meransom Review of Last of the Dogmen

Last of the Dogmen (1995)

Top Drawer Acting Couldn't Save Substandard Writing

[2/10 · 10 December 2010]

After seeing this movie, I keep saying to myself, "You've got to be kidding." Billed as adult fare, this film turns out to have a juvenile level writing and a Disneyesque finish. It was the first feature film written by Tab Murphy, who went on to write Disney films. Despite reasonably decent directing (Murphy was also the director), someone failed to tell him that this was not a Disney cartoon movie. Terrific acting by the entire cast could not save a script that was marginal at best throughout -- and downright unbelievable toward the end. The movie starts with the sheriff needing our hero Gates to track three escaped convicts because the sheriff couldn't do it, despite his radios, off-road vehicles and helicopters. It's bad enough that Gates displays no tracking ability while chasing the convicts; his dog does all the detective work. Worse yet, when the sheriff decides to form a posse and chase Gates into the wilderness (presumably because Gates stole some penicillin form a drug store), he tracks Gates precisely and directly to the gates of an idyllic Cheyenne community that went without detection for 150 years. My wife is Native American and found the idyllic portrayal of Cheyenne life to be no more realistic than the cartoon Pocahontas. And then, after finding his prey (Gates), the sheriff makes an irrational and unwarranted decision to go even deeper into the wilderness, thereby providing an unexplained villain who now threatens the ancient Native American community, even when Murphy failed to include the sheriff on the community's existence in the first place. It all made for a sappy, hyped and juvenile story line lacking any credibility at the end. Mr. Murphy, please stay with the Disney cartoons and not feature films intended for adults.