DogWatch


I recently caught up with a 1996 Straight-To-Video release starring Sam Elliott, DogWatch.  All of this courtesy of my Netflix subscription and my more than beloved ROKU box streaming the Netflix content through the 46 inch Vizio high definition wide screen.  It’s a wonderful age in which we live, no?

The only stuff that keeps this movie from being a classic Noir is that it’s shot in color and doesn’t have any narration.  Everything else is in order.  Snappy dialog, lots of shadows, bad girls, a bad decision on the part of the hero which ultimately leads to his downfall and, well, death, since you asked.  You can tell the age of the movie just by watching the scenes with the strippers--NO TATTOOS.  What a pleasant surprise.  Tattoo-free nekkid women.

And that’s pretty much it for the story--Oh, there’s plenty of interesting twists and turns, and Sam Elliott is always good..........and he has the world’s best mustache.  Like my grandmother used to say--”Kissing a man without a mustache is like kissing a fish”.  Did I mention that I have a mustache?  No?  Well, I do.  A good one, too, but it’s not nearly as good as Sam’s.

This feature was produced by John Langley, a veteran director of 64 episodes of Cops, not to mention Vegas Strip, Las Vegas Jailhouse, Undercover Stings, Jail, and Street Patrol.  And if that ain’t a ringing endorsement, then I don’t know one.

As our hero with faults we have the one and only Sam Elliott.  He makes a good Detective.  For my money, though, he will always be Virgil Earp.  You might have a more favorite role for him, like Wade Garrett in Road House, but for me, it’s Virgil Earp.

As his side-kick we have Esai Morales, that Brooklyn-born veteran of Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman.  Nothing like an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie to flesh out a resume.

Another Brooklyn boy, Paul Sorvino, plays one of the corrupt cops.  His side-kick, another corrupt cop, is portrayed by The Wonder Years dad Dan Lauria--Dan’s a Marine combat veteran, a former wrestling coach, and also from Brooklyn.  But in this movie, he’s plain evil.

The movie is set in San Francisco, but seems to be shot mostly in El Lay.  How odd.

Absolutely worth the time spent if only to see, for a fact, that attractive tattoo-free nekkid women used to exist.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Very Simple Request

In the late 1970s (that would be during the Carter administration and THAT gas crisis), I drove a Datsun 1200 for a while.   It was a good, small, simple car, and I could afford it even though I had virtually no money. As I recall, it had 12 or 13 inch wheels, no power anything, a four cylinder engine, and a four speed manual transmission.   It was light weight with no amenities.   None.   It had an AM only radio and a tinny little speaker.   No air conditioning either—can you imagine?   No AIR??   On the freeway, when larger cars would pass, the jet wash would buffet the car slightly after the larger car passed.   It was orange, and it routinely got 35 to 50 MPG.   40 to 50 on the freeway and 35 to 45 around town.   When the tires wore out, it was about as expensive as putting new tires on your bicycle.   If it needed brakes, it was about as expensive as putting brakes on your bicycle.   Did I just repeat myself? Here's w...
Read more

Karma

I see that the Marlin's Scott Cousins has been placed on the 15 day disabled list with a "lower back strain", and has been replaced on their active roster by Hanley Ramirez.  And that the Marlins are 3-18 since leaving San Francisco. Karma's a bitch.
Read more

For Love of the Game

  OK then. Baseball is finally over for my beloved Giants. Thank goodness. This leadership pair of Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler has created a baseball team and method that’s just pitiful. It’s painful to watch. And boring. Tedious. A struggle. Never knowing from day to day who is going to be on the club as players or where they might be in the batting order or what positions they might play. No stars. The way Kapler handles pitchers makes it even worse. One result of the inconstancy in player positions is that the Giants lead all of baseball in errors committed in an era of lower error rates in baseball. I can’t be the only one who sees the problem and the source of said problem. It’s no puzzle why the Giants find it impossible to sign truly first rate talent. I’m a big fan of Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Crawford, but, other than that…….Who would want to subject themselves to that nonsense, anyhow? It’s no wonder that the ballpark is habitually empty, or nearly so. ...
Read more