Big Red (1962)

What a waste of my time!!!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Disney could always be relied upon (back then) for wonderful, real entertainment but as one of the reviewers stated a lot of these films seemed to just vanish. I saw this film as a Christmas treat but did not see or hear of it again until over 40 years later when I found it on the Disney station. I did, however, have the Golden Book. Golden Books had been around since the 1940s and most Disney films were presented in picture book form as Golden Books. They were beautifully illustrated, about 30 pages in length, so you could keep re-living the movie.The first thing I noticed in re-viewing this film was the bright, vivid Technicolor that Disney always used. James Haggin (Walter Pidgeon), a gruff dog breeder, pays the unheard of sum of $5,000 dollars for a prizewinning red setter. Rene (Gilles Payant), a young lad looking for work, meets Red and they become friends. He is given the job of being Red's handler and teaches him the fine art of hunting, as well as exercising him. Haggin is all business and is not happy that Red is becoming a pet. He takes Red up to the main house just before the big show but Red does not want to be separated from Rene and jumps through a plate glass window to be with him. Red is about to be put down but Rene runs off with him and nurses him back to health at his uncle's cabin.He returns Red to Haggin but with a big scar on his body Red will never be a show dog again. Rene is still upset that Haggin wanted to put Red down - he feels he cannot work for him again. Red and Molly, another setter, are being shipped by rail to another owner but a careless guard leaves their cage open and they escape in the Canadian wilds. Rene hears about it and is determined to find them - which he does with the aid of his trusty harmonica. Haggin goes up in the mountains to look for Rene and Red saves him from being mauled by a mountain lion. Red and the lion's confrontation looked real - none of this CGI stuff!!! In the meantime Molly has her puppies and they look so cute.This is a wonderful family film, not too long and with no forgettable songs to slow down the action. The location at Big Bear Lake was just so lush and green. Walter Pidgeon was his usual solid self. Gilles Payant was excellent as the young lad Rene. I wonder what ever happened to him and why this was his only film????Highly Recommended.

In the world of cinema it has become increasingly harder and harder to grant due credit to those films of earlier years who made an impact and yet inexplicably faded into the insurmountable hill of thousands of fine movies. BIG RED is one of them. I have read that this movie spawned a huge interest in the Irish Setter in the United States. There must have been an irresistible charm in this movie for this to have happened.And yet, here I am watching this movie for the first time on Hallmark (not Disney!), 42 years later wondering why I never heard of it again! Surely it must have succumbed under the influence of flashier movies.Why else would such a tender movie have faded out of our collective consciousness? Perhaps it is because it does not splash you with techno-wizardry or earth-shaking situations? Perhaps it is because the story is too simple and too predictable?I conclude that it is because simplicity has gone out of favor. Sober charm has been usurped by drunken revelry.That's too bad. We need this brand of storytelling. We need to slow down our revolutions per minute, sit back and take a deep breath.BIG RED is charming. There are no monumental ideals overturned here. We have simple, easily paced scenes about the human heart and a young, honest boy whose entire world is the life of one dog who he cherishes above almost everything.Was life ever this simple? Perhaps not. But to a young child, the entire world can be the size of a few square miles. He learns his lessons, and others learn from him.Gilles Payant is charming as the young boy. It's a shame, yet another shame in the world of film, that he did not pursue a career in film. Walter Pidgeon is perfect as the dog's owner.I recommend this to anyone without a pretentious heart. You won't be dazzled. But you might be charmed.

This classic movie really did wonders for increasing popularity of the Irish Setter, somewhat like the sudden increase in popularity of the Dalmatian breed after the 101 Dalmatians movie a few years ago. It truly shows most of the finer points of owning an Irish Setter. The dog is good natured, fun loving, yet loyal and attentive. The breed is also known for being hardy yet has "head turning" beauty. Although the dog loves people, it has been know to be very protective if necessary. This fact was also demonstrated toward the end of the movie.

"Big Red" is the story of a boy and a dog. The dog, Big Red, is owned by an older woodsman, played by Walter Pigeon. But Walter only wants the dog as a showdog, and treats him like a piece of furniture. When a young boy comes to work for Walter, he showers the dog with attention, and the dog becomes emotionally attached to the boy. Walter forbids the boy from paying attention to Big Red; the dog becomes depressed and jumps through a glass window to get to his friend. The glass slices the dog up, and after he heals, Walter sees that with all the scars on Red, he will no longer make it as a showdog. He gives the dog to the boy. But Red also has feelings for his old master, no matter how Walter seems to act toward him, and in the end Big Red and the boy save Walter after a hunting accident. This is a good family film; a little on the dramatic and depressing side, but for older kids it would be fine.