Back in the early aughts, polarizing musician Dave Matthews spent some time in Oklahoma filming this cinematic take on the famed novel Where the Red Fern Grows. While I was aware of the original version, I had no idea this one ever existed, despite a distribution deal with Walt Disney that should have blanketed it everywhere.
Regardless, the overabundance of Matthews made me enter into this as more of a tepid joke than an actual film, which, admittedly, was an absolute mistake on my part. Despite its various problems, Where the Red Fern Grows is a remarkably sweet tribute to the ultimate proof of God’s love: dogs, dogs, and more dogs.
Here, it’s Old Dan and Little Ann, two lovable hounds that are ordered by young Billy (Joseph Ashton) out of the back of a catalog. Living on a Depression Era farm in Oklahoma, as the family is hurting for money, Billy trains the dogs to hunt raccoons for their skins, which I assume was the old-timey equivalent of selling copies of Grit. Kids still sell that door-to-door, right?
Luckily, Old Dan and Little Ann are two of the best dogs anyone has ever seen, so Billy enters them in a raccoon hunt which they technically lose because they’re saving the life of his grandfather…is there anything these dogs can’t do? I love them so much!