It's a Dog's Life

I first saw this movie many years ago, one weekend on television back when I was a child. It caused me to be eternally fascinated by bull terriers.

The movie itself, on finally seeing it again as an adult, is not nearly as bad as some reviewers would have you think. From my point of view, it doesn't condone dog-fighting, nor even abuse of women. Sure, it shows some fairly unacceptable behaviour, but I didn't get the impression that this was being shown as an example of the behaviour on which our own should be modelled. When I think how many times in my viewing history I've seen people (not necessarily women) punched, kicked, shot, tortured, and murdered in cold blood, then this movie is pretty darn tame.

Since buying the DVD, and then buying the book on which this movie was based (yes, this movie made a huge impression on the child who saw it years ago), I still think it's a good movie. Clunky, sure. A little strange sometimes - absolutely. Displays outmoded behaviours - no argument. But still, for Wildfire alone, worth a view or two.

This is a curious sort of movie, almost one of a kind. It's narrated by its central character, a white bull terrier, and though it would seem to be the sort of "family" movie parents take their kids to, it deals with staged dog fights on which men bet and in which dogs are killed. What's more the dog's first owner slaps his girlfriend around and she seems to enjoy it! Hardly Saturday matinee material. True, these elements are more implied than shown, but more oddities follow.

After setting up the dog as its central character, the movie introduces Jeff Richards and he temporarily takes over the story. Then he disappears and Edmund Gwenn belatedly enters the plot and the story begins to center around him. And then Jeff Richards comes back! Few movies have had such a shifting focus as this one. And why pick a bull terrier since this breed doesn't have the expressive eyes into which audiences can project all sorts of emotions? The bull terrier's blank look often seems at odds with the narration being spoken for him by actor Vic Morrow.

Perhaps most curiously, while this might have been designed as a movie with a special appeal to children, there are no children in it! In fact, two of the main characters are decidedly in the "senior citizen" class: Edmund Gwenn and Dean Jagger.

And yet ... the movie has a certain charm. Its early 1900s setting is pleasantly, though superficially, mounted. The cast is attractive, there are no slow spots in the story, and the whole thing's wrapped up in less than 90 minutes. Those who've seen the movie always seem to remember it, even though some of these memories may now be approaching 50 years in age.

Jeff Richards seems a bit miscast, (he doesn't have a tough-enough edge), but this is still one of his better parts at a time when he appeared to be moving toward stardom. For some reason or other, he never "clicked" and soon faded from view. Here he has a scene without his shirt, showing off the kind of chest hair which other actors shaved, and he looks lip-smackin' good! For even more footage of Jeff's chest, though in black-and-white, check out "Island of Lost Women."

For me, this delightful film is reminiscent of the great classic Warner Bros. cartoons of the 50's. Especially the "dog themed" cartoons. Like the one where the mutt is trying to get Porky Pig to adopt him, remember? But the dog in this movie has a lot more "on the ball" and is not such a con-dog. If you like good Warner Bros. "dog" cartoons, you'll love this. Also, for you literati, I may add the term "Runyonesque" to this review. It's really quite unique in my experience, which is a neat trick in itself. What makes this film different from something from Disney? It's not overly cute. And not overly sentimental. And thus should be on the menu for adults as well as children.

I TiVo'd this movie because I have an absurd sentimentality for animals. A friend actually snickered when she saw this on my TiVo "to do" list. No matter. I watched it on a night when I needed to just veg out - no challenging foreign films that night, thank you.

Boy, was I glad I did! As other posters have stated, this is a weird movie. No children star in this movie, but it has a talking dog narrator! And he's actually trained as a fighting dog -- something you probably wouldn't see in a "talking dog" movie made today.

Vic Morrow's voiceover was a bit distant -- joking a bit too much when you knew the dog was in sheer terror, for instance. But I liked the New York accent. It worked for the little street tough that the dog (his name was Wildfire) was supposed to be.

Human cast was terrific, especially Edmund Gwenn. Dean Jagger also good.

If you have a tolerance for G-rated talking animal movies, this one is different and worth checking out. It's not exactly a kids' movie -- children may be bored, in fact, since the action, though fast, isn't exactly at the breakneck cartoony pace that kids today are accustomed to. And there is some implied violence and "adult situations." But it's a brisk story that moves along nicely, and with some genuinely funny moments. And a sweet ending.

It's A Dog's Life graced the bottom of many double bills during the Fifties for MGM stars. A film like this one even five years later would have been a made for television product.

The original story was based on something that famed nineteenth century newspaper correspondent Richard Harding Davis wrote. When he was not covering things like the Spanish American War, Davis took his hand at fiction. He wrote the Gallegher stories that Walt Disney filmed during the Sixties with Roger Mobley.

This is the rags to riches story of a stray dog who managed to get from fighting dog of the Bowery to pampered show dog on Long Island. As Vic Morrow who supplies the dog's voice and does the narration, Horatio Alger would have loved this story. He certainly would have because Horatio was writing his stuff during this same time.

Of the human actors we have to single out Edmund Gwenn and Dean Jagger, two of the most accomplished character actors around. Gwenn as the groom and stableman on Jagger's estate and Jagger as the wealthy dog breeder who has a lot of issues in a lot of areas both are just fine in the roles. And they don't let the appealing little canine steal the scenes either.

I wish I could rate this film better, but sad to say I know all too well that dogs who are bred as killers are not likely to change their ways and become show dogs. Maybe Davis could sell that as fiction in his time and maybe MGM could see it in 1955, but it doesn't go over today.

Still some may find this a cute film.