I found out a long time ago that just because a movie has a fantastic cover and/or is on the Criterion Collection doesn't mean it's automatically going to be good. Criterion has a lot of great films under their wings, but they also have a lot of shit films that skate by on the very thin virtue of historical controversy. Samuel Fuller's White Dog is one of these films. It never received a wide release, due largely to the racist subject matter in the film. Potential distributors scurried off, leaving a trail of dust in their wake. And now Criterion has resurrected this terrible shamble of a movie for everyone's viewing displeasure.
The initial idea for White Dog is actually pretty intriguing - a dog trained from early in its life to distrust and attack black people, sent to a black trainer who attempts to exercise the animosity from the canine. In the hands of a more discerning director, the film might have been a stark observation on the carnal nature of racism, but as it stands, White Dog is a laughable and haphazard affair that would make any self-respecting exploitation film or b-movie scratch their head and say, "are you fucking serious?"
Kristy McNichol plays a weird grandma-face actress that finds an injured white dog on the side of a road. She takes the dog home to nurse it back to health. One night, in a truly overblown moment of ultimate plot convenience, a man breaks into the actresses house and tries to rape her. The dog chases the man off, breaking through a window in the process (you know, like dogs typically do), effectively bringing the actress and the dog closer together. Soon after, she finds out the dog attacks black people and takes it to a trainer known for calming the most ferocious of animals.
White Dog's problems begin with its plot. There were many times throughout the film, where I had to audibly wonder, "really?" and "what?" and "Jesus". The biggest example of plot failure is the utter uselessness of the relationship between between the actress and the dog. Fuller could literally have had Keys, the "maverick" animal trainer find the dog on the side of the road and cut out 30 minutes of total fluff in the process. Keys relationship with the dog would be more intense and well-paced, but no, weird grandma-face needs to act as a racial buffer. Which, in turn, introduces a trait in the dog - it's defensiveness to men in general - that is never explored or tied up after it leaves the actresses care.
The abysmal look, special effects and editing make up the rest of the White Dog shitstorm. Set against dull, sun-bleached cinematography, Fuller slops moments of crazy violence and blood at the screen - moments that never seem to follow in any logical accordance with what the dog is doing. Every scene where the dog goes to jump on its victim, there is a quick cutaway to another shot of said victim instantly bloody and properly gored. So, am I to understand that upon first contact during a dog attack, a human's flesh and blood vessels instantly fail, rip and spill out? Because that's the only explanation that would have such a visual device make any sense at all.
There is a scene in the film which I think sums up the irresponsible, overwrought clumsiness of White Dog perfectly. The dog has temporarily run off, looking for fresh black people to kill, when it comes across a black garbageman parked near a store front. The dog growls and stares menacingly at the man, but he doesn't notice. With the passenger door wide open for no reason at all, the dog jumps in and mangles the garbageman. This causes the man to somehow shift his truck out of park and drive it through the store front, leaving a path of crazy destruction. This scene has no consequence. There is no police inquiry. There is no investigation by the main characters. Just a random dead black guy and a completely destroyed clothing store in the middle of L.A. Even if you're armed with a mentality of humorous ironic spectacle, such moments are not worth the time spent watching them.
