Red Dog

Everyone will want – but no one can have – Red Dog. It's one of the most beautiful things about him. And that kind of exclusivity is priceless.

This is the Australian Cattle dog that makes Lassie look lame and Rin Tin Tin look like an obedient idiot.

That's because Red Dog is a dog for the soul.

A new movie called Red Dog is the true story of a wandering pooch that brought people together and joy to a community. He exhibited ferocious, inspiring independence and fearless loyalty to freedom. This dog made Che Guevara look like he didn't give it his best shot.

He had the best qualities of every living creature while still sticking it to the man. No one owned Red Dog – until he met a man and gave himself to that one man.

In real life, all this took place in North West Western Australia at a town called Dampier during the 1970s. There's even a statue erected in honour of Red Dog who had a reputation for sniffing out a party 600 kms away and turning up. He seduced and intimidated people into giving him free rides all over the country and, as legend has it, hitched a ride on a tanker to Japan for a spell too.

This dog was so clever, he even sorted free veterinarian care for himself – kind of like scamming a fake medicare card.

I laughed a lot during the movie and cried 3 times. And after seeing the sale of spotty puppies go up after 101 Dalmatians and the sale of Clown fish go up after Finding Nemo, I expect the demand for Australian cattle dogs to go up too. But I hope it doesn't because they are working dogs, not city dogs and apartment living would be like a prison for these very active and intelligent canines.

The film is out August 4 and stars Josh Lucas, Rachael Taylor, Noah Taylor along with one of the last performances by Bill Hunter. But the most kudos has to go to director Kriv Stenders (Lucky Country, Boxing Day, The Illustrated Family Doctor) for shooting a beautiful film in a stunning location while keeping the story elevated to the mythic status Red Dog attained.

Koko is the name of the real dog who plays Red Dog – you can see his audition tape with Kriv at the end of this review. And producer Nelson Woss was so taken with Koko, he adopted him. There's a wonderful tradition of this in cinema. Johnny Depp adopted a one-eyed horse after a shoot when he learned the horse was going to be put down. And Viggo Mortensen kept the horse he worked with in Hidalgo.

The Australian Cattle dog has been a bit of movie star for a while now. One worked with Mel Gibson in Mad Max, Johnny Depp co-starred with another in Secret Window, Billy Connolly paired up with one in The Man Who Sued God and Russell Crowe shared the screen with one in The Silver Stallion. A few had lesser roles in movies such as Babe and Brokeback Mountain.

Famous people who have owned Aussie Cattle dogs include Owen Wilson, Kelly McGillis and Matthew McConaughey.

And for truly extraordinary stories of Australian Cattle dogs pulling off miraculous feats – look up Sophie in Queensland. She swam 5kms through shark-infested waters then lived alone on an island for 5 months before being rescued and re-united with her family. Another one called Ben in South Australia became the primary witness in solving the murder of his owners – neighbours reported that the dog didn't bark at all that day - alerting police to the fact that the killer was known to the victims and to the dog.

But back to the movie. I won't say too much other than – go see it. We haven't had a film like this in Australia for some time. You'll want to see it again. And I reckon the world will go nuts for the movie, nuts for Australian cattle dogs and nuts for touring the Pilbara.

The soundtrack rocks too with lots of good ol' Aussie 70s classics.

Red Dog is a movie with heart starring a dog that's good for your soul.

** I'm co-hosting the episode of Movie Juice with Koko – the star of Red Dog – which screens Monday August 8 at 6pm on Starpics channel 415 and 8pm on Starpics 2.

I was lucky enough to see this movie in Western Australia.....the home of Red Dog. More than that, my West Australian wife grew up in Dampier and remembers a period of four or five days, where Red Dog decided to grace her family home with his presence...enjoying the steak dinners provided by my Father in Law. He then decided it was time to go, and moved on to another family. This is only one account of Red Dog, his story legendary, but no less true for that! This movie is a very uplifting true story, not only of Red Dog, but of a small community living on the 'frontier.' In an extremely harsh environment, Red Dog brought the community together. The movie conveys very well what it was like to live in Dampier in the '70s. The movie has some very sad and moving episodes, but also some real 'laugh out loud' moments. In the end, rather than feeling sad, I felt it was a celebration of a very special animal. The movie was so good, I ALMOST awarded a score of 10/10...pity I can't award 9.5/10.

Today's GV surprise screening wasn't what I had expected, and I mean that in a good way. At first I thought it was going to be one of those rom-coms slated for screening later this month or year, but what got put out was way, way better than expected, even though it started a little slow and bewildering (unlike most other surprise screenings where one can guess what it will be), Red Dog was more than worth the price of the discounted ticket, an Australian film set in the 70s Western Australia in a small mining town based upon a folklore that surpasses almost every conventional dog related cinematic tale put out especially by Hollywood in recent years.

A trucker drives into town and pit stops at a bar, only to find a couple of burly men pining a dog down, with the sheriff about to pull the trigger, but for the trucker's intervention to put off their plan. Slowly but surely for any stranger riding into a new land, the townsfolk soon grow in numbers, as everyone started to pour in to the bar to seemingly pay tribute to the dog, christened Red Dog by everyone, with the narrative unveiling itself in episodic flashback nature with characters taking turns to tell their version and stories of how the dog impacted their lives and the lives of the mining town, and how the town got changed through their canine friend. These stories span a spectrum of emotions, and can be a simple, short scene, or an extended one especially when involving the principal characters of the film

Directed by Kriv Stenders, the film has its fair share of quirky characters and comedic situations, being funny without really trying too hard, go over the top or feeling too contrived. Everything felt as natural as can be, with excellent pacing to allow Red Dog to slowly grow on you. The tried, tested and tired route Hollywood typically takes is to load plenty of saccharine sweet, cutesy moments to deliberate tug at your heartstrings, which is why this Australian film is that fantastic breath of fresh air as it busts genre conventions, yet possessing enough pathos to lift the film into its emotional plateau, pulling you into the rowdy though genuinely sincere lifestyle the miners lead.

As for star power, Josh Lucas stars as the wanderer turned bus driver John who becomes the one and only de-facto owner of Red Dog as they form a loyal master-dog relationship, with Rachael Taylor (of Transformers fame) playing Nancy his love interest whom he met while serving the community, and she getting into a tussle with Red Dog on his bus. Their romance will form the crux which the story will revolve around briefly, although there are other stories which I enjoyed such as how Red Dog got into assisting an Italian miner Vanno (Arthur Angel) go after a nurse (Keisha Castle-Hughes), and a heart-wrenching moment involving the themes of loyalty and longing.

With an awesome soundtrack and beautifully filmed landscapes that captures the conditions of the mining town in very picturesque language, you'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll be moved by the time the movie pulls into its final reel. Now all that remains is for this film to find a proper theatrical release so that it can be watched, experienced and loved by a wider audience that it truly deserves. There may be famous dogs like Lassie in the US and Hachiko in Japan, so do add one to that list with Red Dog from Australia. Definitely in my highly recommended list as it goes into my books with the potential of being one of the best seen in this year, leaving its genre peers clearly in its wake.

Before you go dismissing this as yet another Hollywood fluff about man's best friend, know this- 'Red Dog' is based on a true story of a stray Australian Kelpie who wound up in the remote mining town of Dampier, Australia and found its way so firmly into the hearts of the locals that a statue of him now greets all visitors to the town. Intrigued yet? You should, for this adaptation of Louis de Bernières' book based on the legend is a surprisingly engaging yarn that is probably one of the best canine movies you'll see this year.

Unfolding in flashback, the movie begins in the late 1970s when the long-haul trucker Tom (Luke Ford) lands up in a bar in Dampier and finds its occupants gathered in a back room trying to put down a copper-hued kelpie cross. The canine affectionately called 'Red Dog' has been- for reasons which go pretty much unexplained- poisoned by strychnine, and the town vet only confirms the worst fears of those gathered there that their beloved companion is dying.

The quizzical Tom inquires about Red Dog from the bartender Jack (Noah Taylor), who will be the first among the rest of the locals to recount their fond memories with him. It is a befitting start, for Jack and his wife Maureen (Loene Carmen) were responsible for bringing Red Dog to the newly established mining town after meeting him on the highway. At first largely ignored among the rowdy mining community, Red Dog finds himself the centre of attraction when a homesick Italian worker Vanno (Arthur Angel) takes to talking to him about his hometown that no one else would bother listening to.

Just like that, screenwriter Dan Taplitz effortlessly hands over the narrating baton to another of the townsfolk gathered in the bar- and Vanno's account tells of Red Dog as everyone's dog but no one's in particular, not the burly Peeto with a secret love for knitting nor the reticent Jocko (Rohan Nicol) nursing a tragic secret. Both characters however are among those personally touched by Red Dog's presence which Taplitz brings to the forefront of the film, and these vignettes are infused with such gentle humour and warmth that you can't quite help but be charmed by them.

The man Red Dog finally chooses as his master is the American bus driver John (Josh Lucas), a drifter who never stays more than two years in one place. John steps out to save the dog from humiliation, and just like that, a permanent bond is forged between the two. So strong is their connection that John senses jealousy on Red Dog's part when he asks the company secretary Nancy (Rachael Taylor) out on a date- the dog placed in Peeto's care finding its own way to the open air movie theatre screening Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws'.

Yet it is to Brisbane born filmmaker Kriv Stevens' credit that one feels equally for the relationship between John and Red Dog as much as that between John and Nancy, instead of manipulating his audience's emotions to favour one over the other. Stevens blends the lives of these characters beautifully, which pays off enormously when the film takes a sombre turn after John's abrupt disappearance following his wedding proposal to Nancy. It's no secret tragedy has befallen- and this becomes a turning point for Red Dog and his legend as the loyal friend waits patiently at John's house for three weeks for his return before setting off on a journey around Western Australia in search of his master.

To say that this bittersweet second half is poignant is an understatement, and we advise you to be ready when you feel a lump in your throat or for that matter tears in your eyes. Stevens doesn't overdo the grief, and the restraint that he displays in handling the proceedings goes a long way in ensuring that the sentiments portrayed in the film always remain genuine. Melodrama is also not his intent, and the sober tone changes to a more decidedly humorously offbeat one when Red Dog faces off with his infamous nemesis, a snarling kitty simply called Red Cat.

The ease with which the film switches between comedy and poignancy is in part due to the spontaneous quality of the storytelling, which eschews any pretension, showiness or heavy-handiness for a straight-up approach. The outback against which Red Dog's story unfolds never feels less than authentic, thanks in no small measure to Geoffrey Hall's wonderfully evocative cinematography which captures the rugged beauty of the Pilbara and its mining industry. The chemistry between the mostly male actors is also excellent, and Lucas and Taylor make for an extremely likable couple.

But the star of the film is first-time leading dog Koko (owned by producer Nelson Woss) who proves to be truly a revelation, responding to the emotional beats of each scene with great eloquence. It isn't often we praise the acting of an animal, but Koko is a large part of the reason why the film works marvellously. The charm of Red Dog's story however lies not with what he did, but rather who he was- as one of the characters in the film points out early on- through his actions to each member of the Dampier community. And told with wit, humour and warmth, it is a crowd-pleaser for all ages.

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I skipped "Red Dog" in Berlin... I don't like "dog" pictures...

BIG MISTAKE !

Fortunately, I had a chance to see it at Vail Film Festival, where it ran away with the "Audience Favorite" and it blew me away... it is a completely endearing tale of an isolated mining town in the far northwest of Australia, the bizarre characters that wash up there, and the unstoppable human drive to create community wherever we gather. And yes, the dog that inspires them to focus on what matters in themselves and in life. The characters, and in this town, everybody is one or they wouldn't BE there, are original, surprising, and compelling. And the landscape that holds them is truly other-worldy.

There is not one sappy minute in this film... but many genuinely hilarious ones, and quite a few touching ones. In it's emotional impact, it somehow reminds me of "the Blind Side", in all the best ways. Between the cineplex, on demand, and 2-3 film festivals, I see roughly 150-200 films a year. This is easily among the 2-3 best I've seen this year...some distributor is going to hit a home-run with this one.