In the world of cinema it has become increasingly harder and harder to grant due credit to those films of earlier years who made an impact and yet inexplicably faded into the insurmountable hill of thousands of fine movies.
BIG RED is one of them. I have read that this movie spawned a huge interest in the Irish Setter in the United States. There must have been an irresistible charm in this movie for this to have happened.
And yet, here I am watching this movie for the first time on Hallmark (not Disney!), 42 years later wondering why I never heard of it again! Surely it must have succumbed under the influence of flashier movies.
Why else would such a tender movie have faded out of our collective consciousness? Perhaps it is because it does not splash you with techno-wizardry or earth-shaking situations? Perhaps it is because the story is too simple and too predictable?
I conclude that it is because simplicity has gone out of favor. Sober charm has been usurped by drunken revelry.
That's too bad. We need this brand of storytelling. We need to slow down our revolutions per minute, sit back and take a deep breath.
BIG RED is charming. There are no monumental ideals overturned here. We have simple, easily paced scenes about the human heart and a young, honest boy whose entire world is the life of one dog who he cherishes above almost everything.
Was life ever this simple? Perhaps not. But to a young child, the entire world can be the size of a few square miles. He learns his lessons, and others learn from him.
Gilles Payant is charming as the young boy. It's a shame, yet another shame in the world of film, that he did not pursue a career in film.
Walter Pidgeon is perfect as the dog's owner.
I recommend this to anyone without a pretentious heart. You won't be dazzled. But you might be charmed.
