Big Red

1h 29m 1962
Big Red

Brief Synopsis

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Dog owner James Haggin buys Big Red, an Irish setter, for a large sum in hopes of making him a champion show dog. However, Big Red is unruly and does not take to being handled. At this point, Haggin meets Rene, an orphan boy who needs work, and makes him Big Red's trainer. The two get along so well that Haggin fears the dog will not listen to anyone else. He tries to separate them but the bond between Rene and Big Red has become too strong.

Cast & Crew

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Norman Tokar

Director

Walter Pidgeon

James Haggin

Gilles Payant

Rene Dumont

Emile Genest

Emile Fornet

Janette Bertrand

Therese Fornet

Georges Bouvier

Baggageman

Film Details

Genre
Drama
Release Date
Jun 13, 1962
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Walt Disney Productions
Distribution Company
Buena Vista Film Distribution Co., Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Big Red by James Arthur Kjelgaard (New York, 1945).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 29m
Sound
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.85 : 1

Synopsis

Rene Dumont, a 14-year-old orphan who lives in the woods of northern Canada, is hired to exercise Big Red, a champion Irish setter that belongs to James Haggin. When the dog becomes so attached to the boy that he refuses to take orders from anyone else, Haggin separates them. In a desperate effort to return to Rene, Big Red is seriously injured, and Haggin decides to have the animal put to sleep. Rene takes the dog away, nurses him back to health, and then reluctantly returns him to Haggin, who offers Rene his old job. When Rene refuses, Haggin, hurt by the boy's rejection, ships Big Red and his mate, Mollie, to Montreal for sale. The two dogs escape from the train and disappear into the pine forest. Rene finds them in a cave where Mollie has given birth to a litter of puppies. Meanwhile, Haggin realizes his growing affection for Rene and pursues them, but he is thrown from his horse and trapped in a rocky gorge. Big Red and Rene arrive in time to save him from a menacing mountain lion. As they head for home, Haggin offers to adopt Rene, and the boy, knowing that he will never again be separated from Big Red, gladly accepts.

Director

Norman Tokar

Director

Cast

Walter Pidgeon

James Haggin

Gilles Payant

Rene Dumont

Emile Genest

Emile Fornet

Janette Bertrand

Therese Fornet

Georges Bouvier

Baggageman

Doris Lussier

Farmer Mariot

Rolland Bédard

Conductor

Teddy Burns Goulet

Engineer

Champion Red Aye "scraps"

Big Red

Crew

Carroll Clark

Art Director

Edward Colman

Director of Photography

Robert O. Cook

Sound

Marvin Aubrey Davis

Art Director

Walt Disney

Presented By

Walt Disney

Producer

Hal Gausman

Set Decoration

Winston Hibler

Co-producer

Chuck Keehne

Costumes

Evelyn Kennedy

Music Editor

William R. Koehler

Irish setters trained by

Emile Kuri

Set Decoration

Pat Mcnalley

Makeup

Louis Pelletier

Screenwriter

Walter Sheets

Orchestration

Richard M. Sherman

Composer

Robert B. Sherman

Composer

Grant K. Smith

Film Editor

Dean Thomas

Sound mix

Erwin L. Verity

Associate Producer

Arthur J. Vitarelli

Assistant Director

Oliver Wallace

Music

Film Details

Genre
Drama
Release Date
Jun 13, 1962
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Walt Disney Productions
Distribution Company
Buena Vista Film Distribution Co., Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Big Red by James Arthur Kjelgaard (New York, 1945).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 29m
Sound
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.85 : 1

Articles

Big Red

May 18, 2018
"In one decisive moment...a courageous boy and a Big Red dog teach a brave man the meaning of devotion!" promised the theatrical poster for Big Red (1962), another in a long series of live-action films about animals made by Walt Disney Productions. Based on the novel of the same name by Jim Kjelgaard, which had been originally published in 1945, the film's plot revolves around a French-Canadian orphan boy named René Dumont (Gilles Payant), who is hired to exercise a champion Irish setter named Big Red. Big Red is owned by wealthy sportsman James Haggin (Walter Pidgeon), who lives alone on his large estate called Wintapi. Haggin, who has bought Big Red after winning the Montreal Kennel Club show, becomes concerned when the dog grows so fond of the boy that he will not obey anyone else. Big Red is taken away from René until he can go to New York to compete at the Westminster Dog Show. The dog is so upset by this separation from the human he loves that he tries to return to the boy by crashing through a window and is severely injured, further intensifying the drama between Haggin, Big Red and René. The cast also includes Émile Genest, who would appear in many Disney productions, and "Big Red" is played by a purebred Irish setter named Champion Red Aye "Scraps".

Big Red was directed by Norman Tokar in his feature film debut, with the screenplay adapted by Louis Pelletier. The film was shot in Technicolor, with interiors filmed at the Disney Studios in Burbank and exteriors at locations in the Big Bear Lake area in the mountains near Los Angeles. The company also did location shooting around Quebec, Canada, including La Malbaie, then known as Murray Bay. Composers Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, who would write the scores for many Disney classics, wrote the theme song for the film, "Mon Amour Perdu - Big Red's Theme".

Big Red had its premiere in Los Angeles on June 6, 1962, later opening in New York in early September. As part of the promotional campaign for the film, Disney teamed up with Friskies dog food to create a free mail-in manual Friskies New Approach to Training Your Dog , featuring Pidgeon and Scraps on the cover, which consumers could get by sending in four labels from Friskies dog food. "Now your dog can be as well trained as Big Red himself!" The manual promised "an entirely new system of training based on the discoveries of a leading Hollywood trainer of movie dogs" in only 24 pages.

Despite beating out hundreds of other boys to play René, Big Red would be Gilles Payant's only film. He died at the age of 65 in 2012.

By Lorraine LoBianco

SOURCES:

Brode, Douglas From Walt to Woodstock: How Disney Created the Counterculture
https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/22973?sid=d06cf5ac-db80-4075-a5b8-e63a58c54d8f&sr=3.0481155&cp=1&pos=0
http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/2011/07/big-red-1962.html
The Internet Movie Database
Advertisement for Friskies Dog Food Life 6 Jul 62
Big Red

Big Red

"In one decisive moment...a courageous boy and a Big Red dog teach a brave man the meaning of devotion!" promised the theatrical poster for Big Red (1962), another in a long series of live-action films about animals made by Walt Disney Productions. Based on the novel of the same name by Jim Kjelgaard, which had been originally published in 1945, the film's plot revolves around a French-Canadian orphan boy named René Dumont (Gilles Payant), who is hired to exercise a champion Irish setter named Big Red. Big Red is owned by wealthy sportsman James Haggin (Walter Pidgeon), who lives alone on his large estate called Wintapi. Haggin, who has bought Big Red after winning the Montreal Kennel Club show, becomes concerned when the dog grows so fond of the boy that he will not obey anyone else. Big Red is taken away from René until he can go to New York to compete at the Westminster Dog Show. The dog is so upset by this separation from the human he loves that he tries to return to the boy by crashing through a window and is severely injured, further intensifying the drama between Haggin, Big Red and René. The cast also includes Émile Genest, who would appear in many Disney productions, and "Big Red" is played by a purebred Irish setter named Champion Red Aye "Scraps". Big Red was directed by Norman Tokar in his feature film debut, with the screenplay adapted by Louis Pelletier. The film was shot in Technicolor, with interiors filmed at the Disney Studios in Burbank and exteriors at locations in the Big Bear Lake area in the mountains near Los Angeles. The company also did location shooting around Quebec, Canada, including La Malbaie, then known as Murray Bay. Composers Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, who would write the scores for many Disney classics, wrote the theme song for the film, "Mon Amour Perdu - Big Red's Theme". Big Red had its premiere in Los Angeles on June 6, 1962, later opening in New York in early September. As part of the promotional campaign for the film, Disney teamed up with Friskies dog food to create a free mail-in manual Friskies New Approach to Training Your Dog , featuring Pidgeon and Scraps on the cover, which consumers could get by sending in four labels from Friskies dog food. "Now your dog can be as well trained as Big Red himself!" The manual promised "an entirely new system of training based on the discoveries of a leading Hollywood trainer of movie dogs" in only 24 pages. Despite beating out hundreds of other boys to play René, Big Red would be Gilles Payant's only film. He died at the age of 65 in 2012. By Lorraine LoBianco SOURCES: Brode, Douglas From Walt to Woodstock: How Disney Created the Counterculture https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/22973?sid=d06cf5ac-db80-4075-a5b8-e63a58c54d8f&sr=3.0481155&cp=1&pos=0 http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/2011/07/big-red-1962.html The Internet Movie Database Advertisement for Friskies Dog Food Life 6 Jul 62

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

Location scenes filmed in Quebec.

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