User:Draigon111

Book to Movie “Where the Red Fern Grows” Comparison

There are many differences in the Where the Red Fern Grows movie and the Where the Red Fern Grows book, and for this essay, I have chosen a few of those differences to point out to you. If it is skipping a scene, adding a prop, changing a personality, or altering the story line, it didn’t pass me by. I noticed a few scenes were skipped, and even added in a few were added, in the Where the Red Fern Grows movie. At the very beginning of the Where the Red Fern Grows book, there is a highly important scene that introduces the character Billy as an old man living in a simple town where he saves a hurt dog and sets him of on his journey, which, surprisingly, was cut from the movie. A scene was added to replace that scene that showed a pair of hunters with their coon hounds in the back that comes to Billy’s house to hunt, when Billy notices the hounds and starts to long for the opportunity to obtain his own two hounds. Two other very important scenes featuring the two hounds getting trapped in two serious situations, one a simple mistake, another, life risking, were both also cut from the movie. There is also the scene where the family comes to see why Billy hasn’t come home yet, which (go figure) isn’t in the book. Those weren’t the only differences that I noticed between the movie and the book. There weren’t as many props missing and added as I thought there would be, but there were quite a few. Now the first added prop I noticed was Mothers mirror, which was pointed out to me by Dan Cimmino (thanks Dan!). I specifically remember the part in the book where, in Talahquea, Billy is remarking at his reflection, which most people wouldn’t do much if they already had a mirror in their house. It may be that Mamma refuses to let the children look into it, but I find that very unlikely. There was also the fact that the technology in Talahquea had enhanced in the movie. From the description in the book, there wasn’t a huge super market across from the bully fight scene. In the added scene where the family comes to the “Chicken” tree, Papa trades Billy’s ax with a double-sided ax wit four blades! That wasn’t in the book, now wasn’t it? There is also the missing scarecrow that Billy and Grandpa make to keep In the book, Mama’s personality was kind, understanding, and gentle. In the movie, Mama’s character was strict, constantly worried, and stressed. Those were the comparisons I found while I watched the footage of the Where the Red Fern Grows movie. From the unsuspected scene changes, to the added props, and to the changed personality, these are the similarities, and differences, I found, though I am very sure there are many more.