RED DOG : archive from 4th October 2011.

Finally got around to seeing the much talked about, the much hyped 'RED DOG' that is still doing the rounds at select cinemas after weeks of general release. A genuine ocker Aussie feel good family movie that deserves your attention to support Australian movie making, watch a piece of history committed to celluloid, and witness some great screen acting performed by a very talented dog. Directed by Kriv Stenders and based on a short story by Louis de Bernieres this is a simple story of the great Aussie outback with heart! It was shot for AU$8.5M and made AU$21M in Australia this film captured the imagination in its native homeland, but failed to enjoy the same acclaim in other territories.

The film is set in the late 70's early 80's in Dampier, a mining port in remote northern Western Australia where American guy John Grant (Josh Lucas) has arrived to work the mines as a bus driver for those working below ground. John won over 'Red Dog' and the two became devout friends over a couple of years and travelled everywhere together. In time John started dating a secretary at Hamersley Iron, Nancy Grey (Rachael Taylor) and on the night of their engagement John orders Red Dog to stay at his own cabin until he gets back, but is then killed tragically in a freak accident on his motorcycle riding back to his camp from Nancy's caravan.

As the days pass, everyone has all but forgotten about Red Dog - caught up in the tragedy and aftermath of John's death, until three days later he is found still waiting where he was ordered to wait. As the weeks pass Red Dog waits, and waits and waits, and skulks around forlorn. In time Red Dog decides to launch his own search campaign for his master, and so begins the search that takes him all across the Pilbara Region and from Perth in the south to Darwin in the north and just about everywhere in between. It is even rumoured that Red Dog jumped a ship to Japan in search for his true master.

In time, exhausted Red Dog makes it back to Dampier and finds Nancy back at her caravan, who is naturally delighted to see her old four legged friend once again. As we come back to the present day from the above story narrated by the town publican Jack Collins (Noah Taylor) to Thomas (Luke Ford) a truck driver, a conversation breaks out in the bar between the locals who say that Dampier should have a statue erected to commemorate someone who truly represented the town, rather than the proposed William Dampier statue who established the place as a fly infested mining port ultimately. As the conversation continues Red Dog slinks out of the bar unnoticed, eventually being found dead lying besides the grave of John Grant.

One year later Thomas is back in Dampier driving his truck and out of the cabin jumps a puppy - a new Red Dog, and shortly afterward the town unveils their statue . . . of Red Dog - which still stands to this day as the embodiment of what the town best represents to the people that live there.

The film picked up ten award wins and fifteen further nominations including the AACTA Award for Best Film in 2012. A follow up film is supposedly currently in production charting the early life of Red Dog up in Western Australia's Pilbara Region in the earlier 70's and will be called 'Blue Dog'. Koko - the Kelpie that starred as Red Dog in the movie died after the films release.

This is a simple, engaging story that is entertaining, humorous, tragic and dramatic and ticks all the boxes, and it sure beats some of the shoot 'em up, scare their pants off stuff out there currently. If you haven't seen this yet, you can rent it now on DVD and BluRay and sit down with the whole family and enjoy the (true) story!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-