Cinema Desiderio

White Dog

Year: 1981
Director: Samuel Fuller
Stars: Kristy McNichol, Paul Winfield, Burl Ives, Jameson Parker, Samuel Fuller, Paul Bartel, Dick Miller

An actress (Kristy McNichol) runs over a dog one night and decides to take care of it until its owners claim it. Then she discovers the dog is an attack dog - and it has been trained to attack black people on sight.
The director Sam Fuller and future director Curtis Hanson wrote this intriguing killer dog drama. Naturally, the sensible thing to do would be to have the animal humanely destroyed, but it would be a pretty short film if they did that, so trainer Paul Winfield is brought in to teach the dog a lesson.
The film poses the question: can an ingrained attitude such as racism be un-learned? The answer is a pessimistic one; the hatred must be channelled somewhere. All the way through you wonder when the bigots who taught the dog will turn up, which leads to a surprise near the end.
Does McNicholl's character ever lock her door? And more importantly, do the police ever investigate the dog's crimes?! Watch for: Burl Ives using R2-D2 as a dartboard. Listen for: Ennio Morricone's edgy score. Also with: Fuller as an agent, Paul Bartel as a cameraman, and Dick Miller as a trainer.