Hounddog

Cliché after cliché is revisited, and yet this film still holds a respectable place of its own. Think of this film as a prequel to Forrest Gump, and it could be named "Jenny's Story".

Here are just a few of the clichés to be seen, they are typical of a film set in the mid-late 50's, in a rural southern town: aggressive alcoholic cad of father who's always angry. Parents unmindful of children's well-being. Ramshackle homes in disrepair. Dirty, barefoot children left unattended. Kids buying and/or drinking beer. Over-zealous religious nut-jobs. Abused women who accept mistreatment. Trampy chain-smokers. Perverted pedophiles. Playing in the crick'. Soulful black people in oppression. Granny with a shotgun. Horrible homemade fashions. Blues and soulful music. Family love triangles. Home grown foods. Kids getting "whoopin's". Dangerous critters running amok. Pitiful characters. Creepy characters. Old myths and legends. Mutt gets shot. White plantation home. Corn fields. Sage older black man. Broke down rusted vehicles. A fiery church service... trust Me, I COULD keep going. It is through these devices that we get a real feel of the crude existence of some within our "civilized society" at different places and times.

At least they spared us the usual overworked southern accents, and graphic displays of domestic violence!

Let's face it. Some of these stereotypical clichés are completely necessary for a story of this type. You can't make biscuits without flour (southern pun). Fact is, many of these things were true fixtures at that time. My grandmother and aunts can testify as much.

Fanning's performance is the feature presentation here. It's almost award worthy, almost. Perhaps it could have won, if in a different movie. She is convincing and displays just the right amount of intensity in this serious role. She is bearing the weight of a time-period drama of a sensitive nature, and does so remarkably well for someone of her age and career experience.

Even when Lewellens actions are not wise, we understand that she's still a naive child full of hope and wonder. Lewellen is indeed precocious and independent but she's an innocent and ill-equipped to perceive why others will hurt and disappoint her.

Family support is non-existent. What family she has is threatening and harsh. Family kills her dog, abandons her on a whim, can't provide, can't offer comfort or affection, makes her feel guilt and isolates her from her friends. Her friends and peers aren't very good either, when they can betray her maliciously.

What Lewellen does have is music, a love for Elvis and his songs. Although such things are demonized by her grandmother, Lewellen finds a safe place to express herself within them. Performing Elvis' songs brings joy, a sense of pride, and something for which to dream in an otherwise depressive place.

We want to see Lewellen succeed and have some happiness, the audience cares for this character and her plight. We wish her predicament weren't so bleak and the people in her life weren't so utterly worthless (save one exception).

There was an ominous cloud lingering around the father during the whole movie, it was as if he may lose control at any moment and abuse his daughter. Every scene with the two of them together was uneasy, even though the daughter didn't behave apprehensively.

I thought the sets on this film were pretty good, so sure, they need some cinematic showcasing. There's reportedly some goofs (dealing with cars) but since I'm not an antique car expert, I was never distracted. The editing could have been better tailored, I can't quite pinpoint the specifics that could have been improved to make this film a classic... several production values are just "off" a little bit.

I did not find the snake imagery obtrusive. It conveyed the message of being strangled by sin, depravity, and shame. It represents the differing types of venom that poisonously consume a person... this message was depicted in various other ways throughout the film.

One could easily sift through this film for life lessons and spiritual significance, and not be disappointed. The films ends leaving you unsatisfied, but at least it ends on the appropriate note.

Wonderful film. The actors are very convincing. The film takes place in the 1950's and everything about the film is just as I imagined it would be at that time. Dakota Fanning is such an amazing actress. The main character Lewellen lives such a tragic life very reminiscent of the main character in Bastard Out of Carolina. If you loved that film, then you'll probably love this one. Although this one is toned down a lot from Bastard Out of Carolina. Watching Lewellen fall from something so innocent into a tragedy is heartbreaking. I just kept wishing for things to get better for her. Some people may think that the main characters are stereotypically southern, but I come from the South and grew up in conditions not to different from Lewellens, and there ain't nothing' stereotypical about it. From the grandma with a shotgun to treating snake bites with whiskey. This is an amazing film. Give it a chance!

There are a lot of well worn Southern clichés in Deborah Kampmeier's film - rusty trucks in the yard, bare feet, the drunk no-count daddy, the old swimming hole, and the rise of Elvis using Black Southern music as his own. They are dear and familiar, and provide a good framework to a movie, but it's all a framework. There isn't anything inside to make this film worthwhile.

I imagine that most people are watching and waiting for the infamous rape scene with 12-year-old Dakota Fanning. It requires a lot of slogging through a film that really isn't more than a young girl's obsession with Elvis. It is that obsession that gets her in trouble.

I remember David Morse from "House." I hated him, but he played the character extremely well. Here he is reduced to a drunk that gets hit by lightning and becomes even more of an intellectual cripple. He goes looking for Lewellen (Fanning) one night without a stitch on. Not a good role for a gifted actor.

There are two good messages in this film, and they both come from Afemo Omilami as the kindly black man (another Southern cliché). He shows that the differences between black and white is not related to race, but to class, and he helps Lewellen heal with music. She just spit out words before the rape, and now she can sing with real feeling.

A stranger (Robin Wright Penn) arrives to relieve her of her miserable existence, but there is a cost that I don't think Lewellen realized.

To those who think there might have been too many renditions of Hound Dog in the film. I was in the first grade when that song came out and I remember my babysitter playing it over and over. I certainly heard it more times than it played in the movie.

It was good to hear Jill Scott as Big Momma Thorton, the person who originally recorded Hound Dog.

12 years old is certainly old enough to understand what rape is. Dakota is by far one of the most intelligent actresses in her field today. She's probably smarter than most of the other actors she is working with. For anyone to blindly judge what she is capable of understanding is absurd. I would gather that is is highly certain that Dakota's parents were directly involved in every aspect of this film, and that the director and other film personnel understood that this was a very sensitive subject. However, I would believe that in this country we as a society have a responsibility to not only the children, but also ourselves to stop hiding these kinds of issues. Some of the reasons there are problems with people understanding issues of this nature (rape, drug use, etc.) is because all this subject matter is considered too "taboo" to put into a mainstream film. We sugarcoat everything to the point where it ceases to have anything real about it. Dakota is one actress who, thankfully, isn't afraid to put herself out there and let it fly. She did it in Man On Fire, and this is no different. Wake up America!

I saw the premiere back in 07 in Sundance yes some people booed and some walked out. Some people will fault the obvious metaphors but Dakota deserves a 10 for her performance like Morgan Freeman she can save movies and she does here. The 'controversy' was not founded in the least. I also believe it to be her best performance since man on fire I will of course not give a thing away about the film or what happens suffice it to say her character is someone you want to see win even with her flaws. One scene dares you to see her in a bad way but it never seemed to happen for me. The movie is set deep in the swamps of the south. The first scene in which Dakota's character propositions her friend was a shock for me to I wasn't all the way prepared for her slightly adult turn yet I realized that she was making a turn or step forward in her career.