. He appoints Travis as the stereotypical man of the house.

After the father's departure, all goes well for a while, until a strange old yellow (or yeller, if you prefer) mongrel shows up in the Coates' barnyard. At first, the dog seems to be an incorrigible scoundrel, taunting the livestock, knocking down fences, and allegedly stealing chickens. Gradually, however, Old Yeller wins the love of the family, especially Travis. Thus begins the quintessential boy and his dog story.

Travis and Old Yeller get up to a heap of trouble together as they roam the countryside and encounter various animals. Throughout these adventures, Yeller proves his courage and loyalty time and time again. He saves little Arliss from an angry mother grizzly and rescues Travis from the midst of a herd of rampaging wild boars, to name a few feats. Before long, Old Yeller has become an integral part of the family, serving as a proxy protector in the father's absence.

One night, a rabid wolf enters the barnyard, bent on destruction. Old Yeller, true to form, fends off the hellish beast, but is badly mangled in the process. Hoping for the best, the family cages the dog for observation. Alas, Old Yeller develops rabies, and the formerly loving pooch begins to foam at the mouth and snarl viciously at all passerby. In one of the most heart-wrenching decisions ever, Travis must go out to the barn and shoot his beloved friend in the head.

In many respects, the 1956 novel and 1957 Disney movie are virtually identical, unsurprising as the author Fred Gipson also wrote the film's screenplay. As with many adaptations, however, the book lends a depth to the characters and plot that is missing in the movie version. Although I loved both as a child, upon watching the film as an adult, I discovered many shortcomings that I either didn't notice or didn't care about when I was 10.

Old Yeller's appearance (and subsequent disappearance) within the story is altogether too fortuitous - he shows up almost immediately following Mr. Coates' departure, and Coates returns just days after the dog's death. Similarly, the foreshadowing of the loss of Old Yeller is heavyhanded in the film. Though the Coates live in the middle of nowhere with nary a house in sight, every five minutes some random visitor conveniently shows up and either threatens to shoot the dog as thieving varmint, threatens to take Old Yeller away (at one point, his original owner suddenly appears and expresses a desire to have the dog back), or issues ominous warnings about the dread hydrophobia sweeping the frontier. Much of this clumsiness in handling the plot is undoubtedly the result of attempting to cram an entire novel's worth of action into an 83 minute film, not to mention Disney's characteristic lack of subtlety.

For adults, the first hour of the film may seem insufferably cutesy. The novel doesn't go into great detail regarding the family's poverty, but the movie ignores it altogether. You never see the Coates worry about their impending starvation; they're just your average happy go lucky poor folk. The episodic adventures of Travis and Old Yeller are painfully contrived and light-hearted. Disney seems to be overcompensating for the lack of an animated cast of thousands (à la Fantasia) by introducing a cuddly new animal at every turn. The acting is stilted and unremarkable, and the film is rife with historical inaccuracies (Did people really dress the same way in 1869 as they did in 1957? Where does rugged frontier woman Katie Coates find the money or time to apply cosmetics and carefully style her hair every day?).

That said, Old Yeller's unfortunate demise at the hands of the boy he loved most still holds the same impact for adults and children alike. For all of Disney's saccharine antics, the studio was never one to gloss over the dark reality of death, even in a children's film (remember Bambi's mother?). Anyone who has ever had to put down a pet knows the inner turmoil that accompanies such an action, made even worse by the fact that Travis doesn't have the painless, relatively clean option of veterinary euthanasia at his disposal. No one wants Old Yeller to die, and though I've seen the film dozens of times, I found myself hoping that the dog would miraculously recover before Travis reaches the barn with his gun. At the same time, the necessary course of action is irrefutable. As Old Yeller, "the best doggone dog in the West," bares his fangs and snarls from the depths of his throat, it is clear that he would rend Travis limb from limb if given half a chance. Yet I still cringed and wept when I heard the report of Travis' rifle.

Despite it all, Disney attempted to put a happy spin on the very end of the film. Unbeknownst to the family, Old Yeller had snuck off in the night some months back and impregnated a bitch on a neighboring ranch. The movie ends as the family welcomes Old Yeller's son, a frisky, wiggling yellow puppy, into the fold. This of course paved the way for a sequel, Savage Sam, released in 1963. Savage Sam concentrated less on the dog and more on the Coates' struggles as a frontier family, and was a dismal failure at the box office.

45 years after the original release of the film, Old Yeller remains controversial for quite a few people. A recent reviewer characterized the movie as "child abuse" due to the admittedly gruesome act of shooting the hero to death. Another criticizes the movie for "manipulating children into believing in an implacable, malevolent, and incomprehensible universe" (apparently that reviewer, who calls herself a "survivor" of Old Yeller, believes that people are incapable of independently reaching that conclusion). However, the cause of the controversy is also the reason why the novel and the movie have stood the test of time. It is what sets Old Yeller apart from the plethora of dog-related stories that followed in its footsteps.

Factual research conducted via IMDb.

The quoted reviews can be found at:
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/32/oldyeller1.html