Old Yeller

Release Date: December 25, 1957

Watch Date: March 11, 2023

 

    Every person on the planet happens to know exactly how Old Yeller ends, and equipped with that knowledge and having once owned a yellow lab and currently owning a chocolate one. I wasn’t super excited to watch this film.

    But I knew that if I vetoed this film I was only prolonging the inevitable. So here we were, ready to watch what we both knew would be an incredibly emotional film that I think we both were trying to call each other’s bluff on. Who was going to crack before the film started and we could no longer use the veto.

    But the movie did start, and then we were trapped.

    Here’s the thing about a decades old film whose ending is one of the most famous in history. It’s not nearly as sad. I was much more upset by the injury Old Yeller sustained that I wasn’t prepared for than I was by his inevitable end.

    I think this movie tells the story of a boy falling in love with man’s best friend extremely well – I mean, obviously, with the kind of staying power that this story has it must be doing something right. It must still speak to our humanity on a level that has remained unchanged.

    The surprise, really, was the presence of Davy Crockett, who is barely in this film, but who I love regardless. I wasn’t aware that he ever had another acting role, and I’m happy that he had another one in such an iconic film.

    Honestly, this film wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and I’m glad to watch it for the first time in my life. I definitely, absolutely, have no intention of ever watching it again. But it is a good film, and I would encourage you to not be too scared to watch it if you haven’t before. It’s not nearly as bad as you think it will be.