White Dog (1982)

A trainer attempts to retrain a vicious dog that's been raised to attack black people.

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writers:

Romain Gary (story), Samuel Fuller (screenplay)

Stars:

Kristy McNichol, Christa Lang, Vernon Weddle

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kristy McNichol	...	Julie Sawyer
Christa Lang	...	Nurse
Vernon Weddle	...	Vet
Jameson Parker	...	Roland Grale
Karl Lewis Miller	...	Attacker
Karrie Emerson	...	Sun Bather
Helen Siff	...	Pound Operator (as Helen J. Siff)
Glen Garner	...	Pound Worker (as Glen D. Garner)
Terrence Beasor	...	Pound Driver
Tony Brubaker	...	Sweeper Driver
Samuel Fuller	...	Charlie Felton
Marshall Thompson	...	Director
Paul Bartel	...	Cameraman
Richard Monahan	...	Assistant Director
Neyle Morrow	...	Soundman

Storyline

Deprogramming a dog who kills Blacks is the ultimate challenge for an unorthodox African-American trainer. When a young Hollywood actress finds the injured stray, she nurses it back to health, not knowing it's a "White Dog" trained by a racist to attack only Blacks. Julie's appalled when the otherwise gentle, white German Shepherd breaks out, then returns from his nighttime foray dotted with human blood. Julie desperately races from trainer to trainer, advised to kill her pet, until the top Hollywood canine expert refers her to his former protégé, Keys.

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Plot Keywords:

racist | climbing downhill | climbing uphill | car | pantyhose | 

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Taglines:

...Trained To Kill [Video Australia]

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Genres:

Drama | Horror

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 July 1982 (France)

Also Known As:

Perro blanco

Filming Locations:

Wildlife Way Station - 14831 Little Tujunga Canyon Road, Sylmar, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The major reason the film was buried by Paramount was due to the criticism claims by the NAACP stating the film was trying to push a racist message across in its depictions of the dog's actions while the film was in pre-production. Once a release date was set, the NAACP then threatened Paramount with boycotts which soon scared off executives largely due to the film's subject matter. The film was then limited to a series of limited screenings throughout 1982 in cities such as Seattle, Denver and Detroit and Paramount finally aborted its release in the U.S. and shelved the film soon after. Paramount then tried to bury it for almost 25 years and yet the film was seen sporadically during this time appearing on cable and even a very brief, enjoyable run in art houses around the U.S. Paramount finally acknowledged the film and lifted its studio imposed ban by licensing the film as part of Criterion Collection, which released the film on DVD in 2008, more than 25 years after its intended and aborted release.

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Goofs

(at around 11 mins) While at the dinner table, platter of vegetables is across table from girl, then next to her at closeup, then back across the table again at next cut.

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Quotes

Roland Gray: You got a four-legged time bomb!

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Connections

References True Grit (1969)

User Reviews

Not what you might think

If you get the chance, by all means see this movie, but try to leave your preconceptions aside.

Before this movie came out, it was roundly denounced by people who misunderstood what it is about. The story is not, as many feared, about a dog trained to attack black people. It is the story of a man (Paul Winfield) and his determination to do something that everyone says cannot be done - FREE the dog of its programming. Unfortunately, it seems that too few people were able to break THEIR programming and give this movie a chance.