The Yearling (1946)

Clarence Brown directed this award-winning adaptation of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's Pulitzer Prize-winning story about a poor pioneer family struggling to eke out a living in the Florida backwoods--and the coming of age of a young boy. After the Civil War, the Baxter family struggles to maintain its meager existence in the wake of family tragedy. All the Baxter children--except for 11-year-old Jody (Claude Jarman Jr.)--have died, leaving Ma (Jane Wyman) embittered and cold and Jody exceptionally lonely. Penny Baxter (Gregory Peck) works hard to make his wife and son happy. When a rattlesnake bites Penny, he's forced to kill a deer in order to obtain an antitoxin from its innards. Jody instantly befriends the animal's orphaned fawn, and the two play together in the woods. But as the fawn becomes a yearling, it turns (however unintentionally) destructive, forever breaking into the small garden on which the family depends for food and money. The family is then forced to make a potentially tragic choice. This exceptional family classic was beautifully shot on location in the Florida Everglades and features outstanding lead performances from its award-winning cast.