Im Tal der Apachen

I actually liked the book Savage Sam better even than Old Yeller. But the movie was poor and here are three key reasons why:

1) Dorothy McGuire, Fess Parker, and Chuck Conners were missing, even though their characters (Katie & Jim Coates, and Burn Sanderson, respectively) were key in the book. They were replaced by an uncle who came out of nowhere, played by Brian Keith. It really damaged the continuity of the two films.

2) Secondly, in the book Savage Sam was the son of Old Yeller, but in the movies this is obviously not the case. The puppy at the end of Old Yeller is clearly not a hound dog, and Sam is clearly not the offspring of a Lab mix like Old Yeller. The movie explanation of what happened to "Young Yeller" as well as where Sam came from? None is offered.

3) Finally, and most important, too much time had passed between the making of the films. Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran were clearly too old to be playing the young Coates brothers by the time Savage Sam was made.

Pity, because it could have been a wonderful film.

We all know that "Old Yeller" is a classic. It will always stand out as one of the best live-action Disney films of its time. With that said, does any kind of follow-up film deserve any attention? "Savage Sam" certainly does. It is another well made Disney adventure. Classic? Almost, but "Old Yeller" was a tough act to follow.

I found "Savage Sam" refreshing because it made no attempt to be anything like "Yeller". Sam the dog is not a threat to anyone. In this movie, he is also not the center of attention. This story is different; Travis and Arliss are older. That's how it should be. Six years passed between the release of the movies.

Brian Keith was great in this film. Here, he is supposed to be the younger brother of Fess Parker's character in "Yeller". I really liked him here.

As another DVD in my Disney collection, everyone in the family enjoyed it. I give it *** out of four stars.

I can't believe this movie is even listed. i love it, don't get me wrong, but i didn't think anyone else knew it existed. Savage Sam is a great movie for everyone. I used to watch it at my grandmother's house on tape when i was little, but i saw it again recently and loved it just as much as ever. The characters are kind of hokey, but so what. You don't find characters like this anymore. Travis is so cute, with his hot temper and rock throwing. I think that everyone should give it a chance, after all Savage Sam is Old Yeller's pup.

Not that many people, even among those who are big fans of OLD YELLER, know that a sequel was made to that beloved movie. Seeing the sequel today, I think I know why this sequel quickly drifted out of the public's conscious. Despite the movie having the name of the family dog in its title, there are large chunks of the movie where the dog is off camera. (And why is Sam shown to have a dark colored coat of hair when in the first movie as a puppy, he had golden hair?) Also, the characters of the little brother and the teenage girl are off camera for a sizable chunk of time as well. The biggest problem the movie has is that there isn't as much excitement or big feelings about anything like the first movie had. It's as if the movie was trying to be as mediocre as possible. Still, some loutish viewers may get a few laughs from how uncomfortable Tommy Kirk seems to be in the scenes where he's paired up with a female love interest.

Tommy Kirk, Kevin Corcoran, and Jeff York repeat their roles from Old Yeller in this sequel film about Old Yeller's son, Savage Sam. The Coates boys from the first film have grown up considerably and Tommy is fully into puberty and thinking about York's daughter in a different light. Marta Kirsten later of Lost In Space plays a more grownup version of the part introduced by Beverly Washburn.

The parents of Travis and Arliss Coates are away and their uncle Brian Keith comes to look out for the family. Nevertheless on a Comanche raid, Kirk, Corcoran, and Kirsten are all captured although Kirk manages to escape. When Keith who is leading a posse after them finds Kirk, the dog proves invaluable in tracking the kids down and aiding in their rescue.

Although I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want to rescue Kevin Corcoran. He's a royal pain to both the red men and white men alike. I can't believe the Indians just didn't shoot him and leave him on the trail. As he got older Corcoran's presence was more annoying than cute in a lot of movies and television he did for Disney.

In addition to Keith and York, other members of the posse consist of such western regulars as Royal Dano, Slim Pickens, and Dewey Martin all in parts they would have been typecast for.

Savage Sam is hardly as good a film as Old Yeller though it sure ends better all around for the two legged and four legged players.