My Celluloid Fix: White Dog (1982)
Directed by: Sam Fuller
***
Sam Fuller’s film made in the twilight of his career was finally released this week on Criterion Collection (thank God, I can chuck that stuttering bootleg copy I’ve owned for years.)  Fuller has long intrigued me as a filmmaker; he had a knack for tackling moral issues with honesty, critical acumen and above all else, do so with unassuming hipness.  A quality not many filmmakers can easily achieve.  Although its his past profession as a gumshoe journalist that naturally lent itself to this style, its also his fierce “I don’t give a fuck” attitude about the rules of cinematic decorum that played an equal part in the creation of his singular aesthetic.

Jean Seberg with husband, Romaine Gary

That said, I cannot give White Dog much more praise than that; his heavy-handed moralistic message and awkward editing doesn’t play out well in this 80’s cult film starring Kristy McNichol.  Yet the DVD release pays homage to a long career of doggedly searching for the small kernels of truth and beauty that exists in this twisted and mired world.  I’m glad to see more light shed on this wonderful human being.

So yes, White Dog may not be the best in his amazing career as a filmmaker; it is the context, however, of this final cinematic product that makes this an interesting story.  The film was based off the personal memoir (of the same name) written by the enigmatic French novelist, Romaine Gary and revolved around his marriage to incendiary film icon, Jean Seberg. She was a political activist involved in a rather dangerous political game of cat and mouse with the FBI.

Then in 1968, a German shepherd sauntered into their home.  And in a strange twist of irony, the beautiful canine that graced their lives, on compulsion, viciously attacked the couple’s friends who happened to be black.  It finally dawned on them that this dog had been programmed as a young pup by racist white policemen–a loathsome practice done behind close doors and a brutal reality of racism in America.  When Seberg realized what transpired, she was heartbroken.

I count Seberg among my favorite actresses in film for her natural grace, chic style and the challenging roles she took on.  What made her so damn intriguing was her political activism; particularly her heavy involvement with the Black Panthers during the Civil Rights Movement.  Her activities inevitably brought her under the scrutiny of the notorious J. Edgar Hoover and the Feds, who tried several times to slander her in the public eye.  Still she continued her clandestine meetings, held right in her Hollywood home; around the same time that John Lennon had famously held ties with Bobby Seale.

No one suspected this petite movie star with the face of an angel would be so strong in her political resolve. She fought valiantly against the racism that covered America like a heavy, wet blanket.  Not the least dampened, she endured, even as the Feds leaked stories that she was impregnated by one of the Black Panthers, whose cause she fought for. When her child died at birth, she insisted on burying the infant in a glass coffin, to show the world their bald-faced lies.

Tragically a series of misogynistic husbands, turbulent lifestyle, and nervous breakdowns eventually led to Seberg’s suicide in the very same month and year that I happened to be born (August 1979.) She was only 40 years old.  Her beauty and courage will forever remain etched in my mind as the young girl who yelled out “Herald Tribune!” in Godard’s About de Souffle or when she stomped rebelliously past Debora Kerr’s disapproving stare in Preminger’s dark moral tale, Bonjour Tristesse.

So within that heavy context which Fuller filmed this movie, White Dog, the film became so much more to me.  Tastefully lensed as an allegory on racism in America, he loosely based the film on Gary and Seberg’s life, taking special care to hide their political activities.  You can get a taste of Fuller’s sidewinding storytelling style in this clip on White Dog from an interview with Richard Schickel, conducted in 1989.  Check it out here: http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/934

via Sylvia Adams, 5 December 2008 11:15pm | 3 |