Verdict
Summary
A Dog … Called Vengeance is a wowzer of a man-against-the-world film, with Miller sometimes literally naked without any defenses against a killer dog, and the movie is almost unrelenting in its plot that never lags or gets stagnant.
Plot:
A political prisoner manages to escape incarceration and is pursued for weeks by an attack dog through the country and the city.
Review:
Aristides (Jason Miller) is a political prisoner – formerly a renowned mathematician – who is incarcerated in a maximum-security prison in the countryside outskirts of Spain. During an excursion where a bunch of prisoners – chained together at the hands – are being transferred via a precarious cliff side locale, a prisoner’s arm is caught under the tire of a huge truck, and instead of dealing with the situation at hand (literally), a guard takes a machete and lops the prisoner’s arm off, putting an end to the guy’s suffering … but giving Aristides a rare opportunity to escape when no one realizes he’s now without a partner chained to him. He makes a daring and very dangerous escape by sliding down the cliff, and when the guards realize their mistake, they send out armed runners and an attack dog to either claim or kill him. After a few days on the run, a runner and his dog finally catch up to him, but in another exceedingly rare opportunity, he is able to not only escape again, but kill the runner and take his rifle and ammo. The dog, however, is another story. The dog is incredibly smart (believably) and evades him, but it also hunts him in a slow and doggedly methodical way through the countryside. Some time later, Aristides is sort of rescued by a bunch of peasants who help him kill a bunch of soldiers who are after him, destroy their helicopter, and send him on his way again, but by then Aristides is becoming a bit of a local legend amongst the commoners who want to help him even if it means being killed or incarcerated themselves. Soon, a band of a revolutionaries have recruited him to help them assassinate a bigwig politico who they blame for the way things are in Spain with the commoners and peasants and their political beliefs turning them into prisoners or outcasts, and Aristides allows himself to be used, but he’s amazed that the attack dog on his tail still hasn’t given up trying to apprehend or kill him, and there will be a final confrontation between them that will be epic.
Wow, here’s a crackerjack thriller in the vein of The Naked Prey that will make you raise your eyebrows, especially if you struggle with animal violence. A Dog … Called Vengeance is a wowzer of a man-against-the-world film, with Miller sometimes literally naked without any defenses against a killer dog, and the movie is almost unrelenting in its plot that never lags or gets stagnant. It’s believable right up until the nail-biting climax that has Miller sprinting towards a helicopter that will take him away from Spain … with the killer dog almost nipping at his heels. Filmmaker Antonio Isasi delivered a real winner here, and it’s amazing that I’d never heard of it before. Check this one out.
Severin brings A Dog … Called Vengeance to Blu-ray, which marks its first official North American release. The film looks and sounds rock solid in a 2K transfer, and comes with a film appreciation, an interview with a costar, and an interview with the daughter of the director, as well as the trailer.
