Customer Reviews

Yearling [VHS]

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This wonderful film is one of a handful that has the power to call me back to my childhood days and wrap me in warm memories of my Mom, Dad and little brother sitting around the television on Saturday night, watching the late show.

From the opening scenes of this beautifully photographed movie I found myself caught-up in the intriguing post Civil War story of a boy and his pet faun and their fantastic adventures on a scruffy Florida Everglades farm. The film stars Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman and Claude Jarman in the lead roles, with some of Hollywood's best character actors in the colorful supporting roles.

Peck gives an Oscar caliber performance as the warmhearted father who tries his best to make a better life for his family, with absolutely no help from the elements, which surround them. Jane Wyman plays his wife Orry, the hardened mother and wife who is so embittered by past tragedies in her life that she refuses to show any love for her one remaining child for fear of losing him too. And Claude Jarman plays Jodie the wistful young son who is just one summer away from adolescence and all the hardships that come with growing up.

This story is chock-full of excitement and adventure sure to please the kids, and each of those adventures is also a great lesson on life that will stay with them for years to come. Just watching Jodie romp with his pet faun for that one fleeting summer is a joyous site to behold and the touching scenes where Orry finally begins letting herself love her son will bring tears to your eyes. And of course the heart-rending scenes of Jodie trying his best to get the yearling to run away so he won't have destroy it, all come together to make this movie one of the most emotional experiences of my childhood and I must say I believe I'm a better person for the values I learned from this timeless story.

Experience this film with your children, you won't be sorry you did.

This movie really could not be improved upon; every single performance, from Calude Jarman Jr to Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman and Chill Wills are astonishingly believable; you never think you are watching a movie, this is truly a window into a real world. The boy who plays Fodderwing is extraordinary, almost unearthly, in his role. The dream sequences with the deer are breathtaking, as are all the scenes which have animals interacting with people. You really get involved in this one; it is not merely a spectator event; you are THERE, with Jody and his parents, and Flag, his little deer. I have seen this too many times to count, starting when I was about 6 years old, and have never lost one iota of awe when I see it again. It is a shame that movies with this kind of heart, emnotion and inner strength/courage are not made anymore; there are simply no stories now to equal this one, and that is a pity. Still, you can go home again when you see this movie; it never loses its appeal, even through repeated viewings, and you are always immediately caught up in the story and the characters. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings grew up in the Florida Everglades, and waa a master at describing the unique flora and fauna which proliferate there; it is a very unusual place, and this story takes you right to the center. A must for every DVD/VHS library, and a family classic for years to come.

"The Yearling" is a 1946 family classic with Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, and Claude Jarman, Jr. It's also a movie that has grown on me each time I have watched it. Of all of director Clarence Brown's films, including "National Velvet", "The Yearling" has the most chock-full of enjoyable and memorable scenes. Even though the story is centered around Jody (Jarman, Jr.) and his pet fawn Flag, for me it's more about Jody and his father Penny Baxter (Peck). Their relationship is the best father-son relationship I've seen in a film. Gregory Peck can play fathers in movies better than most actors because his characters always listen to their children. Claude Jarman, Jr. received a special Academy Award for this film, and deserved it. During the last half of this movie, I was so amazed by how well he could cry. His performance ranks among the very best performances from child actors in movies. The ending both breaks my heart and fills me with hope, when the father tells Jody about life and when the mother (Wyman) finally opens up her love to Jody. This is what quality family entertainment used to be, and I love it.

When I grew up I stopped seeing over and over the movies I liked. Not this one. I do see this film over and over, but instead of getting numb, I become more even more affected. There are certain scenes, happy or sad, that are so evocative, so transcendent that, I'm embarrassed to say, I can feel tears well up in my eyes. I'm not looking at myself, or even the boy in the film. I'm looking at childhood itself - and its end.

Find some quality time, darken the room, dispense with your sophisticated baggage. And let yourself go.

First, this is not an easy movie or one that you would want to pop in the vid and let the kids veg out to...it is too good for that. Better yet - wait till your kids are 10 or older, and let them read the book....that is the best option. The movie, not as good as the book ( is it ever?) still, is 10X better than kiddie fare such as The Land Before Time and other drek out there. Themes are teen/pre-teen: death - a friend, parent, pet or a peer; the meaning of life; the mortality/fallability of parents, etc. Will disturb children under emotional age of 8 or 9.
From other reviews, a few misconceptions: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who wrote the book, did not grow up in Florida, and the book is not set in the Everglades, but rather in the rough neighborhood of 1870's East Central Florida. Check out the map for Volusia (actually, now known as Astor,FL) and the rest of the place names pretty well remain the same. Baxter's Island is based on Pat's Island.
I live very near the places the novel is set; love the book, just re-read it with my 10 year old son.
Magic, for free. Make the time: movie AND book.

Tonight, for the first time on PBS, I had a chance to see this wonderful movie. At 45, I have never seen it and am overjoyed to finally have the chance. I am in love with the young Gregory Peck, am astonished over Claude, and Jane reminds me too much of my own mother lol. The fawn must have bonded to Claude as he seems to really be attached to him. I want now to find out more about this wonderful young actor and about the fawn! How I never saw this movie all my life I will never know. This must be shown to children in school. I am touched beyond words, it is beautifully shot and enriching. Marjorie Rawlings deservedly won the Pulitzer and now I must read the book. I am laughing out loud, teary eyed and heart warmed at the same time. What a wonderful, wonderful movie.

THE YEARLING, so beautifully shot and scored, is one of the very best postwar US films. It will have you welling up in tears, and the acting is awfully good. Some say that Claude Jarman, Jr didn't deserve that honorary Kid's Oscar he got for playing little Jody, but I think his performance was outstanding. When he's romping around with Flag, the young deer, you wonder how director Clarence Brown got him to be so natural in this, his first movie. I also liked him with Lassie and Jeanette MacDonald in THE SUN COMES UP and he was very believable as the young trouper torn between admiration for his dad (John Wayne) and devotion to his flamboyant mother (Maureen O'Hara). Jarman was one of the few child actors with the talent to make it into acting in adult parts, and yet for some reason he did not go on, and we will continue to remember himad Jody Baxter. In THE YEARLING his parents are in a similar situation to his parents in RIO GRANDE. Here they are not divorced or estranged, but the mother (Jane Wyman) seems locked in the past, unable to deal with the grief of multiple miscarriages and infant births, while Penny (Greg Peck) has to go on being both Mom and Dad to young Jody. That he does so without resentment is part of the reason that, for many of us, watching THE YEARLING is a lesson in growing up, from making the passage between boyhood and manhood. Peck is endearing, and I don't think that even Spencer Tracy, who originated the part in an earlier, scrapped MGM version of the novel, could have bettered the performance Peck offers up here. (Nor do I think Anne Revere could have come up to the level of emotion that Jane Wyman displays, for better or for worse, as the preoccupied mother who comes to understand, a little too late, that we should hold on to what we have instead of dreaming of lost yesterdays.

That's Margaret Wycherley in the small part of "Ma Forrester." Poor Margaret Wycherley was always playing "MA" in the movies, and here she was about a year before her ultimate role as "Ma Jarrett" the all-time strangest movie mom in WHITE HEAT with James Cagney. In THE YEARLING she's a little bit softer, with that backwoods accent she also used playing Gary Cooper's Mom, MA YORK, in SERGEANT YORK.

I saw this movie when I was a child, and just recently watched it again. And again! I think it is one of the best movies ever made. The most touching scenes are when Jody first rescues the little fawn, and the scenes with Fodderwing. The Forrester Family is hilarious (when Pa swaps the dog for the rifle). The opening scene with Peck narrating is excellent. The scenery throughout the film is beautiful, and Claude Jarman Jr. is an absolute delight. It is definitely one of America's finest films!

Pretty strong endorsement. Well, I stand by it. This is one of the finest films ever made. Forget that this has a rep as a "family film". It is that. It is a wonderful film for children. But, it is also a film that can be fully appreciated by adults. It is simply beautiful and timeless. The Technicolor cinematography is simply stunning. The direction & performances first class.

The story of a backwoods couple in post Civil-War Florida, their only (surviving) child and his love for a Yearling fawn, and their friends & neighbors, is told simply with wit & humor, with compassion and sensitivity, and with subtlety to the undercurrents of emotion and feeling. A story of fun and sorrow, of the struggle for existence, of tragic necessity and loss and the redemptive power of love. Real life lessons served with some humility, sensitivity, and compassion, in a real setting, with natural and low-key performances punctuating the morals of the story nicely. And, YES, dammit, it'll choke you up.

Far superior to most of the tripe that passes for family films, this one holds up. Gregory Peck is funny & relaxed and wonderfully caring as the father, a performance in some ways more natural and deeper than his Oscar winning turn in To Kill a Mockingbird. Jane Wyman graduated to the big leagues of serious acting with her performance as the mother, wounded and fearing to love because of her previous losses of infants & toddlers. And Claude Jarmon is open-faced, honest and effective as Jody, a role that earned him a special Oscar.

The final speech about the joy & tragedy of life Peck gives to his son Jody was plagiarized and lifted almost word-for-word for the final similar speech in Disney's Old Yeller, a beloved film that today looks cheap and quickly and poorly made with terrible acting. Old Yeller might still work for little kids, but I can't imagine an adult sitting through it. The Yearling, in contrast, was made with an adult sensibility and it will remain richly rewarding for anyone.

I can't imagine anyone who feels human emotions and has had the pure joy of childhood freedom & adventure, and also faced awful decisions and tragic losses as child and adult not enjoying this film. As for the rest, well, nuff said. And, why in hell hasn't it been preserved on DVD!

OK, I'm not gonna slip the plot for ya here. If you wanna know how the movie goes, read everyone else's reviews. I'm just gonna give you my original, profound side to the story.

This movie is a classic. And I mean CLASSIC!
Definitely not for all those bread-brains out there whose minds limit them to today's shallow sitcoms and cartoons - you know, the ones that have to keep everything simple and explain every pun and joke just so people will be able to smile and pretend they're dealing with real humor. The ones who turn up their noses at oldies just to cover up the fact that they really don't understand what's going on. These deprived people are stuck on the baby-food films of the 21st century. They need to reach back to the steak and potatoes of yesteryear's silverscreen and feast on the great classics....like...like....The Yearling!

OK, sorry....a little gut-spill there.

Anyway, this is an awesome movie. And not just for the elderly. I'm a 19-yr-old college soph. and this is one of my favorites.
Gregory Peck is perfect for the role of Pa Baxter. And the Baxters' neighbors, the Forresters, are definitely something to cackle at. Small cabin, Pa and Ma, 7 or 8 grown boys still living at home (plus the ethereally charming Fodderwing), whiskey bottles on the wall, and houn' dawgs all over the floor. Talk about hicks - they're awesome.
The movie is bursting with "Southernly profound" quotes that I find useful in everyday life:
"I see'd a sight today!"
"Men-folks has got to stick together in the name of peace."
And etc. etc. etc.

So turn off 'My Wife and Kids' and pop 'The Yearling' into your DVD player. Believe it or not....it's dynamic.
:>)