Its been thirty years. Who could tell?
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/848
“Paramount had quietly shelved the film after the Beverly Hills–Hollywood branch of the NAACP objected to its inflammatory subject matter and content. NAACP spokesperson Collette Wood protested, “We’re against the whole thrust of the film and what it says about racism, especially with the rise of the Klan, which always occurs during bad economic times.” That was enough to scare off an unenthusiastic distributor.”
From Lisa Dombrowski’s The films of Samuel Fuller: if you die, I’ll kill you! :
quoting Willis Edwards (then-president of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP chapter):
“When you train a white dog to kill black folks, that gives the KKK and other white supremacist organizations ideas.”
Of course, that is the last thing Sam Fuller had in mind. One of the reasons he made White Dog was to show that racism is taught and learned and unnatural.
My dvd of White Dog has supplements explaining the whole fiasco.
Steel Helmet and Shock Corridor show clearly how progressive and ahead of his time he was about expressing racial issues in film.
Because the NAACP are just like the ACLU: A bunch of ultra-liberal, brainless douche bags who wouldn’t know what a real civil rights issue was if a White Dog came up and bit them on the ass.
I completely agree with Eli, the NAACP are to concerned with their own liberal racist agenda to critique a film ,which they have no business doing anyways.
Oh!
This reminds me of something I forgot to add in the censorship thread:
Because they didn’t see it.
99.9999999% of the time, the biggest controversy is over something that the offended party didn’t even bother to see/read/hear/whatever. The Da Vinci Code? Nobody would have gotten offended if they hadn’t read it. Passion of the Christ? Was hugely controversial—before it came out. Even when it lived up to its controversy everyone saw it, quieted down, and moved on. Any time you read the cited reasons for why a book was banned, it always has to do with something completely beside the point—like the use of “nigger” in Huckleberry Finn, just about the least racist novel from that region during that era.
To this day I still find Crash to be one of the most racist movies out there.
White Dog was great. Horrifying, but great.
—PolarisDiB
Yes, because the NAACP objected to a film in a reactionary way, that must mean the NAACP has never done a bit of good for anybody and is completely pointless. You are so right, Clovenhoof and Eli Goodspeed.
Jesus. A little moderation in your views, people?
ELI: “Because the NAACP are just like the ACLU: A bunch of ultra-liberal, brainless douche bags”
Gee whiz, no stereotyping there. We’ve come a long way.
Strawdawg: Tell me about it. I didn’t know that anti-segregation was a “liberal” issue.
Probably because it has the word White in the title, and for the NAACP that’s racist. ELI is correct.
Christopher Bush: ELI is correct.
Let’s check out what Eli said about the NAACP:
A bunch of ultra-liberal, brainless douche bags who wouldn’t know what a real civil rights issue was if a White Dog came up and bit them on the ass.
I suppose segregation (which the NAACP fought, as an organization, starting in 1909) isn’t a “real civil rights issue.”
Warning! There are post-racial folks in the room!
If you go into a book store you’ll see an American History section & an African American History section. How is that not segregation?
The NAACP , the ACLU, and 9/11 conspiracy theories exist to make money. & I think you know what you can do with your “warning” bullshit. Don’t lkie my post? Don’t fucking read it.
Christopher Bush: If you go into a book store you’ll see an American History section & an African American History section. How is that not segregation?
Umm … because they’re books being separated by subject, not people being separated by skin color?
Also, I don’t understand. Are you denying that the NAACP fought for civil rights since 1909, or are you denying that fighting for civil rights was a valuable thing?
Wait, you’re right. Everything the NAACP has ever done has been “to make money.” How could I have been so stupid as to buy their obviously ridiculous “civil rights” line?
(btw, both the ACLU and NAACP are non-profit organizations.)
Oh I see we’re mad at me because you’re Anti- American Indian. & You’re right, you are stupid. :)
CLOVENHOOF, ELI and CHRISTOPHER BUSH: especially you BUSH: “I think you know what you can do with your “warning” bullshit. Don’t lkie my post? Don’t fucking read it.”
Just calm down. You have a slight case of suppressed anger. Where it came from I couldn’t care less, but somewhere along the way, somebody pissed you off but good and has caused you to lash out at the mere mention of ACLU / NAACP. If you knew your country’s history at all, you would know that both organizations have done far more good for YOU and this country than you ever will.
How anyone can spew such crap forth and expect to be taken seriously just boggles my mind.
“Don’t lkie my post? Don’t fucking read it.”
Whoops.
Already did.
Strawdawg: From the off-handedness of the comments, my guess is that they’re the types who joyously spew this kind of crap all the time. It must be rote memory by now.
Christopher Bush: I’m not the dummy who thinks that books being separated by subject counts as “segregation.” Lawl. :)
It usually boils down to penis envy with these types. There, I said it.
Yes,I bet you know a lot about penis envy from experience. Obviously you haven’t studied psychology (among many other things). How can I tell? I’ve studied psychology. The books I refered to aren’t really being separated by subject. If you have American History, and African American History, then they’re really both American History since African Americans are Americans. It’s not that difficult to figure out.
Christopher Bush: “African-American History” is a sub-category made useful by the fact that many people are interested in studying that specific aspect of American history. In this case, offering a separate section makes it easier for customers to find those books immediately, without having to browse through books that either don’t address African-American history, or only address it peripherally in the scope of broader American history.
Or, all book stores are racist.
Take your pick.
Mr Bush: Wow, I’m not sure how to respond about something so assinine.
“The books I refered to aren’t really being separated by subject. If you have American History, and African American History, then they’re really both American History since African Americans are Americans. It’s not that difficult to figure out.”
You are talking about books right? Books on a shelf. Being segregated in a bookstore? Are you freakin’ serious? If you’ve studied psychology, then goody for you. If it wasn’t such a serious subject I’d be laughing my ass off.
Mr Bush: I can’t wait for the reply were you blame Obama for the bad state of the economy.
Astonishing. Though it shouldn’t be after this past month of seeing every kind of witless, hopeless bigot and ignoramus parade themselves proudly across the media landscape. It’s to be expected that some of that sludge would ooze in here.
“White Dog” was tagged by the NAACP as racist long before Sam Fuller became involved in it.
Here’s the whole story.
The Book, by Romain Gary, was not a novel but a memoir of the years he and his then-wofe Jean Seberg spent in L.A. They came across a stray dog who they quickly learned attacked blacks on sight. They then discovered why this was so — that dogs were being trained to be racist.
Roman Polanski and Robert Towne became interested in the property and Parasmount Pictures purchased it for them. It was to be their fowllow-up to their great critical and commercial success, “Chinatown.”
But then Polanski had a matinee with an underage mdoel and subsequently fled the country.
Cut to pages of a calendar flying off. W’re now in th 1980s. A writer’s strike looms so studios are scrambling to put films into production in advance.
Paramount is now being run by Don Simpson. He looks at porperties that might be done quickly, cheaply and locally. So he puts into production “Jekyl and Hyde Together Again,” “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “White Dog.”
He takes a psecial interest in the latter. He has a vision of how it should be — a young white woman roaming the city streets with a dog that attacks black men on sight, becuase al back men want her.
And who does he want to play the white woman? Jodie Foster.
Jodie says no way.
Meanwhile he assigns the project to line producer Jon Davison who hires Curtis Hanson to script it. The two decide that this would be ideal for Sam Fuller. So Sam comes on board and rewrites it and directs it with his usual speed, effficiency and impact. In many ways it’s like the B movies he used to make at Fox under Zanuck. And it’s explicitly anti-racist.
But the curse of the Don Simpson version remains. And so the studio shleves the picture. It premieres several years after it was made on pay cable. Many are surprised. It’s a teriffic little movie. But it’s too late, and so “White Dog” becomes a cult film.
I was on the set of “White Dog” for nearly two weeks watching Sam shoot it. It remains one of the greatest experiences of my life.
Oh I see how it is. You’re prejudice against me because of my last name. Boo hoo. :(
-Because they didn’t see it.-
They may not have seen the finished film, but, based on what I’ve read, Edwards was consulted during production (along with David L. Crippens, the vice president and stage manager of the local PBS affiliate, who had a different opinion about the film). so he’d read the screenplay and apparently provided some feedback. I think it was more a matter of the NAACP feeling that the inflammatory potentiality of the imagery trumped the allegory.
Eli, Clovehoof, and Christopher—Maybe the NAACP was wrong in this instance, but you make yourselves look foolish making statements like some of what’s been posted above.
Foolish to whom? Liberals? Liberals are fucking stupid. There, I said it.
Yes, they have probably been wrong many times before, but the good they have done over decades far outweighs any bad. Only an out and out racist would make comments like the ones seen on this post regarding the NAACP.
I will hand it to Eli, Clovehoof, and Christopher. It is not easy to stand up for your convictions and make claims as you have. It is refreshing to hear racist comments like this out in the open. There is something to be said for stating your true beliefs no matter how controversial and for that I applaud you.
Maurice Gianesin
A friend recently asked me if I had ever seen White Dog? I have had no experience with any of Samuel Fuller’s films. I plead ignorance but did got out and purchase a copy of White Dog. The clerk behind the counter at Barnes and Nobles was a big fan of Samuel Fuller and said White Dog was a masterpiece.
Why did the N.A.A.C.P. put so much pressure on Paramount Studios and Samuel Fuller to shelve the film because they considered the film racist. I know that sounds like an oxymoron; I answered my own question.
I cannot see anything racist in the film. At times I felt as if I was watching an after school movie. The sort of “pulp fiction” that led up to dinner and pseudo scintillating conversation at the dinner table about what a great movie about race relations.
It’s much more than that. It’s allegorical purity becomes almost iconic at times. The metaphorical use of the dog was ingenious. Their spiritual plight as important today as it was thrity years ago. The ending a tragic reminder that mans descent transcends even discrimination into a world that predisposes us to hate by our very nature.
Oh Bartlebly, oh humanity! ( Allusion to Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Mellville when Bartleby dies at the end of the story )