White Dog

The latest film to be given the Eureka Masters of Cinema love and care is Sam Fuller’s misunderstood and primitive parable White Dog. Scripted by Curtis Hanson (originally for Roman Polanski to direct) from the Romain Gary autobiographical novel, it deals with an abandoned white German Shepherd dog trained to attack black people. The racist mutt is taken in and shown love and affection by a young actress (Kristy McNichol), who seeks the help of a black dog-trainer, Keys (Paul Winfield), to cure the Klueless Korrupt Kanine.

In everything he ever did Fuller existed within a Socratic paradigm, and with White Dog it's no different. Coming across like a late 40s/50s B movie, it sneaks issues under the cover of darkness through the means of metaphor. Near impossible to see in the US for a long time, it caused Fuller to relocate to Paris. He never again made another American film. [D W Mault]