Good-bye, My Lady

I too caught this one on American Movie Classics and I have to say it's a modest little movie that does a lot of things right. The moment we hear of a movie about a boy and a dog, we expect a surfeit of sentimentality, a la "Old Yeller". This movie is rather understated, right down to being in black & white and having a single acoustic guitar do the background music. The movie does not opt for the cheap happy ending it might have, but gives us something sadder and more real. By doing so it makes for a much richer movie. This fine little film isn't going to be on anyone's "ten greatest movies" list, but it's worth a see.

This is a nice film directed by William Wellman about "Skeeter" (Brandon DeWilde) who finds a most unusual dog in the swamps near Pascagoula. He lives with his uncle (Walter Brennan) and decides to keep the seemingly stray dog and name her "Lady".

Lady turns out to be a very good hunter who can stand "on points" when she finds birds, but also has a penchant for chickens and rats as well. She is a sort of terrier, is what they assume, not realizing she is actually an African Basenji, rare and unusual.

There are a few amusing scenes, as when Brennan's neighbor brings his heeler, old "Millard Fillmore" to hunt with Lady, and Lady out bird-dogs "Old Mill" (what kind of name is that). Also when a kennel owner from Old Lyme, CT comes to look at the dog, and says the dog should be fed meat every day, ...Yankees treat their dogs good....they muse. Oatmeal and bacon fat isn't good enough?.

There are also some nice scenes of the mangrove swamps and Spanish moss. Pretty scenery, rough to live in though. Sidney Poitier has a brief role also, as he reads up on the dog and finds out its history. Won't spoil the ending here.

It's a sweet film without being overly sentimental, just the bond, unconditional love of a boy and his dog. 10/10.

I remember seeing Goodbye My Lady back when I was a lad as the second part of a double feature. I was pretty amazed at this most unusual canine.

Young Skeeter, who lives with his Uncle Jesse in the swamp area near Pascagoula, Mississippi comes upon a most unusual dog in the swamp. It grooms itself like a cat, has a hyena like laugh instead of a bark, and has the speed of Secretariat. Any kid like the one I was when I saw this would want to possess an animal like this. When Skeeter finally does capture him he finds he's got the most natural hunting dog ever seen those parts.

Brandon DeWilde was a pretty popular child actor in the Fifties, Shane and The Member of the Wedding cemented his career. He and Walter Brennan playing Uncle Jesse are a winning combination. They get good support from Phil Harris as the local grocer, Sidney Poitier has a small role as a young black neighbor and William Hopper, the Yankee visitor from Connecticut.

Would you believe this film was produced by John Wayne? His Batjac Production company occasionally did films that did not star the Duke. Duke got a top director in William Wellman with whom he had just finished The High and the Mighty to direct Goodbye My Lady and Phil Harris and William Hopper who was in the cast of same. Wellman mixes all the elements just right for a winning film.

This unusual dog turns out to be a basenji from Africa and of course the dog is lost from it's real owner. The ending isn't what you would expect from a boy/dog picture, it's more real and that's as far as I go at this point.

Living in Buffalo as I do now, there's a bit of humor here that non- Buffalonians can't appreciate. Phil Harris has a hunting dog named Millard Fillmore, named after our 13th American President. Fillmore is somewhere in the middle rank of Presidents generally, but as a native of Buffalo, you'll find a few people in this part of the world who will accord him as great.

Harris makes a joke about nothing ever being named for Fillmore. Where I live there's a page or two in the phone book for things named Fillmore. That must have sent up a few howls back when I was a kid in theaters here.

I was introduced to this movie by my niece, who had seen it at her vocational school. She and her friends (about a dozen girls) sat and watched it over and over, and cried their eyes out at the end every time! For a 50 year old movie to have that much impact on a group of modern 15 and 16 year old kids really says something about the quality of its content. It is certainly out-dated in many ways, and shows training techniques that would, no doubt make the ASPCA cringe today. For those of us that grew up in a little less gentile world it brings back memories of how life used to be. The acting in the film is good throughout, the characters are generally believable. If you have ever had the pleasure of interacting with a Basenji, than you will realize that most of what is depicted in the movie concerning the dog is quite plausible. It is one of the best dog movies I have ever seen, and really worth a look (if you can find it).

I just caught this film recently on American Movie Classics. It was better than I ever would have expected. The summary for the film reads like a Disney story "An old man and a young boy who live in the Georgia swamps are brought together by the love of a dog.", but the film actually mixes in a lot of humor with a sad story.

The stars in the film include Sidney Poitier, who doesn't play a real major role in the film, and Walter Brennan. If you know who Walter Brennan is, then you've proved that you watched those Sunday afternoon Westerns as a kid, like "How the West Was Won" or "Support Your Local Sheriff". Brennan's unique voice has been mimicked over the years by many, and is one that almost everyone would recognize. It's the unmistakable "country hill-billy" voice that we all can help but smile when hearing.

The film isn't a comedy, but give the viewer plenty to smile about. Uncle Jessie's as the stereotypical hillbilly is the source of many of those grins. He is supposed to be cutting firewood to make money, but he can't seem to cut more than 1 or 2 pieces daily before succumbing to an all-afternoon nap. He also has some fun dialog like "when I gets me enough money I'm gonna git me a set a dem Roebucker-teeth [false teeth from Sears & Roebuck], and if-en I save enough maybe I'll git me a couple-a gold ones" or some banter with his nephew Skeeter that includes words like "mighten" and advice to "don't crowd God".

Skeeter, the nephew (played by Brandon De Wilde), has some great facial expressions throughout the film and also has some funny scenes with Lady (the dog).

The dog that they boy finds and subsequently catches and names "Lady" is said by the boy and Jessie to "laugh, sure as day" - and by God, they weren't lying. The dog in the film actually laughs! I mean it's a dog-laugh, but it's unmistakable.

Anyway, while not a film that I would rate as a "can't miss", "Good-bye, My Lady" was a fun film that had it's touching moments, but mixed in a lot of fun. A really good Sunday afternoon flick and a must for Walter Brennan fans.