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Overall Rating : 6.5/10
Directed By : Samuel Fuller
Kristy McNichol (Little Darlings)
Christa Lang
Vernon Weddle
Jameson Parker (Simon & Simon (TV) )
Supplied By : TrueGore Vintage DVD
BUY IT HERE : www.truegore.com
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Feb. 22, 2007
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| PLOT A young actress befriends a stray dog and brings it into her home, eventually realizing that it has been programmed to viciously attack, without motive, black-skinned individuals. |
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| THE REVIEW In WHITE DOG, the story is simple, but based on true events. One day while driving through the hills, Actress Julie Sawyer accidentally hits a large white German Sheppard. Julie takes the animal to the vet to have him fixed up and then she decides to take the dog in until she finds it's true owner. Despite her posting flyers stating the dog's whereabouts, no one shows to claim it, and within this time Julie a loner has become rather attached to the dog, the dog even saves the young actress from a would be attacker one night. Even though the dog may be gentle to her, and seems to be the gentlest of companions - Julie has no idea what kind of evil lies deep within the German Sheppard's memory. It all comes to a shocking head one day as Julie brings along the dog on to the set of her latest film - she has a small scene and in her scene she has an African American co-star - and on sight of her, the dog viciously attacks the unsuspecting woman leaving her wounded and hospitalized. Julie and her Boyfriend Roland eventually come to conclusion that the dog that Julie has taken in and believed to have been playfully innocent, is an attack dog and has been trained to kill. Julie takes the dog, who has now been muzzled to a nearby ranch where they train animals for movie roles and asks the man in charge named Carruthers, if he could possibly deprogram the dog from what it has been taught. Carruthers warns her that the dog seems to be too far gone and to hostile to do anything with and he recommends the dog be put down before he kills again. Not having any part in killing her now companion Julie leaves but on her way out the dog attacks a black worker, which means only one thing - from birth this white dog has been trained to only skill those of black skin color. A witness of the latest attack named Keys - a head trainer whom as dealt with such animals explains that this is a "White Dog" meaning it only obeys people of white color and has been purposely taught by their white owners to attack and kill the people of black color they encounter. Keys, a black man himself agrees to take the dog in and work with it to reverse this habit - he has tried this several times with other likely trained dogs, but has failed, but this time around results in remarkable change. To be completely honest with you, when first hearing about WHITE DOG and reading the plot, I thought "Boy does this film sound racist" - and apparently i'm not the only one who thought that. But upon more lengthy research I found that the story that is withheld in this film is one of anti racism, in which a black man tries to erase the hate from the mind of an animal whom really knows nothing but - and from then on, I was truly intrigued to see it. But censors were not as eager to let this explorative gem be seen in the US, in fact I believe this film was banned theatrically and has since never been aired, (except for a few times on cable TV) in America, or any type of media in the states. The fact that many have not seen or better yet heard of WHITE DOG, is a shame, with so much hate still in the world today, I really think the story portrayed in the film could possibly be used as a compassionate learning tool. The true story Spawns from novelist Romain Gary, in which his wife whom was an actress hit a German Sheppard, brought it home and the same results occurred, as the dog attacked their African American gardener and then another black man on a later occasion - Gary penned the book based on the events he witnessed, in which Director Samuel Fuller later read and decided to script a feature film about it. The film's subject matter is one to learn from, but the situations that surround it, is pure hollywood as some things are ignored and forgotten about. Take the multiple attacks by the dog, they go unpunished and even more obvious is when Julie's friend is attacked on the movie set - while lying up in the hospital she chooses not to take action and file charges for the injuries - which is odd seeing that anyone these days would be quick to do so in a heartbeat(even I would). And there are omissions that just seem odd like no Police involvement whatsoever - even after a dog mauls someone to death?? To me, the best performance her goes to Paul Winfield, whom was just a great actor. Although his character nearly gets chew to death on a number of occasions, you can genuinely tell that Keys cares for the dog - and he and the dog's relationship eventually becomes the moral and focal point in the story. Kristy McNichol, who is normally a great actress(i'd even call her a favorite of mine ever since I saw LITTLE DARLINGS), is kind of awkward here, or maybe she was just handed an awkward role. Julie Sawyer, is more or less like Ally Sheedy's character in SHORT CIRCUIT - where she is put in a predicament with a being of some sort and don't know what to make of it. The relationship between the dog and Julie becomes cheesy after awhile - from this big white dog returning home covered in blood and she not even questioning it, to her waiting closely by the phone to hear news of the dog's progress in the process of deprogramming - is a bit of a stretch and is just unconvincing.... so in other words the film progresses and plays out more like a B-Movie(but who says that's a bad thing?) Also worth noting is that Buril Ives also plays the part of Carruthers, Ives a man whom is most know for his children songs - most notably the Christmas ones, and his role as narrator is the classic, RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER. WHITE DOG is probably(from what I hear) one of the most sought after classic films by collectors probably because of it's subject matter. This film was deemed "racist" by film officials, thus it ended Fuller's American film career....he later moved to Europe as a sort of sign of protest. Although not perfect on-screen and I am presuming altered and changed somewhat from the true story of Romain Gary. I still find WHITE DOG to be an enjoyable experience to witness. |
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| GORE
METER 3.5/10 As you'd expect (obviously) the films gore comes from the dog attacks....some gorier than others, but all in all, it isn't all that graphic in my opinion. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 The score is very generic and dramatic, not to exciting, nor that important to the story... |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM I really enjoyed WHITE DOG as it brings to life a situation that still happens to this day (dogs that are bred to hate). This film could've honestly been the story that the censors thought it was and were afraid of, but really it isn't - which leads me to believe the NAACP or whomever didn't even see this before passing judgment on it...I found the film somewhat comforting. This film has only been available here in America in various bootlegged forms - two of which is an import with German subtitles, and one without. The one I saw is the one minus the subtitles and it is available at www.truegore.com. click the links above or below to check it out! |
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