mike48128
Found at Big Lots in the bargain "dump bin"! Never released to USA theatres, but look for it on cable. Sure not your typical Timmy and Lassie-type dog movie. Filmed and adored in Australia where it was a huge hit. Beautiful Australian location cinematography. Based on a true story about a wandering "Australian Kelpie dog" that became beloved to most of the citizens of "Dampier" a rough-and-tumble mining town. Voted as the town's "common dog" owned by no one. Honorary member of the miner's union! He chose his own master! Named Red Dog because of his color and the iron-red dust. Some "cartoonish" moments as well: Red Dog vs. Red Cat in a whirlwind fight that certainly didn't happen as staged. Red Dog supposedly roams all over Australia (like a canine "Forest Gump") in search of his master, John Grant, who died tragically in a motorcycle accident. He finally returns home to die of old age and sickness. so the majority of the story is told via flash-backs. The first third of the movie is a bit slow as the main characters are introduced and the plot is developed. Some slight crudeness of language, situations, and local slang. Otherwise, an engaging dog story. Probably not for children under age 10 with only a few scenes slightly objectionable: a poisoned dog almost (but not) put-down. Red Dog vs. a live chicken dinner? (Also doesn't happen.) Two adults wrapped in sheets in bed. It gets better as it goes along, A good yarn and yes, there truly is a cast iron statue erected in Dampier, in Red Dog's honor. To soften the ending, one of Red Dogs' puppies is found and becomes the town's new mascot!
Rich Wright
Never have I been more relieved to be a cat person.Oh. My. God. Where to start? How can I accurately compose my thoughts regarding this... this... in front of me, without spluttering like a madman and losing all self control? I'll try... (and probably fail). I dislike a lot of films, I genuinely HATE some... but there an elite category out there... of ones that REALLY p*ss me off. They offend me on any conceivable level... they aren't just bad, they are also an insult to every thinking person anywhere. Red Dog, welcome to the herd.The story is apparently based on an Australian legend, of a hound that turned up one day in a working community, ingratiated himself with the labourers before settling down with a Nice Young Man in that neighbourhood. When that Nice Young Man dies in an automobile accident, the dog decides to wait by the man's house for weeks on end for him to return. AAHHH how loyal, you might think.And then, comes the most single boneheaded scene I have witnessed in a motion picture for eons. The doggie goes walkabout all around Down Under for years... to find his lost master!!!! He hitches lifts on cars, planes, trains... And all the while people are walking past him and shaking their heads sadly(?) All this is done in slow motion with sad music in the background and a ponderous narration to make it all emotional... But I must confess... I haven't laughed so long, and so hard at anything for ages. The same goes for the companion that I watched it with... and she's got 5 mutts of her own. We both agreed that this was indeed, the most stupid animal to ever appear on the Silver Screen.I have a few questions... WHY did no-one take the dog to a shelter? HOW did it survive for so long 'out there'? WHO kept letting it in their various vehicles? And if the hound is so smart (which we keep being told) how could it not figure out it's master was brown bread, instead of gallivanting around the world like Forrest Gump... complete with a giant map of course, and a red line to indicate where it had gone. It even crosses into JAPAN for godsake. JAPAN!! The fact this ridiculous behaviour is treated with such solemnity makes it all the funnier, and anyone who is moved by such abysmal scriptwriting I would suggest is the same kind of blubbering wreck that turned Princess Diana's death into a national embarrassment. Hankies at the ready...BUT WAIT!! This is only one in a long assembly line of unbelievably badly handled sentimental moments, phoney baloney mawkish scenes and a supporting character who I would quite happily kill. No, you don't even have to pay me any money... it would be my pleasure. I am of course referring to The Italian. This guy... this guy... he has an accent which makes Manuel's from Fawlty Towers seem bearable, he goes on about his Home Country non-stop throughout (if its so great, why don't you go back there?) and he overemotes EVERY. SINGLE. REACTION. SHOT. His crowning moment of lunacy though, is when he falls in love with a vet's assistant. In one of the most disturbing flights of fancy ever, he imagines: kissing her, marrying her, giving birth to his baby...It's not just because he thinks up all this creepy crap THE VERY SECOND HE MEETS HER. It's just the thought that someone so attractive might do that... WITH THIS GUY. The worst import from Europe, bar none. And yes, I do include the bubonic plague in that. What's his next move? Why, he steals the dog, and takes it back to the vet week after week with made up illnesses, all the time wearing his best suit and with flowers in tow. Does she ever twig, based on his soppy demeanor, his silly clothes, cheap gifts and fake canine maladies that he has a thing for her? Of course not. And do his psycho tactics work? HELL YEAH!! Note: Do not try this in real life... it'll likely condemn you to a mental institution. Maybe they DO deserve each other, with their terminal stupidity.SSOOOO... everyone is in love with this pooch. We are bombarded with miscellanious characters telling us "He's the most famous dog in Australian history". He even has a statue put up of him after he croaks it. But based on the evidence the film shows us, he is just a worthless mongrel who begs for food, abandons his friends and family for years on a wild goose chase and doesn't even follow simple commands well. Yet, he is worshipped as some kind of deity every time he walks through the factory, as ALL the humans stop whatever they are doing to fawn over this common creature singing songs about him, drinking in his honour... Even though he's done NOTHING to deserve it. Heck, Lassie must've saved dozens of lives, and he didn't even get a medal. Either they're all total morons with no lives, or they've been implanted with post-hypnotic suggestions to behave like a load of star-crossed ninnies. I'll be kind, I'll go with the latter.And then of course, we have the sad ending, where the dog dies on the grave on it's master in another blatant display of audience manipulation. Then we get the montage of his life, the introduction of a replacement puppy... and my hanky was thoroughly dry. My sick bucket wasn't though. I've never, ever seen a more shameless attempt at wringing out the tear ducts with such awful material. So no, before you ask, I didn't enjoy it. Hardy Har Har. 0/10
danslavina
Red dog is a fantastic movie not only I love animals, but because it's hilarious, dramatic and it's Australian!! This film is based on the true story and a novel by Louis de Bernieres of a cattle dog travelling throughout the Pilbara region, Western Australia during the 1970s. Well let's look at the synopsis of the film shall we? In a town of Dampier, an unknown man drives into a bar, but he sees a bunch of guys trying to put a sick dog down it ate poison bait but couldn't bring themselves to do it. The bartender tells him that the dog is known as red dog(played by late Koko), the famous Pilbara wanderer and recounts the tales the dog went through in his life like his arrival in Dampier, his relationship with a man named John grant, the travels he went on through the outback and the fights he gets into with a cat known as red cat. Even though it has funny moments, there are some real tearjerkers in this movie e.g. red dog's death that reminded me of the death of my old dog and that scene made me cry till we left the shopping centre. Though the dog and cat fight scenes are made with CGI and yeah its look corny but it would impossible to make an actual fight with the cat and dog. Other than that, it's a very likable film with humorous characters, great story and of course the big star of all, red dog who literally takes third of the posters and advertisements. Otherwise check it out, it's definitely worth your time or read the book the if you want to.
happiu
Not since Old Yeller have I seen a better movie about a dog. This one happens to be based on a real dog and the legend he has become in Australia. Filmed on location in Dampier, Western Australia where mining is the major industry, it tells a heart warming story of how a stray kind of a Dingo Irish Setter looking mixed breed befriends the entire mining community with it's stubborn irresistible temperament. It is a classic tale where the dog chooses his person and makes his decision perfectly clear. His charm is so convincing that everybody he meets is like puddy in his paws. Really being nobody's dog he is determined to be common, where he is a much a part of the community as any person. It's like going on a cool roller coaster ride. I highly recommend it.
