Big Red (1962)

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Norman Tokar is a name we’ve come across many a time on this blog. He’s directed a plethora of live-action Disney films that range from amazing (The Happiest Millionaire) to terrible (The Boatniks). Today, we take a look at the very first film he directed for Disney: Big Red!

And remember, SPOILERS AHEAD!

The film opens to a dog show wherein an Irish Setter known as Big Red has just won a ribbon. Mr. James Haggin, played by Walter Pidgeon, eyes Big Red carefully and buys him to train to be a showdog. He takes Big Red back to his villa in the forests (of presumably Quebec) to join the other dogs he owns and trains.

Not before long, an orphan boy seeking work named Rene, played by Gilles Payant, happens upon the villa and takes an immediate liking to Big Red. Mr. Haggin eventually decides to hire Rene to help take care of his dogs and assist his head dog handler, Emile, played by Émile Genest.

Emile shows Rene the ropes and Rene picks it up very quickly. He does a great job with all the dogs, but there is a mutual love between him and Big Red which grows the more they spend time together. Sometimes this causes problems like when Rene tells Mr. Haggin that he shouldn’t be so strict when training Big Red and should instead use gentleness.

Nevertheless Rene grows fonder and fonder of Big Red as the days go by and becomes good friends with Emile and his wife, Therese, played by Janette Bertrand, who works as the cook and housekeeper of the villa.

There is also a very beautiful piece of music written by the Sherman Brothers that plays throughout the film known as Mon Amour Perdu or Big Red’s Theme. It was music originally written for Mary Poppins during the early pre-production stage, but was instead used for this film. And it’s a very beautiful piece that is sadly sung very briefly in the film. I wish there was a full-fledged performance of this with lyrics that I could link to, but alas, I can’t find any.

Soon enough, Big Red gets so devoted to Rene that he doesn’t listen to any of Mr. Haggin’s commands during training. So Mr. Haggin forbids Rene from spending time with Big Red which hurts both the boy and the dog. Unable to stay away though, Rene goes up to the window of the villa to say goodbye to Big Red, but Big Red jumps out of the window to see Rene resulting in him injuring himself. Big Red is in a bad state and doesn’t seem like he’ll make it out of there alive, so Mr. Haggin tells Emile to put him down.

Before Emile can do so, Rene dognaps Big Red and takes him to his cabin in the forest to nurse him back to help. Fortunately, he’s able to do so and it’s not long before Big Red is up and about again.

Rene returns Big Red to the villa and Mr. Haggins is happy to see both Big Red and Rene again. However Big Red has scars from the incident deeming him unfit to ever be a showdog. Rene also refuses to continue working for Mr. Haggin, probably due to feeling guilty for Big Red’s injury in the first place, so he gets a job with another farmer in the area.

Mr. Haggin decides to sell Big Red and a female Irish Setter named Molly. As the dogs are transported via train, a moose on the railroad tracks provides enough opportunity for the dogs to “disem-bark” (get it?) from the train and run off into the forest.

Rene soon hears about this and decides to go into the forest to find the dogs. Thankfully, he’s able to find them and also discovers that Molly has given birth to a litter of puppies. Mr. Haggin soon hears about Rene going off into the forest and goes off in search of him. He soon comes into contact with a mountain lion though leading to a climax which Big Red and Rene rescue him from.

Mr. Haggin is grateful and decides to pretty much “adopt” Rene and send him to school to receive an education as well as bring the Irish Setters back home with him.

And that was Big Red! It’s a pleasant enough film, but honestly quite bare-boned in terms of plot. I can’t even call it a “boy and his dog” film since there’s enough focus on side characters to prevent it from being so. The acting by Walter Pidgeon was really great and the best in the film. I wasn’t that fond of Gilles Payant’s acting, but I can tell that he was trying.

I also wish the Sherman Brothers’ song appeared more often in the film. Besides that, I find it odd that this film was enough to convince Disney to continue hiring Norman Tokar for future films. But, here we are.

So, my final score for this film is 22/35 = 62.86% (D-) !

The next review will be posted on July 18, 2023.