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Tag Archives: Burl Ives

White Dog

31 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by vinnieh in Movie Reviews

≈ 52 Comments

Tags

1980's, Burl Ives, Drama, Kristy McNichol, Paul Winfield, Samuel Fuller, White Dog

Film Title

White Dog

Director

Samuel Fuller

Starring

  • Kristy McNichol as Julie Sawyer
  • Paul Winfield as Keys
  • Burl Ives as Carruthers

A confronting film about racism, White Dog is necessarily uncomfortable and probing as it really takes on the subject matter and doesn’t sugar coat anything, making it chillingly realistic.

Julie Sawyer is a struggling actress in Los Angeles, who one night while driving home runs over a white German Shepherd. After taking it for treatment and ensuring that it is fine, she contemplates taking the dog in as a pet. white-dog-posterHer schedule is usually busy and she is attempting for forge a successful career, but she eventually takes the large dog into her home. All seems to be going pretty swell as the dog takes kindly to her and she grows quite fond of him. Julie gets her first indication of the dogs viciousness when it defends her from a would be rapist and almost kills him. Then the dog is involved in two incidents, both of which involve an attack and in one case death of black people. Shocked by all of this and unsure of what to do, Julie takes the dangerous canine to an animal training outfit. The unit is run by two men; the old and crusty Carruthers and pragmatic, black Keys. Upon witnessing the dog’s ferocity, they explain that the dog that Julie has taken in is in fact a White Dog; a canine that has been trained to attack black people on sight after being taught from a young age. Carruthers thinks it would be best to kill the dog, but Keys won’t have it and takes it upon himself to educate and hopefully erode away the hatred within the dog. He has failed twice in the past, but this time he wants to full eradicate the barbaric thing in the dog’s brain that causes it to attack black people. Julie agrees to this and observes, desperately praying that somehow Keys can break down the training that the dog endured to help it be well again. But Keys finds that attempting to recondition the dog is going to test him far beyond anything he has done before. As the weeks wear on, is there any chance that Keys can finally get through to the animal or is it too late for it?

Samuel Fuller pulls no punches with his direction that goes straight for the jugular and refuses to be watered down, highlighting the horrors and impacts of racism and ignorance in society. Particularly of note is his persistent usage of intense close-ups that leave no room for falsehood or privacy, capturing the eyes of the people and especially the dog with incisive attention. Racism is tackled head on in White Dog and never made easy for us to view. white-dog-movieI respect the movie for presenting it that way and not feeling the need to try to do something more toned-down. Yes the scenes of the dog attacking are horrifying, but they are meant to be and really get under the skin. The most horrifying is the savage attack on a man inside an empty church, with the sanctity of the place tainted by the brutality of the dog. The production history of the film is quite a hot potato as the film was never given a cinematic release in America. It was said that studio executives became scared of the topics the film dealt with( some even labeled the film itself as racist) and Fuller had to take the film to Europe, where it was received well as a daring and throat grabbing social commentary. I find the fact that some thought the film itself was racist quite baffling, as White Dog is very much against racism throughout. It deals with the topic of racism but at no point does it promote or encourage racism; it actually carefully picks apart the ignorance of it and whether racism and hatred can be undone once the seed is there. The movie never gives any easy answers but probes the very nature of these questions with grave intensity and honesty. That is what makes White Dog so fascinating, it isn’t easy or comfortable viewing but very stark and horrifying stuff that tackles a difficult issue with immediacy. The dog itself is a symbol of how something can be warped by those whose ideals are disturbed and distorted, and ultimately ends up as horrifying as them. Ennio Morricone is the man on scoring duty and he serves up an eerie yet melancholic series of musical arrangements that highlight the depth of the movie and the ultimate tragedy of the canine that has been brainwashed into a monstrous thing.

The relatively small cast bring good credentials to this up close and personal film. Kristy McNichol, while being sometimes a little too cute in other parts I’ve seen her in, is actually very sensitive and filled with a deep concern that registers well with the audience. kristy-mcnicholMcNichol reacts to the revelations and horror of the new pet she has in a very natural way, she almost doesn’t know how to feel. I’m sure the audience would be the same way in her shoes as McNichol does a commendable job in the lead. Even better and the real standout of the piece is Paul Winfield in a finely tuned performance. Exuding a patience, growing angst and stoic nature, Winfield is the determined drive of the story, who finds even his own methods challenged by the dog. The matter of retraining the animal is of the biggest importance to the character of Keys and the dignity found in Paul Winfield perfectly matches that. Burl Ives rounds out events as Key’s animal training partner who watches the attempts to cure the dog, but whose mind is completely against any such idea working.

So while the movie is definitely not for the faint of heart, White Dog will most definitely get your brain working with the difficult themes it conjures up and will have you thinking about for a long time. A disturbing and challenging film is what White Dog emerges as, and should be applauded for it as it is a difficult movie to shake off once you’ve viewed it.

Two Moon Junction

17 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by vinnieh in Movie Reviews

≈ 42 Comments

Tags

1980's, Burl Ives, Erotic Drama, Louise Fletcher, Richard Tyson, Sherilyn Fenn, Two Moon Junction, Zalman King

Film Title

Two Moon Junction

Director

Zalman King

Starring

  • Sherilyn Fenn as April Delongpre
  • Richard Tyson as Perry
  • Louise Fletcher as Belle
  • Burl Ives as Sheriff Earl Hawkins

If you are looking for a film of depth and sophistication, Two Moon Junction will not be for you. But if you would like a guilty pleasure film of erotic atmosphere and steamy encounters, it should appeal to you. It’s a flawed movie for sure, but its sheer sexuality and style makes it very watchable indeed.

April Delongpre is the beautiful oldest daughter of a Southern Senator who is also an heiress to her family’s large fortune. Two Moon Junction Movie PosterShe is engaged to be married to the nice enough Chad Douglas Fairchild, though we see that the marriage is a convenient one in joining with another prominent family. April feels trapped and would like to live her life before marriage, but due to her family, in particular her Grandmother Belle, all put pressure on her to honour the family name. As the days to the wedding continue to move quickly, April becomes riddled with second thoughts. While contending with these doubts, April finds herself something exciting. The thing in question is the hunky carnival hand Perry, who she meets one day while out with her two younger sisters. Perry Two Moon JunctionInitially reluctant to accept his blatant flirtations and intentions, she eventually gives into unfulfilled desire and so begins a torrid affair. The steamy affair and encounters between April and Perry take place while Chad and her family are away from home. Yet what April and Perry haven’t bargained for is Belle becoming aware of their passionate attraction and her plotting with local Sheriff Earl Hawkins to put a stop to this affair before the wedding bells begin to ring.

Zalman King has no desire to create a film of subtlety and he hammers this home from the very beginning. It must be said he is a very stylish director who can craft a balmy atmosphere of overblown passions and sexual heat and his skills are very much on show in Two Moon Junction. Everything has a sexy gloss in Two Moon Junction, best seen in the sultry soft focus cinematography and various acts of sexual activity on display. The film practically sizzles with ribald energy and verve that more that compensates for the often unintentionally hilarious dialogue and lack of believability in some quarters. Two Moon Junction SexThe characters are not that interesting and the plot is really just an excuse to have these two attractive people make passionate love and get horizontal as much as possible. Yet with King at the helm, the film retains levels of watchability due to robust sexuality and the smoking hot desires that radiate from the film. And those love scenes are just smoking hot spectacles that get bolder as the film goes on. A reliably slinky score featuring unrelenting synths and loud saxophone is just right for this kind of soft core flick and strikes up the required atmosphere of sordid animal lust.

The cast is good enough, even if most of the characters are caricatures. April Two Moon JunctionSherilyn Fenn rises above the underwritten nature of the story to play April as a conflicted girl going through sexual awakening and emerging from her virginal angelic nature to bad girl. Richard Tyson is mainly required to be virile and confident and he does this very well, as well as never seeming to wear a single shirt throughout the film. The two leads have hot chemistry to burn and their encounters are steamy as hell. Louise Fletcher and Burl Ives have their moments as the manipulative grandmother and observant Sheriff, yet they have scant material to work with and the main part of the film is the passion between the two younger and wilder lovers.

It’s often loaded with melodrama and not enough in the way of character development or material, but then again I don’t think anyone will be watching Two Moon Junction for its acting and writing. That honour goes to the sexy cinematography, sensual score and flesh on display that makes the film a real guilty pleasure if ever there was one.

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