Walt Disney Video, 1996, 103 minutes
 
Available on Amazon.com
 
There is evil.and there is EEEEVIL, and in this live action remake of the Disney animation classic, Glenn Close, as the iconic Cruella De Vil, is pure EEEEVIL.

Cruella is so EEEEVIL, her gloves have their own claws. Visually, Close's brilliant Cruella seems a combo of Lily Munster, Norma Desmond, and just a hint of Anna Wintour. Cruella adores fur. She's never met an endangered species she didn't want to have some couture made out of. But dogs - especially very adorable black and white spotted dogs - will do just fine. Behind the high fashion and the even higher hairstyles, Close appears to be having a grand old time. (Although in real life, we know that FetchDog's blogger and favorite actress Glenn Close genuinely loves dogs.)

Meanwhile, humans Roger (a charming Jeff Daniels) and Anita (a tender Joely Richardson) meet cute in picturesque London when their Dalmatians, Pongo and Perdita, fall crazy in love. Before you can say "double wedding with dogs," Roger and Anita and Pongo and Perdita have made one happy, dog-scented household. As love blooms, Pongo and Perdita welcome a passel of puppies, who turn in star-making performances thanks to coaching by ace animal trainer Gary Gero.

Bad news for the puppies - Anita's boss is none other than Cruella! Dreaming of a 101 Dalmatian fur coat, Cruella sets her bumbling henchmen, played by Mark Williams and Hugh Laurie (acting about a hundred I.Q. points dumber than Dr. House) off to kidnap the puppies. Due to their idiocy, Cruella must swoop in again to nab the pups herself, only to be met with a resistance army made up of dogs, cows, birds, and even the occasional rebellious raccoon.

Kids will be thrilled as the puppies are returned to their rightful homes after much muck has been flung, mostly at Cruella. And parents will appreciate the wily gusto Close gives her gloriously nasty character. 

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Warner Home Video, 1984, 114 minutes
 
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Clint Eastwood produced this crime thriller, starring as Wes Block, New Orleans police detective and single parent to two young daughters and three dogs. His assignment: track down the serial rapist-murderer who's been targeting young, attractive women into kinky sex. Except there's just one little complication: when he's not on duty, Wes frequents the same seedy haunts now terrorized by the killer. This variation on the Dirty Harry icon is dirty indeed, and the tightrope of the title is the precarious one that links his personal and professional lives.
 
Early in the film, Wes and his daughters (the elder, Amanda, is played by his real-life daughter Alison) encounter a stray mutt. The girls ask to keep him, and they get their way. The foundling becomes pet number four; the other three are a Dachshund, a Miniature Poodle, and a Saint Bernard. As an owner of multiple dogs myself, I laughed out loud in recognition to see the entire family, two- and four-legged, traveling by car, snouts sniffing out the windows - a welcome moment of levity in a story that fills the viewer with serious dread.
 
When Wes secures a date with rape counselor Beryl Thibodeaux (Genevieve Bujold), his younger daughter Penny asks, "Does she like dogs?" This is a thriller, so I'm not about to reveal the plot twists. Let's just say that, even though not one of the dogs is called by name, this movie offers admirable proof of a plain, brown, mixed-breed's extraordinary survival skills. 
 
In fact, Kathie Coblentz, editor of Clint Eastwood: Interviews, urged me to see this film years ago because one of its themes is, as she put it, "the superiority of mutts over purebreds." I'm glad I finally took her advice.
 
Special kudos to Clint, who happens to be seriously allergic to dogs, for letting the mutt sleep with him in bed, the better to portray Wes as a guy who, deep down, is A-OK, in part because he values dogs as bona fide family members.

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Sony Pictures, 2005, 95 minutes
 
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This romantic comedy follows the funny-sad love lives of seniors in a Florida active-adult community to show that elders - the human and canine variety - still have much to offer. Director Susan Seidelman, directing a screenplay she co-wrote with her mother, draws layered performances from a great cast led by Joseph Bologna, Dyan Cannon, Len Cariou, Sally Kellerman, and Brenda Vaccaro. 

The movie's back story makes the case that the senior pet population, a.k.a. AARF (American Association of Retired Fur-persons), is another great untapped resource. When the children of Vaccaro's character Brenda present her with a dog; she's reluctant to accept the gift. But the bushy-tailed actor, a seven-year-old Shih Tzu named Sadie, the pet of a production assistant, easily wins over Vaccaro and the audience by giving a spot-on performance despite having had no prior acting experience.

Here's the director's take on her canine scene-stealer: "The screenplay calls for the dog to look disappointed, and I thought, How am I going to direct a dog portraying that emotion?" Seidelman says. "And I couldn't blame the writer because I wrote the script! When Brenda's character finally bonded with the dog, it was all done in one wide shot. The dog looked sullen, then just jumped on the bed and laid down next to Brenda in exactly the right spot, on the first take. The dog was a natural." 

Attention, young turks: Not many wet-behind-the-ears pups could turn in a picture-perfect performance like that. 

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Criterion Collection, 1985, 110 minutes
 
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In this classic Swedish film, 12-year-old Ingemar has little he can count on. While he lives with his angry, ailing mother and volatile older brother, his truest companion is a small, expressive female dog, Sickvan. When Ingemar's mother grows too ill to care for her children, Ingemar is sent to family members in the country, while the dog is sent to a kennel.
 
For a while, Ingemar is able to distract himself with his loving, soccer-mad uncle Gunnar and a motley crew of characters who populate Gunnar's workplace, a glassblowing company. The movie, set in the 1950s, revels in period detail, from old record players to the proud acquisition of the town's first TV. Ingemar inches closer to adolescence - he sees his first naked lady, a curvy model for a local artist. He even acquires a tomboy pal, Saga, an ace soccer player who loves the game so much, she and Ingemar bind her breasts so she can play with the boys. Meanwhile, his heart aches for his mother, who suffers from TB, and for Sickvan the dog.
 
The little Swedish glassblowing town Ingemar finds temporary refuge in rivals the series Northern Exposure  for eccentrics per square inch. For the briefest of moments, Ingemar finds a loving, stable home. But be warned: the dog of the movie's title, the one Ingemar identifies with? That would be Laika, the hapless dog the Russians shot into space.
 
Despite glorious performances by all the actors, particularly the children, this movie - a tribute to a child's resilience in the face of unbearable loss - is not for kids, or fainthearted adults. Perhaps this beautifully made film's greatest triumph is that, just when you don't think you can bear it any more, it makes you laugh just enough to keep watching.  

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Walt Disney Video, 2000, 83 minutes

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I think I've watched this movie about 23 times. Which means I figure I'm good for another 15 viewings at least. Everything about this movie makes you feel good. Even the music - now I sing along when they play the song called "Lucky Star." Boys and girls both will like this movie, and there's one big reason why - plus a lot of little ones. That's right: Air Bud, the famous ball-playing Golden Retriever, becomes a dad! And these puppies have just one word to describe them: C-U-T-E. Especially when they wear their soccer team uniforms.  

There's a lot I like, but my hands-down favorite parts are when Air Bud scores a winning soccer goal for his team, the Timberwolves, with just one second to go. And then, when he gets called in to the women's World Cup finals, he blocks a goal by the Norwegian team so the American women just go crazy and love him. So does everyone else, too, especially his boy Josh, who spends the movie figuring out that he doesn't have to be a tough guy, just himself, to impress Emma, the girl he likes.

By the way, Emma plays on the Timberwolves, too. When she and Air Bud take the field, you'll laugh when the other team's coach can't believe his eyes. "Girls, dogs - what's next? A water buffalo?" That's my favorite line. And I bet you'll laugh even harder when you see Air Bud get a make-your-own sundae - which turns into a make-your-own mess!

If you don't get your fill of dogs with Air Bud and his puppies, you will with the dog stampede. I won't tell you any more about it, because you'll see for yourself. And if you love dogs, you really should.  

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Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment, 1937, 93 minutes
 
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This is one of the all-time screwball comedy greats, earning its director, Leo McCarey, the 1938 Academy Award for Best Director. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne (nominated for the Best Actress Oscar) are the Warriners, Jerry and Lucy, and they're on the verge of divorce. In court, they duke it out over who gets to keep Mr. Smith, a.k.a. Smitty, a dog.
 
If it weren't for the grand period sets and gorgeous costumes, it would be hard to believe that this thoroughly modern, pro-dog movie is over 70 years young. Smitty is as well-loved as, well, your dog, with total access to the furniture and an impressive way of manipulating people into giving them what he wants.
 
What's more, the dog is the very same adorable Wire Fox Terrier who played Asta in the Thin Man series. Not surprisingly, he turns in a brilliant performance, doing stunts that range from playing a mean game of hide-and-go-seek to providing barking-on-cue accompaniment to Grant's piano playing. (And to think the little fellow doesn't even rate mention in the movie's credits!)
 
A key part of the Warriners' divorce deal is that the half of the couple that doesn't get custody of Mr. Smith gets visitation privileges. This, of course, makes possible many hilarious scenes as one soon-to-be-former spouse tries to undo the other's budding new romance.
 
It's tough to talk about this movie without spoiling it, and it's such a sparkling bottle of bubbly that you wouldn't want it opened until you're ready to drink it, or it might go flat. So break out the champagne flutes and the dog treats, and enjoy this one with your best friend. 

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First Run Features, 1975, 90 minutes
 
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This movie is in the FetchDog Top 20
 
We've had occasion to blog about this cult classic of the canine cinema before - read about it here and here - but somehow we've managed not to review it until now.
 
Starring Don Johnson, Jason Robards, and Tiger, the shaggy dog of Brady Bunch fame, this is the film adaptation of a short story called "Vic and Blood," a post-apocalyptic sci-fi tale of a young guy (Vic) whose mutt (Blood) communicates with him telepathically. The story was first published in 1969, then later became a graphic novel.
 
Attention, parents: The title is ironic - this movie is adults-only fare. In fact, it was distributed at one point under the title "Psycho Boy and His Killer Dog." The tag line on the movie poster reads "A rather kinky tale of survival." That's because the "boy" and his dog are on the prowl, scavenging for food and sex in a bombed-out waste land of desert. And boy, do they ever find it - and more than they bargained for, besides.
 
It's all very strange - and strangely, very entertaining, like a raunchy, dark-comic cross between Star Trek and The Day After. And it's especially timely now, because the story's author, Harlan Ellison, is the subject of a new documentary, Dreams With Sharp Teeth, that's been getting rave reviews (its run at Film Forum in New York City ends tomorrow).
 
Tellingly, in the doc, Ellison compares himself to a dog - and we suspect he's channeling Blood when he says, "I was a mean little dog - I just wouldn't go down." 

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Disney, 1966, 93 minutes
 
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In this cute update on "The Ugly Duckling," Fran (Suzanne Pleshette) has a beloved champion Dachshund, Danke, who's expecting a litter of pups. When Danke delivers three female doxies at the animal hospital, Fran's husband Mark (Dean Jones) feels outnumbered. Then he meets the vet's gorgeous Great Dane, who has also just given birth. The Dane has rejected one of her pups - a male - because she hasn't got enough milk to go around, so the doc proposes that Danke serve as wet-nurse to the Dane pup.
 
And so, Brutus the Dane is folded in to the doxie pack, a clever bunch of girls with a destructive streak. In furry frameups worthy of the cats in Lady and the Tramp, the Doxies manage to make poor Brutus the scapegoat for their impressive mischief (skeins of yarn are unraveled to spectacular effect, and a bone of contention results in the complete decimation of a catered affair).
 
Stopping just short of "it's me or the dog," Fran orders Jim to remove the "clumsy ox" of a beast. In the nick of time, Brutus proves to her that he's a very good dog - whereupon Jim gets the notion that Brutus might be a great dog, with a shot at bringing home a blue ribbon.
 
Dated though this fairy tail is, it advances ahead-of-its-time ideas about dogs: Fran refers to the Doxies as "family," and wonders if an under-the-weather Danke doesn't have allergies (we know now that dogs suffer allergies just as people do, but back in the 1960s such a notion was unheard-of).
 
Jim, an artist, creates handsome dog portraits using Brutus as a muse and model. And we get to learn about "stacking," the term for what dog-show handlers do when they carefully arrange dogs' legs in a perfect standing pose so they can be examined by a judge.
 
But the best part is watching the canine actors do their stunt stuff - it looks like a lot of hard work, but through it all the dogs appear to be having a blast. 

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Warner Home Video, 1934, 91 minutes  

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This was the first in what became one of the most popular detective serials ever. And no wonder!

I know what you're thinking: Marabou! Martinis! Myrna! And you're right - although you forgot to add the slightly sloshed debonair looks of William Powell, his eyelids at half-mast but his wit snapping in the breeze from the top of the pole. But the real reason to revel in the company of this incomparable couple is their dog, Asta, a wise and winsome Wire Fox Terrier.

The nimble Asta is first seen pulling, as if she were a sled, a package-laden Myrna Loy into a hotel bar. Indeed, he often leads his owners astray. Or at least into most every gin joint on the block. Hmmm, maybe they have something to do with that after all ...

It's not entirely necessary to follow every turn in Dashiell Hammett's plot, just so long as you follow Asta. And anyway, it's all mainly an excuse for more martinis. Mr. and Mrs. Nick Charles, a.k.a. Nick and Nora, are the most urbane sleuths (and drunks) in movie history. Asta watches the shenanigans, head cocked, from the lofty perch of the dog who is even smarter than his cleverly madcap owners.

In the end, of course, the terrier steals the show, and gets his man. It is not only the louche (one suspects this film just slipped under the Hays Production Code wire), glamourous, and frankly sexy couple who are applauded in the end. It's their little dog too.

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New Line Cinema, 2008, 148 minutes

To view the trailer, go here

This is the year's most hotly-anticipated movie, and its imperial setting - the city of the title - is the dog-crazy metropolis known as New York. So it's no surprise to see a wide variety of canine characters on screen, all portrayed by talented performers represented by the Dawn Animal Agency.

Dog-loving fans of the HBO series will not be disappointed, for with this movie the beloved small-screen sensation makes a seamless transition to the big screen with style and wit to spare. Most importantly, each of the four central characters we've come to love has a dog that's a perfect reflection of her personality.  

Charlotte (Kristin Davis) still has "Elizabeth Taylor," her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, plus a pair of wirehaired Jack Russell terriers - and all three pampered Park Avenue pets are as pedigreed and perfectly-groomed as Charlotte herself.  

Meanwhile, Miranda, (Cynthia Nixon) the super-intelligent attorney, has a dog that's as brainy as she is: a Border Collie. And Samantha (Kim Cattrall) surprises everyone by adopting a rescued Yorkie named Baby whose sex drive rivals her own.

As for Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker, the movie's star and co-producer), it appears she's still holding the leash of the dog known as Mr. Big (Chris Noth). But will he stray or stay this time? You'll have to see the film to find out.

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Kino Home Video, 1947, 103 minutes  

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Imagine "Sex and the City" crossed with "Murder, She Said," set it in postwar London, and you've got this black-and-white Douglas Sirk thriller that's nothing like the lush Technicolor melodramas Sirk is famed for.  

Lucille Ball cracks wise - and models a mean wardrobe - as glamorous American-in-London Sandra Carpenter, a dancer looking for her break on the English stage. One of her friends goes missing just as a serial killer's at large, writing cryptic letters about his conquests to the police. So Sandra agrees to do undercover detective work for Scotland Yard, posing as a maid to lure a murderer who targets attractive young women via the newspaper's personal ads.

To complicate matters, along the way our heroine is lured by - and falls in love with - an impresario (George Sanders) who's handsome, clever, and rich (in short, a Mr. Big type).

Ball's Sandra is every bit as contemporary as Carrie Bradshaw - and every bit as old-school romantic beneath her witty armor. Admirably, she holds her own alongside a scenery-chewing Boris Karloff AND an adorable Bulldog. In a later scene, with her employer's pretty Pekingese on a leash, she's the best-dressed dog walker we've ever seen. 

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MGM, 1995, 94 minutes  

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Director Carlo Carlei directs this unusual and very moving story, based on a seriocomic novel by James Herbert, about a workaholic who dies in a car accident and is reincarnated - as a Golden Retriever. His new identity enables him to save his young son's life.  

The excellent Matthew Modine plays the lead role of both man and dog. A scene in which he uses all his doggie charms in an attempt to get his wife to recognize him, stepping into his shoes and looking at her quizzically, is priceless: sweet without being at all silly. Samuel L. Jackson provides the voice of Rumbo, Fluke's canine buddy, and Eric Stoltz plays against type as a bad guy.  

The Shaggy Dog concept is normally played strictly for laughs - this movie takes the man-becomes-dog scenario seriously - in some places, so seriously that many people of various ages, especially young children, will cry; one of the stops on Fluke's journey is a laboratory, where he becomes a test subject. Yet the story includes many welcome humorous touches and ends on a very upbeat note that reminded this hardcore cinephile of a furry detail from, of all movies, The Seventh Seal. (Meanwhile, could the name Fluke - which is Flike with one vowel changed - be a reference to the canine hero of Umberto D?)

Like the best movies about dogs, Fluke reminds us that our best friends have so much to tell us about suffering and strength, but we rarely stop and think about what it is they're trying to say. When dogs seem so "almost human," is it not possible that they are, or were?

Modine, who has a French bulldog, reveals a behind-the-scenes story that's as moving as the film itself. "I got a phone call from my father," the actor recalls. "He asked me if I was reading anything good. I told him I was reading a script about a man who comes back to life as a dog. He said, 'That would be good, if I could come back to life as a dog.' My father was dying of pancreatic cancer at the time. I said, 'OK, Pop, then I'll do it.' That was the only time my father ever visited me on a film set. He died shortly thereafter."

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Disney, 2006, 99 minutes

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It's very weird being a dad who's turned into a dog!

In the first part of this movie, people from an evil laboratory where they experiment on animals go to Tibet where they steal a dog who has lived for 300 years. They want to learn how to make people live 700 years - and they also want to get rich. The lawyer - a comedian named Tim Allen, but called Dave in the film - who's defending the lab in court gets bitten by this dog (who isn't really Tibetan but an English sheepdog - that's also weird!). First, he starts acting like a dog, which is pretty funny to see. Then when he meets that dog again, he turns into a dog who looks just like him.

It is SO funny when he chases a cat around in his court clothes.

Since his family thinks he's just a dog, he tries to knock down the Scrabble set to spell "I am Dad," but the brother and sister clean it up before he gets a chance to. At the end, he is in the laboratory in a cage, and he sees lots of strange animals around him (examples: a frog that has the head of a bulldog and a snake that has the tail of a dog). But finally he bites the mad doctor at the lab, and while he starts acting like a dog too, Dave turns back into a man. And the family gets to keep the Tibetan dog, who they've named Shaggy.

You're going to like the part where he leaves the car to all the mixed-up animals from the lab and it ends up crashed, while he says, "I don't even want to know how that car got here!"

I think people who act crazy should see this movie, because it's a crazy movie. And that dog is really my kind of dog!

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Disney, 2006, 120 minutes  

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This movie is good for kids and good to dogs. There will be some painful moments here for dog lovers, in this tale (based on real events) of eight sled dogs who are left behind for months at a scientific station in the Antarctic when a fierce storm forces the people to decamp.  

One of them, the musher who calls the dogs "the kids" and who cares so deeply for them he is consumed by their fate when he's prevented from going back to save them, perseveres on their behalf. And when he finally makes it back, after an astonishing 175 days, what he finds is a miracle - of survival, of strength, of canine heroism and love for the pack.

Director Frank Marshall has made an unblinking, unalloyed drama that gives the dogs their full measure of individuality and dignity. There are exciting moments to be sure, but never so over-the-top it feels like the product of a screenwriter trying to earn his keep. As the ticker keeps track of how many days the dogs have been on their own, the viewer with a heart will naturally feel it breaking.

But it is repaired almost fully in the end. A small crack remains. And that's a good thing, I think.

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Disney, 2006, 120 minutes

All dogs who pull a sled for miles like this are brave, but these dogs are really something. I think they should make little moccasins for dogs who have to go out in the winter like that.

I really don't know how dogs could survive this long alone. Maybe the movie should have translations for the dogs' barks: they'd be saying, "Oh, boy, now we have to hunt for food!" I was so glad to see they at least found some things they could eat, like injured birds and a dead killer whale. For a minute, I wondered how they were going to keep that horrible leopard seal away from it too? Then I saw the look on that dog's face: he had an idea.   

It started to make me crazy when I'd see the words on the screen, "Days on their own . . . " I didn't want any more of those! I screamed when it finally said "175." This movie made me realize that dogs can be more courageous than people sometimes. 

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Criterion Collection, 1960, 90 minutes
 
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In director Georges Franju's ultimate artful horror movie, serial killer/plastic surgeon Dr. Genessier has his reasons for instructing his assistant Louise to kidnap pretty young women: His daughter Christiane, horribly disfigured by an accident he caused, hasn't got a face - so the bad doctor keeps trying, unsuccessfully, to graft his victims' faces onto poor Christiane.
 
Louise, the malevolent assistant, is played to the hilt by Alida Valli, whom you will remember from such important film classics as The Third Man and The Paradine Case. As Christiane, Edith Scob is the expressive eyes of the title. She lives in painful isolation behind a mask, hidden from the outside world, where she is believed dead (except her onetime fiance has his suspicions).
 
Your heart will go out to Christiane when she visits the kennel of big, beautiful dogs also imprisoned by her demented father. There's a Great Dane down there in that horrible dungeon, and a Dogue de Bordeaux, among other noble canines - and watching these gentle giants give Christiane the love no one else will is a high point of the film (as is its liberating ending, in which the dogs play a key role). 

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Criterion Collection, 1938, 91 minutes
 
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