Trailer
Plot summary
With his father Jim away in Kansas selling cattle, teenage Travis Coates is left to run the family ranch in 1860s Texas alongside his mother Katie and small brother Arliss. A yellow Black Mouth Cur turns up in the cornfield and refuses to be shooed off. Arliss defends the dog, so he stays, and Travis names him Old Yeller because his bark sounds like a human yell. The dog steals meat from the smokehouse and raids the hens' nests, and Katie agrees that Arliss should have a dog of his own. When Arliss tries to grab a black bear cub with cornbread, the cub's mother charges him and Old Yeller drives her off, winning the family over.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Old Yeller (1957)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Fess Parker, who played Jim Coates, was on the outs with Disney when he made Old Yeller; Tommy Kirk said the film was simply Parker's last contractual obligation and that he worked only about three days on it.
SPOILER
Old Yeller became an important cultural film for baby boomers, and its title character's death is remembered as one of the most tearful scenes in cinematic history.
