Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Norman Tokar

Writers:

Eleanor Lamb (writer)
Wilson Rawls (novel)

Release Date:

21 June 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Tagline:

A True Story of a Boy and His Dogs

Plot:

Where the Red Fern Grows is the heartwarming and adventurous tale for all ages about a young boy and his quest for his own red-bone hound hunting dogs.

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Boy | Fern | Hunting | Friendship

Cast

James Whitmore	...	Grandpa
Beverly Garland	...	Mother
Jack Ging	...	Father
Lonny Chapman	...	Sheriff
Stewart Petersen	...	Billy
Jill Clark	...	Alice
Jeanna Wilson	...	Sara
Bill Thurman	...	Sam Bellington
Bill Dunbar	...	Ben Kyle
Rex Corley	...	Rubin Pritchard
John Lindsey	...	Rainie Pritchard
Garland McKinney	...	Mr. Pritchard
Robert S. Telford	...	Station Master (as Robert Telford)
Charles Seat	...	Carl Brown
Roger Pancake	...	Shopkeeper

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Tahlequah, Oklahoma, USA

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993) (VG)

Pass on this lame and boring Oater.

One has to be very forgiving when reviewing old films with poor technical merit, wooden acting and a lackluster screenplay. I have never read the book "Where the Red Fern grows" but if it's nearly as boring and as gay as this movie I won't give it a try.

This story has a pastoral setting somewhere in the Ozark. The time period is during the Great Depression when families felt the economic strain and their existence was of survival. The young lad, Billy, which is what this story is all about, is a toe-headed dunce of a drip who walks around barefoot wearing baggy overalls and jeans, hopes to raise money for his desire to buy and master a pair of hunting Coonhounds. I personally am not a dog lover, but if I was, I certainly wouldn't garner affection for Coonhounds per se.

The rest of this story is about how Billy copes with his stupid adventures of hunting raccoons, sparring with bullies, and facing adolescent lessons of life. Yawn!!! A story with this theme and motif could be successful if handled properly and with conveying a sense of adolescent excitement and grief. I found the young actor of Billy to be such a boring dullard of a kid. He can't act his way out of a paper bag. Worst of all is that we just don't really care for him. He's not a very likable kid which ruins our opportunity to embrace his character and the trials he faces. The acting throughout this film is fairly wooden and forgettable. The children in the movie are annoying and the adult actors are insidious and one-dimensional. Instead of rooting for Billy during his tree chopping, I was hoping the tree would topple on his toe-head.

This movie is a dried up old oater with lousy sound quality and melancholy montages with affecting music and country landscapes. These scenes are suppose to be touching, but they misfire and end up looking laughable to a modern audience.

Skip on this hayseed.