My Dog Skip (2000)

Director:

Jay Russell

Writers (WGA):

Willie Morris (book)
Gail Gilchriest (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 March 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Sport

Tagline:

Every family needs an optimist.

Plot:

A shy boy grows up in 1940s Mississippi with the help of his beloved dog, Skip.

Plot Keywords:

Mississippi | Dog | Puppy | 1940s | Baseball Field

Awards:

5 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Frankie Muniz	...	Willie Morris
Diane Lane	...	Ellen Morris
Luke Wilson	...	Dink Jenkins
Kevin Bacon	...	Jack Morris
Bradley Coryell	...	Big Boy Wilkinson
Daylan Honeycutt	...	Henjie Henick
Cody Linley	...	Spit McGee
Caitlin Wachs	...	Rivers Applewhite
Peter Crombie	...	Junior Smalls
Clint Howard	...	Millard
Mark Beech	...	Army Buddy
Susan Carol Davis	...	Mrs. Jenkins
David Pickens	...	Mr. Jenkins
Lucile Doan Ewing	...	Aunt Maggie
Nathaniel Lee Jr.	...	Sammy (as Nathaniel Lee)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some violent content and mild language.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS | Dolby SR

Certification:

Ireland:PG | South Korea:All | Sweden:Btl (TV rating) | Australia:PG | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | France:U | Germany:6 (w) | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | UK:U | USA:PG | Philippines:G | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Canton, Mississippi, USA

Company:

Alcon Entertainment

Trivia:

The movie took place in Yazoo, Mississippi. Residents of Yazoo had the opportunity to purchase special "My Dog Skip" t-shirts.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Dink says that Willie's father got a purple heart in the Spanish Civil War, but there were no U.S. military in that war - only volunteers - so no military awards of any kind were made.

Quotes:

Big Boy Wilkinson: Deserters, puppy dogs and now girls. Guess we were wrong about you, Willma.
Willie Morris: Skip's lost. We gotta find him.
Rivers Applewhite: Won't you help us find him?
Big Boy Wilkinson: 'Won't you help us find him?'
[Spit giggles]
Willie Morris: Listen, Skip's missing. We're gonna find him. You wanna help? Fine. You don't, you can stick it up your big fat butt.
Big Boy Wilkinson: Who said I didn't want to help? Let's go.
Willie Morris: Okay. Spread out. Look everywhere and ask everyone.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#25.7)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Ration Blues

loosen up

This movie sucked me in from the very beginning. I am a sucker for movies that depict childhood through the eyes of the child after they have become an adult. It is really about the powers of friendship and the rites of passage that mark our lives as we get older and move forward through life. Despite all the violence that permeates the movies, where the body count keeps going up, I was shaken when Willie strikes the dog during a baseball game. We all do things that we are ashamed of and this scene struck me as very realistic. In the end when Willie goes away to college and the dog is waiting at the bus stop for him, there is a permeating sadness that I occasionally feel when I think of things I loved that no longer exist. Damn movie made me cry.