Young actress Julie Sawyer (Kristy McNichol) accidentally runs over a stray white German Shepherd dog one night. After the dog is treated by a vet, Julie takes him home while trying to find his owners. A rapist breaks into her house and tries to attack her, but the dog protects her so she decides to adopt him, against the wishes of her boyfriend (Jameson Parker). Unbeknownst to her, the dog was trained by a white racist to attack any and all black people on sight. It sneaks out of the house one night and kills a black trashman in an attack. Later, when Julie takes the dog to work with her, it attacks a black actress on the set.
Realizing something is not right with the dog, Julie takes him to a dog trainer, Carruthers (Burl Ives), who tells her to kill the dog. Another dog trainer named Keys (Paul Winfield), who is black himself, undertakes re-educating the dog as a personal challenge. He dons protective gear and keeps the dog in a large enclosure, taking him out on a chain and exposing himself to the dog each day and making sure he is the only one to feed or care for the dog.
The dog manages to escape, and kills an elderly black man in a church, after which Keys manages to recover him, and opts not to turn the dog in to the authorities, but to continue the training, over Julie's protests. He warns her that the training has reached a critical point, where the dog might be cured or go insane. He believes that curing the dog will discourage white racists from training dogs like this, though there is no indication in the story that this is any kind of national problem (the film is set well after the civil rights era the original novel was set in).
After a lengthy time, it seems as if the dog is cured, in that he is now friendly towards Keys. Julie confronts the dog's original owner, who has come to claim him, and who presumably trained him to attack black people. She angrily tells him the dog has been cured by a black man in front of his grandchildren, who only know the dog as a loving family pet.
As Julie and Keys celebrate their victory, the dog brutally attacks Carruthers, who is white, and whom the dog had not previously shown aggression towards--no explanation for this is given, but the implication is that the dog's programming has somehow been reversed, though that was never Keys' intention. To save his employer's life, Keys is forced to shoot the dog, and the film ends with the image of his body lying in the center of the training enclosure.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
So, if I understand the move's premise, correctly. It's that trying to break someone of racism is more likely to end in death and insanity, so it's simply better to shoot racists.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
Uh, execution is hardly a just penalty for racism. Or for anything but homicide.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
to be fair the dog was homicidal as well as racist so if the dog represents human racists the crime represented was murder
not that i think the death penalty is ever acceptable but yeah
Right, it was a murder dog. I guess I was also thinking of Django Unchained, where Our Hero is blameless for killing any racist in his way.
Oh and I'm not for the death penalty either. While death is the just penalty for killing, wrongful conviction is too common and justice should be tempered by mercy, not treated as an absolute.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
^ I don't know why people made a bigger deal out of the buffalo episode than this one.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
Over a Barrel actually stood out for how most of the mane cast took the buffalo's side against their own species once they explained the injustice.
Tachyon said: Mr. Darcy said:Right, it was a murder dog. I guess I was also thinking of Django Unchained, where Our Hero is blameless for killing any racist in his way.
eh, i'd say slavery and torture are murder-tier offences
that and, y'know, taking moral lessons from Quentin Tarantino movies is probably a bad idea in general
I remember that David Duke was pissed at Inglourious Basterds. This isn't particularly relevant, really, but I'm reminded of it and I don't know why.
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☭ B̤̺͍̰͕̺̠̕u҉̖͙̝̮͕̲ͅm̟̼̦̠̹̙p͡s̹͖ ̻T́h̗̫͈̙̩r̮e̴̩̺̖̠̭̜ͅa̛̪̟͍̣͎͖̺d͉̦͠s͕̞͚̲͍ ̲̬̹̤Y̻̤̱o̭͠u̥͉̥̜͡ ̴̥̪D̳̲̳̤o̴͙̘͓̤̟̗͇n̰̗̞̼̳͙͖͢'҉͖t̳͓̣͍̗̰ ͉W̝̳͓̼͜a̗͉̳͖̘̮n͕ͅt͚̟͚ ̸̺T̜̖̖̺͎̱ͅo̭̪̰̼̥̜ ̼͍̟̝R̝̹̮̭ͅͅe̡̗͇a͍̘̤͉͘d̼̜ ⚢
☭ B̤̺͍̰͕̺̠̕u҉̖͙̝̮͕̲ͅm̟̼̦̠̹̙p͡s̹͖ ̻T́h̗̫͈̙̩r̮e̴̩̺̖̠̭̜ͅa̛̪̟͍̣͎͖̺d͉̦͠s͕̞͚̲͍ ̲̬̹̤Y̻̤̱o̭͠u̥͉̥̜͡ ̴̥̪D̳̲̳̤o̴͙̘͓̤̟̗͇n̰̗̞̼̳͙͖͢'҉͖t̳͓̣͍̗̰ ͉W̝̳͓̼͜a̗͉̳͖̘̮n͕ͅt͚̟͚ ̸̺T̜̖̖̺͎̱ͅo̭̪̰̼̥̜ ̼͍̟̝R̝̹̮̭ͅͅe̡̗͇a͍̘̤͉͘d̼̜ ⚢
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
not that i think the death penalty is ever acceptable but yeah
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
≠
this has been a public service announcement on behalf of IA Richards
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Right, it was a murder dog. I guess I was also thinking of Django Unchained, where Our Hero is blameless for killing any racist in his way.
Oh and I'm not for the death penalty either. While death is the just penalty for killing, wrongful conviction is too common and justice should be tempered by mercy, not treated as an absolute.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
^ I don't know why people made a bigger deal out of the buffalo episode than this one.
And bigger than the way mules are treated.
And the way cows are treated.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
eh, i'd say slavery and torture are murder-tier offences
that and, y'know, taking moral lessons from Quentin Tarantino movies is probably a bad idea in general
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
eh, i'd say slavery and torture are murder-tier offences
that and, y'know, taking moral lessons from Quentin Tarantino movies is probably a bad idea in general
I remember that David Duke was pissed at Inglourious Basterds. This isn't particularly relevant, really, but I'm reminded of it and I don't know why.