Runtime:
90 minutes
Directed
by: Samuel Fuller
Starring:
Kristy McNichol, Paul Winfield, Burl Ives, Jameson Parker, Lynne
Moody
From:
Paramount
This was not a bad motion picture to watch on a whim:
Recently
I mentioned how I sometimes purchase movies on disc then I wait a real
long time to actually watch those movies in full; I don't wan to mention
how long this movie (the Criterion DVD, to be exact) has been in my
collection before I decided on a whim last night to finally see the disc
in full. Now, I have watched White Dog before, long ago. It was via
less than ethical means... but I was curious because before Criterion
released it on DVD back a decade ago, controversy resulted in this movie
barely getting a theatrical release in the United States and it had
never come out on video.
Even now the movie is polarizing and the reason why is comprehensible; it practically screams “MESSAGE!” at you often as it tells its tale in an unsubtle manner. Kristy McNichol is struggling actress Julie, who accidentally hits a White Shepherd dog; it gets better and she adopts it. Well, it turns out to be a dog raised to viciously maul any black person. Who better than black animal trainer Paul Winfield to attempt and untrain the dog's habits, despite it not being successfully done before?
The movie is a bold and in your face look at racism and no surprise that people today aren't always for all the melodrama and gauche moments you see here. Some of the acting can be faulted (although not from Winfield, who is always a delight to see on screen) and I am not sure what to make of Burl Ives as an animal trainer for critters that appear in films and how he hates R2D2 as he fears he'll soon be out of a job... yet there are some powerful moments and it is a worthy discussion concerning whether racism is incurable in someone who is infected with that plague or it is treatable. I just wish that Julie wouldn't have been such a dumb character to the point that she asks if “a dog being put to sleep” means it'll be killed... and how offering a cash reward for a lost dog would be beneficial for her.
I won't delve into all the uproar this movie caused at the time; as I am a white guy perhaps I wouldn't offer an authoritative opinion anyhow. I can say that this whole experience caused Samuel Fuller (no stranger to controversy in film) to leave Hollywood for good and this was the last movie he directed in America. While not for all tastes, I am glad Criterion put it out as White Dog probably did not deserve the frosty reception it got at the time. Plus, at least this was far better than the intolerable recent Hungarian picture White God.
Even now the movie is polarizing and the reason why is comprehensible; it practically screams “MESSAGE!” at you often as it tells its tale in an unsubtle manner. Kristy McNichol is struggling actress Julie, who accidentally hits a White Shepherd dog; it gets better and she adopts it. Well, it turns out to be a dog raised to viciously maul any black person. Who better than black animal trainer Paul Winfield to attempt and untrain the dog's habits, despite it not being successfully done before?
The movie is a bold and in your face look at racism and no surprise that people today aren't always for all the melodrama and gauche moments you see here. Some of the acting can be faulted (although not from Winfield, who is always a delight to see on screen) and I am not sure what to make of Burl Ives as an animal trainer for critters that appear in films and how he hates R2D2 as he fears he'll soon be out of a job... yet there are some powerful moments and it is a worthy discussion concerning whether racism is incurable in someone who is infected with that plague or it is treatable. I just wish that Julie wouldn't have been such a dumb character to the point that she asks if “a dog being put to sleep” means it'll be killed... and how offering a cash reward for a lost dog would be beneficial for her.
I won't delve into all the uproar this movie caused at the time; as I am a white guy perhaps I wouldn't offer an authoritative opinion anyhow. I can say that this whole experience caused Samuel Fuller (no stranger to controversy in film) to leave Hollywood for good and this was the last movie he directed in America. While not for all tastes, I am glad Criterion put it out as White Dog probably did not deserve the frosty reception it got at the time. Plus, at least this was far better than the intolerable recent Hungarian picture White God.
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