Shiloh
The movie Shiloh revolved around the conflict between what’s right according to our natural instincts and what’s right according to the law. In the movie, Shiloh, a Beagle, after being abused by its owner, was adopted by Marty Preston, a young boy. When Shiloh’s master, Judd Travers, came to re-claim his legal property, so to say, even Marty’s father, Ray, got involved in the dilemma of whether to do what is right according to our feelings or just do what is right according to the letter of the law.
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In 1996, Bruin Grip Services, Good Dog Productions LLC, Utopia Pictures and Zeta Entertainment got together to produce the movie Shiloh based on the book of the same name written by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Dale Rosenbloom was put in charge as director. Dale was also responsible for writing the screenplay. Blake Heron starred as Marty Preston, while his parents, Ray and Louise were played by Michael Moriarty and Ann Dowd. The despicable hunter cum animal-abuser, Judd Travers, was played by Scott Wilson. Shiloh, the real star of the movie, was played by a Beagle.
The Beagle is a member of the Hound Group. It looks quite like the Foxhound but is smaller and shorter with longer, softer ears. It is a scent hound meaning it tracks its prey by using its nose to follow the trail. Other types of hounds are sight hounds which look to find their prey and sight and scent hounds which used both eyes and noses to get the job done.
The modern Beagle was developed in Great Britain around the 1830′s with input from the Talbot Hound, the North Country Beagle, the Southern Hound and possibly the Harrier. All these breeds except the Harrier are now extinct. The man responsible for keeping alive the fine traits of these bygone breeds was Reverend Phillip Honeywood who established a Beagle pack in Essex in the 1830s. This pack laid the foundation for the modern Beagle.
The Beagle is quite small, standing only 10 inches at the withers. There used to be a rough-coated Beagle but, over time, breeder preference gave dominance to the smooth-coated variation. White with large areas of black and light brown is the normal coloration. The tail is short and tipped with white. This feature is bred on purpose and is called the flag. The use of the flag is to keep the Beagle visible when it has its head close to the ground while tracking prey. The Beagle naturally holds its tail upright when working.
In the Shiloh movie, Judd Travers, the owner of Shiloh, seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in making the dog cower and keep its flag down. The movie started with Judd giving Shiloh a trashing with the butt of his gun. The dog ran away and met up with Marty. Tentatively at first, the abused dog followed Marty and eventually went home with the young boy who was overjoyed to get his very first dog. His parents, however, took a dim view of having a four-legged addition to the family abode. So Marty housed Shiloh in a dilapidated shack on top of a hill. Dog and boy soon developed a close relationship.
This was where the movie illustrated the conflict between doing what’s right according to our natural instincts and doing what’s right according to the letter of the law. Ray, Marty’s father, was of the view that since Shiloh belonged to Judd, there was no question at all about where Shiloh had to go. So they took Shiloh back to Judd, who welcomed the dog with a kick.
Soon, Shiloh ran away again to find Marty, who hid it again. Then, one night, the small dog was savaged by a vicious German Shepherd and Marty had to, in desperation, seek his parents’ help to save Shiloh. They took Shiloh to the vet who managed to patch the dog up. It was safe for the time being. Even Ray, the stern father, began to warm to it. However, he still insisted on doing the right thing which was to return Shiloh to Judd as soon as it was well enough.
In the end, did obedience to the letter of the law overcome the natural sense of justice found in all right-thinking men? Watch the Shiloh DVD to find out.
And don’t gaze too long at the big, appealing eyes of the Beagle because they have a way of making a beeline to your heart.
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