Old Yeller

Recently, my class and I read a book called Old Yeller written by Fred Gipson, and also watched the movie version produced by Disney. In it’s simplest description — Old Yeller is a story about a teenage boy and his new dog. To me, though the movie was somewhat different from the book, they were also alike in many ways. I’m going to tell you all about these differences and similarities.

Now, when you make a movie based on a book, it should stick to the plot line for a great majority of the time. I could say that this is a necessity, but sometimes, the movie goes so far off from it’s book, that it seems like the screenplay writer just took the characters and wrote a new story, or in some cases, the movie is actually better than the book. Well, I think that the movie version of Old Yeller stuck to the plot line very well. They kept the setting (which I will get to in a few sentences), the kept the characters and they kept basically the whole theme. Which I think was good, because despite what some of my classmates thought — I enjoyed this book a lot.

The setting of the book was pretty much dead on. It took place in Salt Licks, Texas, during the time period of the late 1860's. it also kept Birdsong Creek, the name of the place the Coates live. The house still has hills around it, it still has the pastures where the cows, pigs and old Jumper, the family’s mule, live. Though it was not what I had thought of when I read the book, it was a perfect setting.

The characters of the book were Travis, Little Arliss, Mama, Lisbeth Searcy, Bud Searcy, Burn Sanderson, and Papa. Some of them didn’t look like what I had expected, but all in all they worked well with the books descriptions. Like Little Arliss for example; in the book, he was portrayed as an annoying five year old, who collected everything he found, including snakes, had a mean arm for throwing rocks, and often screamed, really loud. And that’s exactly how the movie made him.

Now of course, there were some differences, obviously. And there are two that are the most different in my mind. The first one was, there was no bull fight between a roan bull and a chongo bull, that ended up putting the family and house in danger. I would’ve liked to see what the bull fight had looked like in someone else’s head. Maybe, though, the fact that there was no bull fight, was the reason that there was never a bull that came to the Coates’ farm with hydrophobia. The other one that was very different, was after Old Yeller’s fight with the big loafer wolf. In the book, Travis’ mother knows that the old yeller dog will shortly become infected with the hydrophobia disease. She tells Travis that they have no other choice, and that he has to shoot his beloved dog — and he does. But in the movie, he convinces his mother to wait for a while, just to make sure. Although yes, Old Yeller does get the disease and goes crazy so that Travis still has to shoot him, it’s quite different from the book. Also because then it shows them burying the dog when Papa comes home.

Another difference was when Old Yeller was introduced into the story. In the movie, it shows him chasing after a rabbit through their fields, and spooking the mule, Jumper. But in the book, Travis finds him in the dog run, finishing up the food that was supposed to be for his family that night. A time that the movie didn’t stick to the book, was when Bud Searcy told Travis the trick for catching hogs, and then when Travis went out to actually catch them. In the book, it was Travis and his father’s trick, not Bud Searcy’s. How could it be his, since he hardly does anything. Travis is supposed to go hog marking two times, not one. On the first go, he does good and goes home unharmed, using Old Yeller as a herder almost. And then the second time is when he is supposed to get hurt. But in the movie, it just shows the hog attack, nothing before that.

Burn Sanderson’s visit was also a bit different. His deal with Little Arliss in the book was that if their mother could make him a real good meal that would give him an actually shadow, he would give Old Yeller to the Coates. But in the movie, he also asked Little Arliss for an Horn-eared toad that the boy had caught, as a sort of trade off.

Though there was many differences, the movie pretty much did stick to the book. From the setting and characters, to the bear fight and the way Old Yeller saved Lisbeth and Mama from the rabid loafer wolf. And while I can not write down every difference and similarity, I think I have shared with you much information that is useful.

I enjoyed watching the movie and reading the book. I did enjoy the book more, but I would recommend either one.