Multiple Oscar nominee Glenn Close recommends dog double feature

When asked what's her favorite movie with a dog actor, multiple Oscar nominee and Lively Licks blog host Glenn Close replied, "Old Yeller was one of the movies that made the biggest impression on me as a child. Actually, Old Yeller and Sounder are good companion pieces that bookend each other nicely. Yeller is about a white family; Sounder is about a black family. But in Sounder, the dog comes back in the end."  

That last is an important consideration, as many people resist viewing Old Yeller because this famous boy-and-his-dog story has a reputation for making grown men cry. Interestingly, Old Yeller was not nominated for any Academy Awards, although it did win a Golden Laurel Award for Top General Entertainment.  

Director Martin Ritt's 1972 film Sounder, on the other hand, received numerous accolades, including a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Paul Winfield, a Best Actress -  Drama Golden Globe nomination for Cicely Tyson (who also won Best Actress awards from both the National Board of Review and the National Society of Film Critics), plus a Most Promising Newcomer - Male Golden Globe for Kevin Hooks, who plays the boy. 

Meanwhile, 2008 is a banner year for Oscar-nominated movies featuring dogs: the list includes "The Savages," "No Country for Old Men," "Juno," "Persepolis," and "The Counterfeiters."  

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