Product Details

• Actors: Blake Heron, Michael Moriarty, Scott Wilson, Bonnie Bartlett, Rod Steiger
• Directors: Dale Rosenbloom
• Writers: Dale Rosenbloom, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Producers: Dale Rosenbloom, Carl Borack, Mark Yellen, Zane W. Levitt
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: June 24, 1997
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304457170
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,764 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When a mistreated beagle pup follows 11-year-old Marty Preston (Blake Heron) home one day, it sparks a passion in the boy that leads him into a web of moral and emotional turmoil. Marty knows the dog belongs to his irascible neighbor, Judd Travers (a spittin' mean performance by Scott Wilson); he also knows Judd breaks local gaming laws and abuses his hounds. But Marty's father (Michael Moriarty) is a stickler for the first rule of pet ownership: he who owns the pet rules the pet. Marty seeks advice from the wise Doc Wallace (Rod Steiger), who tells the boy about his own struggle to claim legal guardianship over his granddaughter following her parents' death. The story inspires Marty to fight for the creature he has come to love. With a believable blend of nerve, conviction, and a hint of fear, Marty works every angle to beg, buy, or (finally) strike a trade with Travers to save Shiloh. While its pace runs a bit slow, the film provides a thoughtful lesson in weighing right and wrong and should appeal to families with children under 12. Based on the Newbery Award-winning book Shiloh, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. --Liane Thomas

Product Description

A boy learns about responsibility, commitment and friendship while trying to rescue a beagle pup from mistreatment by its owner. Michael Moriarty, Rod Steiger, Scott Wilson and young Blake Heron, star in a wonderful all-family treat. Year: 1996

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good but doesn't follow book, May 14, 2002

By 

Joan M. Pentek (Sayreville, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shiloh [VHS] (VHS Tape)

We loved the movie very much...my 9 and 5 year old girls loved it, especially the ending. We didn't find it too scary at all.

However, both my 9 year old and I enjoyed the book far more...it gave such a deeper insight into Marty's heart, and into the world of a boy and his dog. We were both very affected by the book; it made an impression on us that the movie did not.

I especially did not like the addition of another child, a girl, into the story. It seemed Hollywood wanted to add a little childhood flirting to make the movie more sellable. That just served as a distraction from this fine story. There were many differences from the book, but this was the one that irked me.

It still was a very good movie with a heartwarming ending. If you haven't read the book, you'll like it even more cause you won't be comparing differences.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Expectations, May 14, 2007

By 

Theresa Leone Davidson "bookcrazy" (Middletown, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shiloh (DVD)

This is a story of a boy who goes for a walk one day through his West Virginia town and a beagle, Shiloh, follows him home. The boy, Marty Preston, discovers that the dog has an abusive owner. The boy's own family is very poor and can not afford a pet; also, his father is a firm believer that, abused or not, the dog has an owner and he must be returned. They give the dog back but Shiloh escapes again, and when he turns up outside the Preston home, Marty hides him up a hill behind their house. If you've never read the novel by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, I suppose you might like this movie; however, I'm a fan of the book and I've read it a few times with my language arts classes, and in comparison, the movie is terrible. The family does not appear to be poor, an integral part of the story, and the main character, Marty, is often disrespectful, something he never is in the book. Both of these aspects are important to the story, because they help you to understand why the family can not keep a dog, why Marty has some difficulty in standing up for himself, etc. And then there's the ending: horrible! The novel has a complex, beautiful ending, one in which you begin to understand the mean dog owner, Judd, and why he is abusive. He and the main character's hostile relationship evolves into something almost like friendship, and it is so well written, it is believable. In the movie, instead of us seeing that, we see instead what some idiot director must have thought of as a more suspenseful ending. If you truly want a family treat, read the novel aloud to your kids!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GOOD FAMILY MOVIE, October 8, 2006

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shiloh (DVD)

SHILOH is an entertaining movie the whole family can enjoy. It especially stresses the importance of children taking responsibility for their pets, and the movie also has a warm family relationship. While it's pacing is rather slow, the story of how a young boy rescues a beagle from an abusive owner should keep even the smaller kids involved. The cast does well in their roles: Blake Heron shines as little Marty, determined to provide a good home for the mistreated Shiloh; Scott Wilson is appropriately evil as the dog's abusive owner; Michael Moriarty and Ann Dowd do well as the parents; and Rod Steiger and Bonnie Bartlett are fine as the elderly couple who befriend the young boy.
SHILOH is refreshing entertainment for the whole family.