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Judd Travers, 35, a professional hunter and well known in the area as surly and cantankerous if not downright mean, is out hunting in the woods with his four dogs near his home, a near-shack where he lives alone in the hills above the tiny town of Friendly, West Virginia. Just as Judd takes aim at a raccoon, one of the dogs, a little beagle, lets out a quick bark, spoiling the shot. Enraged, Judd rams the butt of his rifle into the side of the dog's head. With blood trickling down the stunned animal's face, he runs away from his cruel master into the forest where he soon finds young Marty Preston, 11, crossing Shiloh bridge in a wooded area. Marty calls to the dog, who stands back a good way on the trail looking very sad and afraid to approach the boy. Finally, they come together and make friends. Marty is immediately concerned when he sees the dog's wound. When the dog begins to follow him home, Marty is incapable of turning away the forlorn animal.
At home, Marty names the dog Shiloh, after the bridge where he first came across him. He hopes to be able to keep him, but Marty's father, Ray Preston, suggests the beagle probably belongs to Judd Travers. He tells Marty the right thing to do is to return Shiloh to Judd. Reluctantly, Marty goes with his dad up to the hunter's cabin to return Shiloh. As punishment for running away, Judd cruelly kicks Shiloh and says he'll shoot him if he ever runs away again.
As small as he is, Marty stands up to Judd telling him its wrong to be cruel to a dog. But Judd says the dog is his property and he can do anything he wants with him. Heartbroken, Marty returns home with his Dad.
A Utopia Pictures/Carl Borack Production in association with Zeta Entertainment, and a Dale Rosenbloom film, "Shiloh" is about a boy's fight to save a dog from its abusive owner. It is an emotional story of love, compassion and a certain kind of innocent, heroic search for the truth between generations. Based on Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Newbery award-winning bestseller Shiloh, the film stars Michael Moriarty, Blake Heron, Scott Wilson, Ann Dowd and Rod Steiger. Rounding out the cast are J. Madison Wright, Shira Roth, Tori Wright, Bonnie Bartlett, and the dog Frannie as Shiloh. It was written and directed by Dale Rosenbloom, produced by Rosenbloom and Zane W. Levitt and executive produced by Carl Borack and Mark Yellen.
In commenting on his choice of material with which to make his directorial debut, Rosenbloom remarked, "Even though most directors were making hip, urban, violent stories or romantic comedies, I decided to take a chance and do something a little different. I had just had a child of my own and I guess that helped me fall in love with the Shiloh novel."
Born in New York City and raised bi-coastally in Los Angeles and New York, Rosenbloom, at age eight, started making short films with the family Super 8 movie camera and eventually graduated from USC Film School.
Dale, whose nickname is Chip, revealed that he thought he knew how Marty was feeling because in a kind of parallel experience when he was a kid about the boy's age, a friend of his parents brought over an abused dog they had rescued from a cruel master suggesting maybe Dale would like to have her. "Right away," he remembers, "the dog ran upstairs and hid under my bed. It was a white Alsatian-Shepherd named Lady but I changed it to Sadie because I thought every time she heard that name she might think of the cruelty of the previous owner. Sadie was about two-years-old at the time. I had her until she died at age 16."
The film's story continues with Marty deciding that he will work hard and earn enough money to buy Shiloh from Judd, even though the boy's dad, Ray Preston, tells him the family can't afford to have a dog. Meanwhile, Shiloh again escapes from Judd and comes to Marty. While Judd begins a crazed hunt for his missing animal, the boy hides him at the top of the hill behind his house in a make-shift doghouse he quickly builds.
There is an emotional honesty, Rosenbloom feels, about young Blake Heron's interpretation of Marty along with a passion that is often missing from young people in current films. The writer-director states that Blake was "everything I could want in an actor."
In the beginning, after the first day's rehearsal, Rosenbloom and his young star discussed what might be the essence of Marty's character. They talked about what constitutes honesty? When is it okay to stretch the truth? Dale explained to Blake that even though Marty had a good relationship with his parents and was dependent upon them to take care of him, Marty still had his own independent feelings about right and wrong.
"I told Blake that I felt what was going on inside Marty was that he had to wrestle with himself to decide if it was okay to lie to his Mom and Dad in order to keep his promise to Shiloh to save him from Judd," says Rosenbloom. "And it was wonderful to see how Blake grasped this premise and interpreted it perfectly. You see all of that up on the screen."
Rosenbloom adds that Blake, as a cooperative cast member, "was a dream, working without complaint, always on time, ready with his lines and even voluntarily providing his trailer as a classroom for the other children in the cast."
The casting of Michael Moriarty came about as an almost unexpected windfall. During sessions when actors were being suggested for the various roles, the casting principals would say, "for the dad we should get a Michael Moriarty type." After this was said several times, Rosenbloom said "Well, let's see if we can get Moriarty, himself. Why should we settle for someone else when he would be perfect?" So Rosenbloom sent him a note with the screenplay and, happily, Moriarty liked the story and joined the cast.
During the shoot, some observers wondered why Moriarty was being so tough in his role as Ray Preston. But, says Rosenbloom, that was the whole approach. "The plan was for the Dad not to be a patsy. To be strong, firm against keeping the dog--and then gradually be won over. I think Michael brought just the right balance to the role. I loved working with Michael and would do another picture with him in a second."
In the film’s story, Marty’ mother, Louise, noticing he has been away a great deal and is eating little, follows her son up the steep slope behind their house into the woods and discovers him with Shiloh. Reluctantly, she agrees not to tell Marty’s dad at least for 24 hours.
That night, a vicious wild dog breaks into the make-shift doghouse and attacks the little beagle. The Prestons hear the dogs fighting and rush the injured Shiloh to Doc Wallace in the town. Shiloh nearly dies, but the kindly doctor stitches him up and keeps him there in his own house for a period of healing.
Rod Steiger, who came to the set directly from Israel and Prime Minister Rabin's funeral, stepped into the uncharacteristic role of Doc Wallace and made it his own. With just the right touch he delivers the warm, gentle man of medicine who also gives Marty some valuable grandfatherly advice on making the right and moral decision whether or not to surrender Shiloh to Judd.
Moviegoers, accustomed to seeing the classic actor in deeply emotional roles such as "On the Waterfront" and "In the Heat of the Night," for which he won his Oscar, will enjoy seeing Steiger as this thoughtful physician of quiet strength whose very presence on-screen lends a mark of distinction to the production. Steiger, who in real life has a three-year-old son with whom he will be able to share the joys of the film, was the very first actor cast in the picture. "Because we had Rod," says helmer Rosenbloom, "we know it was one of the reasons why we were able to get so many other quality actors."
When Shiloh is well enough to travel, the Prestons take him home. By now the whole family, including Marty's young sisters Becky and Dara Lynn, are attached to the dog. But the cruel Judd will not give him up. Though, with constant pressure from Marty, Judd finally agrees -- but only if the boy provides 40 hours of service around the hunter's shack. Marty agrees and keeps his word.
Judd works him hard. Probably harder than he would a grown man. Then, when an exhausted Marty, sick and broken, has fulfilled the punishing task, Judd just laughs, saying he has no intention of giving him the dog since there was no witness to their deal. In the end, the boy somehow manages to move Judd's elusive conscience. The reclusive, anti-social professional mountain man who seems to care for no one, is finally reached by the boy. When Judd almost involuntarily opens his heart for the briefest moment, a tiny touch of goodness slips through enabling Marty to emerge triumphant from their torturous war of wills. He has kept his promise to his canine friend. Shiloh will now be loved and protected forever by Marty and his family.
The superb acting of Scott Wilson as the hated Judd might anger audiences who in the magic mood of darkened theaters may very well become so involved with the character's evil that some will forget for the moment that they are seeing a performance on a movie screen. But one thing is certain, Wilson's Judd will stay with many of these filmgoers for years to come.
It was Rod Steiger who saw Wilson' enormous talent and suggested to Rosenbloom that he might make an excellent Judd. Wilson first met Steiger when he appeared with him in "In the Heat of the Night." Later, Wilson played Steiger's son in "Lolly Madonna."
"Scott was a gift," says Rosenbloom, gratefully. "As soon as Rod mentioned his name, I knew he was the one. Any first-time director would be blessed to work with Scott because he's so easy to work with yet challenging on the important issues."
The director says that he feels "Scott has something about him," making the point that even though Scott's Judd character is horribly mean, still there seems to be a quality there that makes you care about him. "Scott is as good as there is," adds Rosenbloom. "He's one of Hollywood's unsung heroes."
The film's original genesis took place when Rosenbloom, a successful producer with a number of films to his credit, bought the Shiloh novel in a book store. After reading it, he knew immediately that he wanted to make it into a movie.
"When Chip told me about the book and asked me to read the script he had adapted, I wanted to go with it right away," says fellow producer Carl Borack. "The story was sweet. Not tough. Not the kind of film Hollywood was making, but worth making nonetheless. I couldn't resist the challenge, and I wanted to work with Chip."
From there, Borack and Rosenbloom talked to producers Zane Levitt and Mark Yellen at Zeta Entertainment who also read his script, loved it, agreed to join forces and set about the difficult task of the financing. With Dale and his Utopia Pictures, Carl, Zane and Mark, the team was formed. The actors were cast, director of photography Frank Byers came on board, and composer Joel Goldsmith, son of famed movie composer Jerry Goldsmith, signed on and began to create the beautiful score which he eventually completed with digital sound and a 40 piece orchestra. The primary film unit became complete when Mark Westmore, grandson of makeup artist Wally Westmore, joined the group as the movie's film editor.
Borack says that, of course, it was Dale who made the picture happen. "He had a vision and he executed that vision. He knew that most films being made these days are pretty hip and edgy, the opposite of what 'Shiloh' is. But he went ahead anyway and the nice thing about it is the movie works not only for kids, but for adults, too."
In the beginning, Rosenbloom wasn't sure he should tackle the directing chores on the movie. But Borack said, "Wait a minute, this is perfect for you to direct. Why should anyone else do it. You do it."
Rosenbloom says that he did at first hesitate to helm the movie because he wasn't sure he could achieve the perfectionist standards he would put on himself in taking on such a sensitive project. "My biggest fear," he admits, "was how I would do working with kids and animals. But it wasn't really as difficult as people say. I just made sure I had very strong adult actors so their characters wouldn't be too broad, as you see in some films where kids are great and the adults almost caricatures. Some movies like that have the kids rebelling and pulling the wool over the adults' eyes. So I had to be careful, especially in the scenes between Marty and his dad and where Marty matches wits with Judd."
Rosenbloom says that, to him, the most memorable scenes of the movie he thinks audiences will come away with are: the grandfatherly advice scene between Steiger as Doc Wallace and Marty; the scene when Ann Dowd as the mom discovers Marty with the dog; the scene where Judd abusively works Marty and then still refuses to give up Shiloh. Rosenbloom's favorite scene was at the end of the movie when Judd starts to drive away with Shiloh in his truck, and just when you think the film will end sadly with Marty losing the dog, Judd see's Marty in his rear view mirror. He stops the truck down the road, and we see in the distance through the
pickup's rear window, Judd opening the door, Shiloh jumping out and running full tilt back to Marty for the joyous reunion of a boy and his dog.
"The beauty of this movie," adds Borack, "is that it is not merely a good film cinematically, but one with genuine heart, warmth and unmistakable values. This is a film where we're as proud of the message as we are of the medium."
The SHILOH Trilogy by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
SHILOH – Newbery Medal Winner; ALA Notable Children’s Book;
IRA – CBC Teacher’s Choice; IRA Young Adult Choice;
American Bookseller Pick of the Lists; Winner of over 25 state awards
1.9 million paperbacks sold
2 million catalog sales
172,780 hardcopy sales
SHILOH SEASON
Hardcover 240,093
Paperback 673,253
SAVING SHILOH
Hardcover 197,962
Paperback N/A
SHILOH – The Movie
1.3 million video cassettes sold (Distributor: Warner Home Video)
Five times mentioned in reviews by Siskel & Ebert (see attached)
Selected by Roger Ebert as one of the "Best Films Of 1997" Top Ten Sleepers
Winner of the 1998 Genesis Award for Outstanding Feature Film
Numerous national and international awards (see attached)
Soundtrack on Varese Sarabande Records including end title song
"Are There Angels," performed by Sheena Easton
One of only 10 titles to be included in the Warner Home Video
75th Anniversary Family Films Collection
National television premier pending (Distributor: Warner Television)
SHILOH – Newbery Medal Winner; ALA Notable Children’s Book;
IRA – CBC Teacher’s Choice; IRA Young Adult Choice;
American Bookseller Pick of the Lists; Winner of over 25 state awards
1.9 million paperbacks sold
2 million catalog sales
172,780 hardcopy sales
SHILOH SEASON
Hardcover 240,093
Paperback 673,253
SAVING SHILOH
Hardcover 197,962
Paperback N/A
SHILOH – The Movie
1.3 million video cassettes sold (Distributor: Warner Home Video)
Five times mentioned in reviews by Siskel & Ebert (see attached)
Selected by Roger Ebert as one of the "Best Films Of 1997" Top Ten Sleepers
Winner of the 1998 Genesis Award for Outstanding Feature Film
Numerous national and international awards (see attached)
Soundtrack on Varese Sarabande Records including end title song
"Are There Angels," performed by Sheena Easton
One of only 10 titles to be included in the Warner Home Video
75th Anniversary Family Films Collection
National television premier pending (Distributor: Warner Television)
AWARDS/FESTIVALS | PRESSBOOK