The Red Pony (1949)

Peter Miles stars as Tom Tiflin, the little boy at the heart of this John Steinbeck story set in Salinas Valley. With his incompatible parents — the city-loving Fred (Shepperd Strudwick) and country-happy Alice (Myrna Loy) — constantly bickering, Tom looks to cowboy Billy Buck (Robert Mitchum) for companionship and paternal love.