* The original ''Franchise/{{Lassie}}''. The dealbreaker was a sequence in the middle of the film where a kindly old traveling tinsmith takes Lassie in for a while. The old man has a fluffy little dog, Toots that is his only companion. When thieves attack him, Lassie and Toots rush to his defense [[spoiler: and Toots is brutally killed. And then Lassie LEAVES THE OLD MAN!]] Although she had to--otherwise we wouldn't have had the even bigger TJ at the end when [[spoiler:a depressed Joe comes out of school, and looks up to see a beat-up Lassie waiting under the same tree she has always been]].