White Dog

In 1982, Samuel Fuller's "WHITE DOG" created a storm of controversy that resulted in a limited theatrical release with no follow-up video until now.

What was falsely labeled an incendiary racist film that could provoke real life violence is instead a bold anti-racist parable about how racism is learned or taught. In the movie the metaphor is a dog that has been trained to attack people with dark skin.

The origin of the story is a harrowing true incident Romain Gary wrote about in Life magazine.

The movie story is simple. Julie Sawyer (Kristy McNichol in her first adult role) is a young actress who, while driving one night, accidentally hits a white German shepherd on a mountain road. She takes it to a vet and tries to find the owner. In the meantime, Julie grows attached to the dog. One night it saves her from a intruder who attempts to rape her. Later, the dog runs away and comes home bloody. On a movie set with Julie, the dog attacks a black actress. Julie realizes the dog has been trained as an attack dog so she takes it to "Noah's Ark" an animal shelter and training facility hoping the dog can be deprogrammed in some way. She is told that the dog is a "white dog," one trained to attack black people. At the facility, Keys (Paul Winfield), a dog expert sees this as an opportunity to see if racial prejudice can be unlearned.

This low-budget film is sometimes heavy-handed but is immensely watchable and the restored uncut widescreen transfer is, as with all Criterion editions, made from the best elements available and is very crisp and clean.

Kristy McNichol has a natural, winning charisma on screen. Her top billing is justified and she has an easy, believable chemistry with the dog (actually five dogs were used).

Paul Winfield dominates the latter half of the film. His performance is focused and intense. I was reminded of a superb dog story in which he starred, 1972's "Sounder."

The great Burl Ives has a small part as the co-owner of "Noah's Ark." It is great to hear that singular voice even if it is only in spoken words.

Director Sam Fuller had a reputation as a tough, cigar-chomping sometimes over-the-top, story-teller. He has been called "the tabloid poet." Fuller did not shy away from controversial issues and in fact helmed other films with racial conflict as a theme. He died in 1997 at the age of 85.

There's a wonderful featurette containing new interviews with producer Jon Davison, co-writer Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential") and Fuller's widow Krista Lang.

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film

White Dog is one of the most controversial films of the 1980's and was suppressed due to it's controversy.

The film, loosely based on a true story is about an actress who adopts a stray dog and later discovers that the dog had been trained by to attack and kill black people. African-American actor, Paul Winfield, plays the role of an animal trainer who attempts to rehabilitate the dog.

The film follows both the case of a real actress who this happened to and to the real incidents in the South where racists trained dogs to do such horrific acts.

The film also stars Burl Ives in one of his few film roles.

I liked the film and saw it as a message on how racism is taught, and not inherent. The film was misunderstood and not widely released and this edition is it premiere on home video.

The DVD includes an interview with director Sam Fuller's widow, Christa Lang-Fuller, the film's producer Jon Davison, co-writer Curtis Hanson, and dog trainer, Karl Lewis-Miller. The DVD also includes behind the scenes photographs.

This is a film you won't soon forget.

This is one of those rarely seen, much talked about, "legendary" films that has never been released on home video, and has been rarely screened. Until now, of course.

This film was made for Paramount Studios in 1984, but they never gave it a theatrical release. The plot, about a stray dog taken in by Kristy MacNichol that is a "white dog", a dog trained to kill and maim black people, was considered too hot for them, and the film ended up being a legendary, unseen work. It ended up being the final film of the great Sam Fuller (who directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Curtis Hanson, the director of L.A. Confidential). Is the film great, or is it a disappointment? Well...

The film is mixed. When it works, it's very, very good, and when it doesn't, it's slightly embarrassing (which may have been another reason why Paramount didn't release it in the States). It's never cringe inducing or creaky, but there are notable flaws here. There is bad dialogue (some of which sounds dubbed in, and it's bad dubbing), overacting, some bad camera moves, sledgehammer music cues (especially during an early attack scene), and boring, arbitary secondary characters (Kristy MacNichol's boyfriend and a policeman, for example). The first third of the film is a bit dull. But when Paul Winfield enters the film (he's the trainer that attempts to cure the white dog of its racism), the film is much better. Winfield is great here, playing an entirely believable, passionate person who really wants to cure the dog of its hatred of black people. There are some powerful moments, like when Kristy goes to the pound to look for her dog. We see in long shot a dog placed in a chamber that puts him to sleep. We don't see the dog pass away (Fuller isn't exploitative), but he shows a close up of the chamber, which is powerful and sad. After that, Kristy becomes determined to cure her dog.

Fuller comes up with some excellent camera work (especially in the cage where the animal is retrained), great performances by the dog (there were five dogs portraying the white dog in the film), some funny humour directed at R2D2 (yes, the Star Wars robot), and a very powerful and memorable ending. Overall, it's a mixed bag, but its positives outweight its negatives. If you like Fuller, you should check this out. It's not perfect, but it's a memorable film. It was silly of Paramount not to release the film, but Criterion has done us all a favour. Not a perfect film, but still a good one.