Extra Credit: Claire's Top 10 Dogs

The dogs were good in cinema, here are Claire's top 10.

We've talked about the best in Best Pictures, the champions of Box Office Champions, but have missed a key factor: the best in cinematic dogs. Claire is here to correct that, bringing us the goodest boys (and one girl) from the happy dog stories, the sad dog stories, the adventures and the bonds with their humans. Which dogs reign supreme? Find out!

Find all of our episodes and the rest of Writing Therapy Productions' various entertainments at www.writingtherapyproductions.com

Transcript

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1928, 1920, 2021, it's the first one to year. No, that's not it. It's a candy versus I think. And well, you know what? Take it away, Claire. Tell them what we're doing this week.

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Alright, everybody. This is Claire. And I have got a special treat for you. Okay, so many of you will remember my reaction to the shaggy dog. And those of you who know me will know that I absolutely love animals. Dogs are one of my top, and if there's a movie and it centers a dog, that is my jam. I am here for it. So I felt that the only thing I could do for my little mini sod is um a ranking out of my top ten movie dogs. Now this was a hard thing to do and come up with because there are so many movies and so many dogs. And um I did really have to narrow it down. The criteria being only live action and movies only. There's a lot of wonderful dogs in television shows. Um shout out to the littlest Hobo, because he is one of my faves. But this is movies, and so I had to keep this to movies only. Alrighty. That all said, let's get into it. Claire's top ten movie dogs. Alright, at number 10, we've got a classic. We're starting off with Lassie from the 1994 film Lassie. She's all the way down at 10 because it's a little bit on the cliched side of things. She's a let's say fan favorite, but even if you don't know the movie plot, you probably know the dog herself. We all know that she's gonna save Timmy from that well and uh also do other heroic things. So she's all the way down at number 10 because, like I said, a little bit of a cliche, but I love her nonetheless. There are very few girl dogs on the list. In fact, going through the rest of them, she is the only girl dog on the list. And let's just say Lassie is a badass bitch in the technical term as well. So, hilarious story. I'm not gonna go through the plots of the movies because uh I feel like many of them have the same plot. It's a dog and a little boy and their best friends, and something tragic will happen, and the dog will end up saving the child's life, and then maybe the dog or the child will think that the dog has died, but don't worry everybody, the dog is okay. That's not the case for every single dog on this list, but for the most part that is a plot synopsis of every single movie on this list, because these are also mostly from my childhood, and uh I only wanted to see happy dog movies. Once again, there are some exceptions to that, and we'll talk about those as they pop up. But anyway, back to actual Lassie. So, she's down here, she's the only girl, she's pretty great. She doesn't save Timmy from a well in this story because the dog's name or the human's name is not Timmy in it, it's actually Matt. And yeah, that's all I have to really say about that. Otherwise I'll just keep vamping, and I've got uh nine other dogs. So ooh, ooh, quick story though. She has one of my favorite movie going experiences. When I was little, aka in 1994, so I would have been like seven, I really wanted to go see this movie. And we were in St. Catharines visiting family, there was a movie theater quite close to where my babsha lived, and I was like, I want to go see Lassie. And because I'm the eldest, naturally Catherine had to come along, and my dad loves spending time with us, so he was like, Yeah, let's go see this movie about a dog. Great, got it. I was apparently the only person in the entire area of St. Catharines that wanted to go see this movie at this particular time of the day, and uh it ended up just being me, my dad, and my little sister in the movie theater. And little seven-year-old Claire could not have been happier. So great story, fine film, iconic dog, doing iconic dog stuff. Alrighty, at number nine, we have Chance from Homeward Bound, The Incredible Journey. Uh, he will also make an appearance in the sequel, Homeward Bound 2, Lost in San Francisco. But my love for him is starting in the 1993 Homeward Bound, The Incredible Journey. He is just, he's an American bulldog, and he is just the dumbest of dummies. He's juxtaposed by Shadow, the old golden retriever, and Sassy, the Himalayan cat, because apparently girls like cats and boys like dogs, and that was what 1993 was all about. It's also direct or sorry, it was also based off of a novel by Sheila Burnford that came out in 1961, and um another film based on the novel as well called The Incredible Journey, and that came out in 1963. Now I don't actually care for the original film, and I have never read the book, but once again, little six-year-old Claire loves the good dogs finding their way back to their human story, and this movie stands up and has one of the saddest scenes ever to exist in all movies ever. But that shadow story, that's not chances. Chance is just there for a good time. He is the lovable dum-dum dog. He gets the whole team into scrapes and scraps and like almost killed by bears and he gets stabbed by a porcupine, and he's just there to purely cause chaos and be absolutely lovable while doing it. So that is why he is up at number nine. Alright, clippin' along here to number eight. This is Yellow from Far From Home, The Adventures of Yellow Dog. This one is a Canadian one. It's set in British Columbia, and it is another kid dog bonding experience movie, and it is centered around the dog Yellow, who is a Yellow Labrador Retriever, because the kid in this movie is bad at naming animals. Came out in 1995, and it is just so sweet, so so absolutely adorable. We just get to watch this beautiful story of friendship develop between our main character, Angus, and his newly acquired dog Yellow. They fight for survival in the British Columbian wilderness, and you truly see a dog just being a dog, and the love that a dog has for their owner and their human. And it's just super duper duper sweet, and it's Canadian, and it's just one of my all-time faves watching this story develop. And once again, it does have the typical like uh lassy homeward-bound ending where we all think that the poor dog is lost forever, right as the boy has been rescued, and we're all like, oh no, why would this movie do this to us? Our hearts, our hearts! But as all good childhood movies do, don't worry everybody. Angus and his dog whistle save the day, and yellow is just a powerhouse of an animal, and he comes on out of the forest one day, emerges after being thought gone forever, after both him and Angus have been lost in the wilderness for like a month. It is so sweet, so wonderful, and we know that they are going to be the very, very bestest of best friends forever and all eternity. And that is Far From Home, The Adventures of Yellow Dog. Alright, and yellow is the name of the dog. Alright, now we're switching up the happy genre for a little hot second here. And we're going to number seven. And number seven is Cujo. Okay, so I thought long and hard about whether Kujo should be on this list because the movie actually depicts the dog in a really bad, horrible light, and it actually makes me really mad. Not as mad though as reading this book did. So when I read Kujo, I was livid. Like this is a throw the book across the room lividness. Because this poor, poor dog, this poor Saint Bernard, just has a bad day and gets bitten by a bat, and then he gets rabies, and it's not his fault. His brain is literally being destroyed by this horrible, horrible disease, and he doesn't know what to do. And a lot of the book is told from the perspective of the dog, especially when we are in the scenes where he he is, and it's just so heartbreaking, and I was so mad because everybody else is just off there, all the humans being like big dicks, and they're like and then there's all these storylines about spousal abuse and cheating and all of this horrible, horrible things. And meanwhile, this poor dog is just there being all neglected and abused and rabied, and he is just sad, and it hurts my heart like nothing else. So the movie doesn't quite make me feel those same emotions. I mean I am still really, really sad that this poor poor little baby, and by little I mean he's a Saint Bernard, they are not little dogs, but this poor poor little baby just gets bitten and he doesn't know what's happening. But there are some beautiful, beautiful scenes in this movie to show just the the horrible, devastating thing that rabies actually is and what it can do. And the scenes, which is primarily it, um, of the mum and her child just trapped in their car while this gigantic dog is trying to get in there and kill them. He's already mauled to death to other people. He's they do the classic like foaming at the mouth, blood dripping off the jowls, all of that. And it is actually like super terrifying. If you were in that situation, it is something that I could not even fathom. As a mother trying to protect her child, trying to figure out what is going on, and it just it's a really good movie and it's tight, it's 93 minutes, it is of its time, it did come out in 1983, but it is solid and scary, and it makes me so sad because this poor animal doesn't know what's happening to him, and he just literally loses his mind and goes on a murderous rampage. Luckily the two guys that he does kill first are an abusive husband and then like the alcoholic neighbor who might also be abusive, but whatever, they don't matter. That's kind of a mean thing to say, I'm sorry I said that, but they're also terrible people, so they kind of deserve to get eaten. They don't get eaten. Retract that. They kind of deserve to get mauled to death by this giant rabid Saint Bernard. But this is also the first movie we are talking about where the dog dies at the end. It is something that sort of has to happen. There is no way around it unless the mother and the son are killed eventually. So we've sort of got this, it's either a child death or a dog death, and Stephen King chose the dog. And for most people, I think that would be the right choice. It works thematically, it's just uh very, very sad because once again, this poor baby doesn't know what's happening to him, and he can't help himself. So um that's why Kujo is down at number uh seven, because it makes me very angry and sad at the same time. Alright though, moving on to a franchise, a little doggy franchise, uh, we are going to be talking about Bingy. I bet y'all thought I was going to say Buddy, because when we think of dog franchises, many of us think of Airbud. I might be also the only person in the world that actually thinks about dog franchise movies, and yeah, maybe I think of Airbud. But tricked ya, fooled ya, it's actually Benji! The 1974 movie about a little stray dog, and he's just so cute. He goes on so many adventures. Um I actually have a book about this dog as well, and it's called Benji Takes a Dive at Marineland, and it's about when he goes on a journey to Marineland, which is um now defunct, but he's there being super cute and uh like swimming with the beluga's. Really hilarious, really darn cute. I also love within the Benji franchise. Benji, oh, I didn't look at the name of it because I just got really excited about things, but he goes to Rome and it is called. It is called For the Love of Benji, and I'm lying. He doesn't go to Rome, he goes to Greece, and he meets a little lady dog. She's a little Maltese, and it's just the absolute cutest. So there's so many. It's also been redone. He's got a Christmas special, he's got a like a Halloween, or not Halloween, he's got like a one where he's lost in a jungle and like trying to potentially get eaten by like cougars. It's called Benji the Hunted, there's Benji off the leash, like all sorts of hilarious things about this little dog who's just the super cutiest cutie boy going on adventures. So, fun fact as well, the original, the 1974 movie entitled Benji, was nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars. Even though it was turned down by every single studio in Hollywood, and the creator and producer, Joe Camp, just was like, no, I'm doing this. I am making this story about this little dog in Texas. It is what I have to do, it is the best thing ever in the whole entire world. And he just did it. He did it, he created his own film company to distribute this movie and said, take that, Hollywood, and then it grossed $45 million on a budget of $500,000 and had its theme song nominated for Best Original Song in 1974. So, Benji, you're the best. I love you and everything about you. Never stop. Except the new ones are not great, so actually do stop. Only be in 1970s. Okay, love you. Up next, at number five, is probably a dog that many of you have not heard of. This is Brutus. And you might say, hey Claire, that is a very um cliche name for a dog. What movie could you possibly be talking about? Well, I am talking about the 1996 classic, The Ugly Dachshund. So this one, I love him, he he being Brutus, is not a dochend. He is an ugly dochshund because he is a great dean. And it's just so stinking cute watching this giant gangly dog crawl around and get into like hijinks and shenanigans because he's too big, but he thinks he's a dochin because he's been raised in a family of dochins. He's like crawling around, being all like cute and bloopy and like knocking over paint, he crushes a bed. It's just hilarious, and it's so silly, so cute, just glorious. You can never, ever in your life try and trick somebody, your spouse, with a puppy of a completely different dog breed. It will never turn out. Eventually, everybody will figure it out that this is not a dochin. But it's so stinking cute. He just wanders around. It was based on a novel that came um that was uh published in 1938, and it's just so silly and so heartwarming and so um cute. And spoiler, he learns to be a great dane again when they're at the dog show at the end, and he sees a lady Great Dane being all majestic and like Lady Great Daney, and he's like, whoa, I like her. I too can be that dog. And then he goes on and wins two blue ribbons, and it's just so cute, so silly, and I cannot recommend this movie enough. So Brutus is up at number five because he is just everything you ever want in a dog. Alright, heading on over to number four. We are back to the sad dogs. We are back to classic dogs, and of course, we are talking about Old Yeller. This movie came out in 1957, based on the novel that came out the year prior, and it is the saddest of dog movies. Once again, rabies sucks. Rabies is terrible. And when you live on a farm or in wilderness and you have a dog, there is a high chance that they could contract the disease, and it's just so sad. It's yes, there's no other thing to describe it. Rabies is terrible. And this movie is the most gut-wrenching movie imaginable. It was the fifth highest-grossing film of 1957, earning 6.25 million dollars in the United States and Canada, and we briefly touched upon it in the rundown, I believe, when we talked about 1957 and the movies of that year. So you can hear my exclamation of old Yeller on that. But it's just so sad, it's so tragic. Could you I can't, I can't imagine being a child and having that ending thrust upon me when your best friend has no other way out. He's just the saddest of little. Baby boys, and he can't help it, and it's just the most gut-wrenching end to a movie ever in the entire world. So I uh have to stop talking about it because otherwise I will probably cry, and we have to move on to dog number three. Now we are moving on to another Saint Bernard, and the only other Saint Bernard in the entire world that you can ever think of that is not Cujo is obviously Beethoven from the 1992 movie Beethoven. There's also the sequel, Beethoven's Second, which is even more ridiculous than the first. There's there is a whole franchise, we're back on dog franchises, there is a short-lived animated TV series. This movie is so dumb. The premise is just like the most ridiculous thing in the world. Please, please look it up, because I'm not going to explain it. But it involves the most ridiculous hijinks you can possibly imagine. The bad guys are literally stealing puppies, like Cruella de Ville style at the beginning, and that is how Beethoven escapes, but then they have to go back and try and like kidnap him again because they're like, oh no, we missed a puppy. It is just, it's wild. It's like he watched a fever dream. You're watching a dad who doesn't want a dog, and his whole family's like, look, we found a dog. And once again, he's not a small dog, he's a Saint Bernard. And it is just wild in. It's a great movie, it's a fun romp. It is just dummy dum dum dum, and you cannot go wrong with it. It is everything you want in a movie written by John Hughes under a pseudonym and about a dog named after a German composer because he barks when the child plays part of the Fifth Symphony on the piano. And they're like, clearly, this is how we name dogs. Because as I talked about before, with Angus naming his dog yellow because the dog was a yellow lab, kids are bad at naming animals. And that's what makes this movie endearing and dumb and all sorts of great. So, Beethoven, love you. You're not a sad Saint Bernard, you're a happy Saint Bernard. Everything is right in the world. Alright, we are coming up on number two. Number two, we are switching it up again to by far the tensest movie I have ever watched in my entire, entire life. That's right, everybody. My number two dog is Indy from Good Boy. And he is the goodest good boy in the entire world. And let me just say, this movie, it destroyed me. I was I couldn't. I couldn't, and I had to, and this dog is one of the best actors I have ever seen, and it's just so scary, so tense. I don't think I could ever watch it again, because now that I know what's going on, I don't think it would have the same impact. So I also don't want to put myself through that emotionally ever again, because it's it's a lot. It's a lot. And if you love dogs, this might not be the movie for you, but also he's so good. He's the best actor. Like, legit, this dog is better than some human actors. And you just want to like scoop him up and cuddle him the whole time, and you're like, oh you are a really good boy. You're such a good boy, Indy. And I really hope that you're okay. And don't worry, I'm gonna spoiler it for everybody. He is okay. He is okay. And you might be okay after you watch this movie. I can't promise for sure, but maybe. Anyway, I have to move on to my number one dog because I will I will also cry if I continue to talk about Good Boy because my heart, my heart, my heart. Anyway, my number one dog is Otis from The Adventures of Milo and Otis. He is a little pug, and he goes on an adventure with a cat, and it was originally released in Japan in 1986, and then it came to North America in 1989, and was released in North America, and it is just wild. It's about this little dog, this little pug named Otis, and a little cat named Milo, and they become best friends, and they go on a little adventure together, and they have to like fight bears and raccoons, and then through just pure happenstance, they both find ladies, like Otis's lady is like uh French. She's a French pug, and she is um trapped in the snow or down a hill, and she can't get she can't get out, she's trapped, and Otis finds her, and then he's like, Oh my gosh, I love you! And it is just so cute, so silly. Her name is Sandra, and she's French, and it's just really cute, and they go on their little journey to go back to get try and get back to their farm. And what's even better about this is so the original Japanese film was 92 minutes, and when they adapted it into English, they cut it down to 77 minutes. So you got 77 minutes of dubbed over animals just having the time of their lives, escaping bears, and owls, and raccoons, and then finding love, and then having babies, and then making it back to their farm. And it's so cute. There is some controversy about it because there were allegations of animal abuse during the filming, and that is not something I can ever condone, but those allegations have not fully been proven, and they have been denied by all of the creators involved. And in 19 the 199 1989, sorry, uh version was reported to have the approval of the American Humane Society, and though they did try and uh they had to investigate to see if there were actual guidelines being followed, because there's very different regulations in different countries, and the people were concerned that the Japanese Humane Society as and the American Humane Societies were not necessarily truthful to each other. But by nineteen ninety-eight, there was some staff uh testimony about some really horrible, horrible things that were done not necessarily on production, but around it. But everything has been denied and sort of like not necessarily fixed, but by 2014 there's no actual formal charges laid on anybody. But there's some huge controversy around it, which makes me really sad because it's a childhood movie that I truly, truly love, but it is so stinking cute, and little tiny BB Claire loves just watching the adventures of Milo and Otis, this little kitty cat and this little pugnose pup, uh, going on an adventure, finding love, and coming home. So yeah, those are my top ten movie dogs, and I am so excited to share more fun animal things, I'm sure, as we continue on our Academy vs. Audience journey through the late 2010s and into the present time. Alright. I usually sign off by saying, and I'm Claire, and you can follow me, or you can find me by following Dan or Erin. And since I'm by myself, that's a really weird thing to say. So uh yeah.