White Dog (1982)

A young actress (Kristy McNichol) accidentally hits a dog, a white German Shepherd, and after taking it to a vet, brings the dog home. To her horror, she discovers the dog is a trained "white dog", a dog trained from birth to attack and maim blacks. In an attempt to untrain the dog from its learned racism, a black animal handler (Paul Winfield) takes the challenge on. Based on the novel by Romain Gary and directed by Samuel Fuller (THE NAKED KISS). The film has a controversial history and was initially only released in Europe where it opened to favorable reviews but Paramount pictures buckled under to pressure groups (amid rumors it was a "racist" film) and let it sit on a shelf for many years. The film is, in fact, a powerful anti-racist allegory indicating racism is not natural but learned and if it can be learned, it can be deprogrammed. This, however, being a Sam Fuller film, the ending is never in doubt. The script (co-written by Curtis Hanson, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL) is hampered by some weak performances by the leads: McNichol, the normally reliable Winfield, Burl Ives and Jameson Parker. Fortunately, not bad enough to dampen the film's primitive power. Ennio Morricone composed the film's elegant score.