In Praise of Old Yeller (Although Uno Was Rather Unimpressed)

 August 7, 2026

   My old friend Allen Barra asked me if we wanted his favorite Westerns off the beaten path? And, as we put in the subhead in the next issue, Barra's list of 20 is for those of us "numbed by the classics."     

   Just to give you a small taste, here is how he critiqued "Old Yeller":

   That's it. No set up, no background on the production, just a quote from the movie Stripes and one line of agreement.

   So, I was so inspired by this, we watched the old tear jerker from 1957 the other night and I am happy to report it actually holds up.

Kevin "Moochie" Corcoran

(1949-2007) 

   The "mongrel dog" Old Yeller from the book and the script was actually portrayed by a 170 pound Labrador Retriever. A couple times, Uno looked up at the TV, but I could tell he wasn't all that impressed.

"If you ask me, he's a bit overweight for playing a scrawny mutt."

—Uno