Friday, November 05, 2010

White Dog

White Dog ~ This Sam Fuller flick from 1982 is supposedly the movie that destroyed Kristy McNichol's career. In hindsight, this could have been an amazing Quentin Tarantino, but then again, for many folks, Quentin is only a poor man's Fuller. Besides McNichol, the star-studded cast also includes Paul Winfield and Burl Ives, not to mention a score by the master, Ennio Morricone. Also look for cameos by Paul Bartel and the legendary Dick Miller.

White Dog is at best hokey horror, not much better than your run of the mill ABC movie of the week in the 1970s, but still that's a mark to aspire to. Kristy finds a dog and takes him in. She soon finds that he's a trained attack dog. But he's not just an attack dog, he's an attack dog trained to specifically attack black people. Yeah, you got it.

Just for the record, this movie didn't ruin Kristy's career, she did. I've seen this flick, the dog is a much better actor than Kristy McNichol here. Sad but true...

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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous8:13 AM

    WHITE DOG was shelved for a lot of years due to the (then) controversial subject matter. It got a very limited release because the studio was nervous about rumors that the NAACP and similar groups would take legal action and organize boycotts of the film.

    I think it's a little harsh to say this movie ended Kristy McNichol's career. Supposedly she retired from acting because she suffered from bipolar disorder. And she was an okay actor. I liked her a lot in FAMILY and ONLY WHEN I LAUGH.

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