My Dog Skip | 2000

The classic, based on the famous book by author Willie Morris (played by Frankie Muniz in the film), takes place in ‘Yazoo City’ in the early 40s but was filmed almost entirely in Canton, Mississippi, 25 miles north of Jackson.

Since much of Canton is on the National Register of Historic Places, its largely unchanged appearance has seen the city appear in the Coen brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Joel Schumacher’s 1996 adaptation of John Grisham’s A Time To Kill and Robert Altman’s 1974 Thieves Like Us, among others.

The main square surrounds the Madison County Courthouse, in the heart of Canton (this is also where Skip "drives" a car, to the amusement and shock of the residents who see a dog behind the wheel).

The home of Willie Morris and his family, in the movie, is 302 East Center Street at North Lyon Street a little east of the town square (there' still a sign outside, proudly announcing this as "Skip's house").

If you wish, you can visit Morris’s real-life home, at 615 Grand Avenue, which really is in Yazoo City, 30 miles to the northwest.

Willie and Skip pick up meat at their local butcher shop, which was built inside a large room known as the Rose Garden, now Canton Tourism, 147 North Union Street, alongside the Trolio Hotel, 137 North Union Street (itself featured in O Brother, Where Art Thou?). Canton is rightly proud of its film history, and the Canton Tourism Center houses not one but two Movie Museums, with sets, props and memorabilia from the films made here.

A group of local kids bully Willie into spending a night alongside the 'Witch's Crypt' in the local cemetery, which is Greenwood Cemetery, 701 North West Street in Jackson, where a replica of its Helm mausoleum, in which the bootleggers stored their moonshine and where Skip gets injured, was constructed.

Eager to make new friends, Willie goes to the movies. Unfortunately the "Dixie Theatre" does not exist. A false exterior was built on what's now an abandoned restaurant at 108 West Center Street on the corner of North Liberty, right in the main square.

The WWII-era advertising murals can still be seen to this day, on North Liberty Street (much like the historic Canton mural located down the block at 184 West Center Street, which was created for O Brother, Where Art Thou?).

Just to the right of the murals, the little store at 3355 North Liberty Street became the "army recruitment center", where poor Skip sadly fails the medical to enlist.

The cinema's interior, though, is that of the Star Theatre, 170 Main Street in the city of Mendenhall on US 49 about 35 miles southeast of Jackson.

The picture house dates from 1938, closing down in 1985. It was restored for filming but sadly, since then heavy rains have damaged the roof and it was damaged by fire in 2016. Undaunted, a local committee is working to repair and reopen the cinema.

Local folk get ready to greet Willie's neighbour, returning soldier Dink (Luke Wilson), at what was a real old gas station, 105 Depot Drive at the intersection with West Peace Street (in the background is the Canton Depot, an old train station). This is also the spot where the adult Willie says goodbye to his parents as he boards the bus when he's off to University at the end of the film.

By the way, did you recognise Skip as Moose and Enzo, the father-and-son team of Jack Russell terriers who found fame playing Eddie in TV's Frasier?

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Many thanks to Brando Benetton for research & writing for this section.