Hollywood: Going Forward AND Backward

I've never really looked up to Hollywood as the benchmark of masterful filmmaking. Capitalist filmmaking, yes. Filmmaking as an art? Not exactly. Most Hollywood filmmakers look at cinema as a piggy bank, not as an art medium.

On the same note, I never really took the Oscars® seriously, it's mostly just a popularity contest. Oscar® — the tiny, golden, (and probably) naked guy — mostly favors the popular and the money maker, not the artistic. Just think: Hitchcock never won an Oscar.

White Oscar

With (alleged) propaganda film American Sniper getting lots of publicity and attention, it wouldn't be a surprise if the film wins the major awards at this year's Oscars.

When Humanity Breeds Hate

WHITE DOG
Samuel Fuller, 1982

"That's the danger in picking up a stranger," an injured Molly says. Molly (Lynne Moody) is a friend of Julie Sawyer (Kristy McNichol). Julie is a struggling Hollywood actress who nurses an injured German Shepherd back to health and eventually adopts it, only to realize that it is a "white dog" (literally and mentally).

The dog is trained to rabidly attack Black people. Being a dog lover that she is, Julie doesn't want the dog killed, despite the advice of her screenwriter boyfriend (Jameson Parker). Instead she goes to Mr. Carruthers (Burl Ives), a successful animal trainer who then refers her to Keys (a nice entrance by Paul Winfield), an African-American trainer who is determined to "un-teach" the brainwashed dog.