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Quite an interesting film about a hound trained to attack black people, and a black animal trainee, Keys, played by Paul Winfield, for whom it becomes a very personal matter to do a difficult job of deprogramming a dog. Misunderstood by many as a racist film at the time it came out, now it became sort of cult-classic. The most remarkable thing about this movie is certainly the most amazing performance from the main character - which is the dog itself. Only to see this dog acting is a sufficient reason to see this film. 6/10

As someone who was raised to abhor racism & any discrimination for that matter, maybe there is some truth to the idea that a person's beliefs (whether questionable or not) all begin with how they are raised. This could very well transfer to the animal kingdom if WHITE DOG is any indication.

Just from reading the synopsis of the film, I was prepared for a movie that would not be making its points subtly, but rather pulling no punches whatsoever. Director Samuel Fuller was always known for telling it like it is, as well as maintaining his independence from the Hollywood mainstream. At first, Paramount had intended to distribute this movie after owning the rights to Romain Gary's story for years. However, I can guess that the powers that be were still very afraid of the adverse reaction WHITE DOG was likely going to generate, mainly by people who either had not seen the movie, or had misunderstood it. That was why Paramount pulled out before the film's American release, and to this day, it has not been seen in our theaters.

It is thus easily understood why Fuller never made another American film (to which I say, good for him!) because even as liberal as we Americans often claim to be, sometimes a certain subject such as that portrayed in WHITE DOG hits a little too close to home. Fuller dared to talk about racism (a problem still alive & well even decades after the advent of civil rights) without any sugarcoating whatsoever, and it was this take-no-prisoners approach that meant curtains for the film even before it had a chance. No surprise, European audiences & critics loved WHITE DOG, and understood the movie for what it was: a statement against racism, not condoning it. Furthermore, Fuller dared to put forth the theory that racism can be taught to another person (or in this case, animal) by careful teaching. Whether or not deprogramming in the opposite direction can happen is unclear. WHITE DOG succeeds by not giving any clear-cut answers, and that is another reason why Americans probably would not have taken to it well: for every message picture we get, we expect to see some solutions for the problem. WHITE DOG does not do that.

To say WHITE DOG is a film ahead of its time would be an understatement because I do not think even today, a movie like this could be green-lighted by a major studio. Coalitions & interest groups would likely protest loudly enough to force WHITE DOG off the screen. Some would say the violence is to blame, and yes, it IS graphic. But the film does have a PG rating, so it is not gore of the highest order. Even when the film did make it on to American cable, cuts were made so that the dog merely bit its victims rather than killed them. Others would say the mere plot of the movie itself is hateful enough, but sometimes an unvarnished approach to a brutal subject is necessary to get the point across. All I can say is be prepared to have the film's message beat you over the head, for I highly doubt Fuller would have done it any other way. It will also cause heated debate & discussion, yet another result that Fuller (R.I.P.) would also have appreciated totally.

Where are all the protesters who gather whenever some idiot tries to censor artwork or expression that is contrary to American culture? None of them seem to have shown up when this great work was put on the shelf, then later chopped up. Europeans, with an open eye to American society (only due to the benefit of being distant), were able to see this film with honesty. I say this because that's where it was shown uncut and critically acclaimed.

The truth is that it is a statement about and against racism, completely misunderstood by the civil rights groups and the others who opposed it. It is a good, hard look at the way racism is propagated in America, through the training of not only this one single dog, but of young people by racist adults and peers as the young people mature into adulthood. It tackles the subject with an honesty that is sadly missing in the statements of most anti-racist organizations.

Most groups prefer to gloss over the true causes of racism with platitudes, and a few often have a political agenda that promotes socialistic ideals, so they really don't give full attention to the true causes of racism. Everybody now is so afraid of offending anybody else, that everything becomes a watered-down, grayish, inoffensive litany no more bothersome than grouchiness. Sam Fuller stated in film what it really is, and that is that people learn from others throughout childhood, not always by overt indoctrination but by subtle methods, to think in stereotypical and racist terms. Not just whites thinking of blacks as uneducated gangster-rappers, but also those who think of Native Americans as lazy drinkers, Italians as loud-mouthed mob disciples, country folks as hillbilly trailer trash, and so on.

And Hollywood does little of significance to dispel this, because they mostly grind things down to these kind of stereotypes to fit into the 2-hr film story mode that they like, which is long on violence, sex and action, and short on character. It's easier that way. Thanks to Sam Fuller for his courage.

ADDENDUM: I had the opportunity to see this again recently after 25 years, and it is still as powerful as I remembered. It does have a B-movie quality to it, a roughness that actually makes it better than if it had been a polished film. The final sequence remains as terrifying as anything I've seen in any type of film, horror, suspense, Hitchcock, and so on. And it has a fabulous music score by Ennio Morricone. I'd confidently call this one a must-see!

Meandering at times, but sensitive thriller about a white-colored, racist dog trained to attack African-Americans. Kristy McNichol nurses him back to health after hitting him with her car, soon learning his true nature and dedicating herself to curing the gorgeous but brainwashed creature. The random scenes of attack on black characters--one in slow-motion--are probably what doomed this film's chances at getting a theatrical release (it played Mexico, but only "preview performances" in the US). True, they are upsetting, but deliberately so. They are necessary in showing the reasoning of what happens next, but that certainly doesn't erase the controversial undermining. McNichol has a difficult time getting a grip on her character (we don't get a good idea of who she is either), but the actress's mere presence is reassuring--she's like a lovely ray. Paul Winfield gives his best performance ever as the black man who attempts to retrain the dog, knowing how slim his chances are. Some shots are repetitive, and Ennio Morricone's music is as well--though I found the passages lovely and melancholic. The slow motion taxed my patience, however all is nearly redeemed by that final shot. What tragic beauty there is in it, what a loss of innocence for all concerned. **1/2 from ****

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.