Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)

A Pretty Faithful Adaptation of a Classic Tale

By Collectonian  Jan 6, 2006

Pros: Great acting, beautiful scenery, touching tale

Cons: Younger viewers might have problems dealing with deaths, though they are not as graphic as in the book

From the first time I read it, I have loved Wilson Rawls' classic novel, Where the Red Fern Grows. When I first viewed Family Home Entertainment's 1974 film adaptation I was pleased to see how well they stuck to the book and still managed to ...produce a great film (Disney, are you noticing this?). This film is the introductory work for Stewart Peterson, that ended up being his only major work. In this film he shines as Billy Coleman, a young boy raised in the coon hunting realm of the Ozarks in the 1930s who wants for nothing more than a great pair of hounds of his own. The producers did a fantastic job with scenery, shooting on location and giving plenty of sweeping vistas of the wild beauty of the Oklahoma backwoods. Offsetting scenes is music by The Osmonds and Andy Williams. The actors did a great job of meshing with their book characters. A much younger Beverly Garland plays Billy's mother, who loves her family but opposes Billy's hunting love for fear he will be hurt. Garland would go on to do several movies and TV shows, with her most remembered probably being Scarecrow and Mrs King. Another great acting job comes from the redbone coonhounds playing Little Ann and Old Dan. The chemistry between the two dogs is well developed, giving a better sense of the love between them and Billy, and their love of hunting. The best part to me, however, is in the faithfulness of the adaptation from the book. A small scene was added at the beginning to further emphasis Billy's longing for some hounds, but primarily minor scenes were cut for brevity. The main major changes I found were with the scenes from town (the first confrontations were skipped) and the battle with the mountain lion (and its results) were cleaned up to be a little less gruesome, which is understandable. Still, FHE has always, to me, done a great job of presenting movies that stick more with the book (such as The Last Unicorn) than the more lauded and profitable Disney. Another big plus? There is no real Disneyfication here. The ending isn't changed to make a "happier" story, enemies don't magically become friends with some singing. Read more Less