Be Kind Rewind – Play Fetch!
By Michael Nazarewycz
The 1940s gave us Lassie. The 1950s gave us Rin Tin Tin. The 1970s gave us
Benji. Hollywood has had a love affair with man’s best friend over the
decades, and the 1980s were no exception. And while it would be easy to
point to Cujo, as an example, there were good dogs in the ‘80s too.
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K-9
1989
Starring James Belushi, Mel Harris, Kevin Tighe, Ed O’Neill, and Jerry
Lee (that would be the dog)
Directed by Rod Daniel
Dooley (Belushi) is a drug cop that prefers to work alone. Circumstances
force him to take on a partner, and that partner happens to be Rando
(Jerry Lee), a rascally police dog. Rando and Dooley must crack a major
drug ring that is headed by a seemingly upstanding citizen. Director Rod
Daniel, who would go on to direct the second installment of the 1990s’
dog-centric franchise, Beethoven, made his big-screen
directorial debut directing an animal of another sort ... 1985’s
Teen Wolf.
Turner
& Hooch
1989
Starring Tom Hanks, Mare Winningham, Craig T. Nelson, and Beasley the
Dog (that would be ... well, you know)
Directed by Roger Spottiswoode
Hanks plays small-town cop Scott Turner. When a man is murdered, the only
witness to the crime is the man’s pooch Hooch (Beasley), so Turner
“adopts” Hooch in an effort to catch the bad guys. Making The Odd
Couple look like Ozzie and Harriet, Turner is obsessively neat,
while Hooch is unabashed about his overactive salivary glands. In more
director trivia, Roger Spottiswoode left a bigger impression on the ‘80s
than he did directing future Hollywood legend Tom Hanks in a cop-and-dog
flick. Spottiswoode wrote the screenplay for the debut film of ‘80s icon
Eddie Murphy: 48 Hrs. (1982).
Check out other Be Kind Rewind
issues:
Michael Nazarewycz is a
US-based Writer for UK-based
Filmoria.com.
He also blogs at
ScribeHard On Film. He can be reached via Twitter
@ScribeHard.
