[3.5]
Doesn’t have nearly the “bite” (ha!) as the other Sam Fuller movies I’ve seen, though it certainly tries. Movies like THE NAKED KISS and SHOCK CORRIDOR have a nice sense of “tabloid-style” melodrama without getting too excessive or hokey. WHITE DOG doesn’t manage to achieve the same balance, and often time features shots or segment that are ludicrously placed next to other, more ‘natural’ scenes. I mean, the whole plot of the movie screams “over-the-top” (a wild dog that has been trained to hunt and kill black people is found by a white actress and brought to a black trainer to be re-educated), yet I could have bought into the silly scenes that show the dog “going mad” and hysterically attacking the black people around it, if only the acting and the rest of the dialogue around these scenes had been adequately dramatic.
As it goes, Kristie McNichol is no Constance Towers. McNichol’s line delivery is so standard actor-like, a sort of detached way of conveying emotions that is nowhere near believable but adequate enough for most TV performances. But, this sort of acting doesn’t work in a melodrama, and McNichol gets overshadowed by the dog, never rising into a real character, and I had absolutely no sympathy for her. Nor did I quite understand how such a young, underworked actress could afford that huge house in the hills where she lives alone. Nor was I won over by the horrible wardrobe choices for her character (ugly, eccentric, 80’s-influenced thrift-store collage). It also doesn’t help that her character disappears for quite some time in the middle of the story, replaced as protagonist by Keys, the black animal trainer who is possessed by some powerful urge to show that racism can be un-taught. Paul Winfield plays this role with a suitable amount of melodramatic flourishes, and it might have been very interesting to have used him as the primary protagonist, focusing on his life and family. Because we only get a part of the movie with him, he also comes across as a one-dimensional character, with no interests other than drinking and training animals.
The great Sam Fuller moment came when McNichol meets and confronts the previous owner/trainer of the White Dog, who has come with his young children to collect their pet. McNichol lashes out at him, calling him a racist and all sorts of other horrible names in front of his children. Its a blatantly preachy moment that sums up the anger behind the film’s themes, but its utterly satisfying, much the same way those ridiculously long and windy monologues at the end of courtroom dramas are satisfying (see JFK or A FEW GOOD MEN). WHITE DOG doesn’t come close to being a classic (despite its notoriety caused by its censored release), but it is at least an interesting curio.
burning retina 