Tuesday Blus: Come Up w/Fleas for Donaldson’s Sleeping Dog (1977)

Director Roger Donaldson is one of those mainstream minded filmmakers whose body of work quickly and quietly dispelled his Australian origins. His glossy Hollywood movies of the 1980s (1987’s The Big Clock remake No Way Out or 1988’s Cocktail) segued into knock-off genre brands, like his remake of Arthur Penn’s The Getaway in 1994, or B-grade sci-fi classic Species (1995). His most noted item might still be 1998’s Dante’s Peak, one of the two dueling volcano action epics which premiered within the same period. Lately, he’s churned out risible fodder for fading action idols, like Nicolas Cage in Seeking Justice (2011) or a return to Pierce Brosnan with 2014’s The November Man (read review). But Donaldson’s demure roots set off a regional cinematic movement thanks to his 1977 debut Sleeping Dogs, a sci-fi odyssey of political unrest in New Zealand, which offered Sam Neill his first lead role. A predecessor to the likes of the noted 1980s American film Red Dawn, Neill plays an unassuming loner who gets sucked into a violent divide between guerilla rebels and an encroaching Fascist political system which seems to be mirroring the Nazi takeover in Germany.

Donaldson strips away the sociopolitical angles of C.K. Stead’s 1971 novel upon which this is based and instead gives us an action film led by a reluctant protagonist. Neill is introduced as a man in the midst of abandoning his family, which allows for his wife (Nevan Rowe) to become wrapped up in the resistance. When Neill’s character, known as Smith, becomes unfairly targeted by authorities, which leads to him being a fugitive, he is stuck in a strange love triangle with a woman who also attracts the attention of Col. Willoughby (Warren Oates), part of the American presence who have arrived to assist the New Zealand government. As circumstances dictate, Smith eventually is forced into the underbrush alongside his wife’s lover (Ian Mune) as they’re pursued by the authorities.

Although of note as the first successful homegrown title out of New Zealand, which led to the establishment of its film industry, Sleeping Dogs didn’t make much impact abroad. To be fair, Donaldson’s adaptation of the Stead novel reduces this to a simplified action film, with Neill’s inscrutable and passive lead characterization a rather lukewarm object of interest or empathy. Ironically, the man wishing to retreat into nature is brutally recruited by the very revolution he was attempting to avoid.

Disc Review:

Arrow Academy presents Sleeping Dogs in 1.85:1 with 5.1 DTS-HD master audio. Picture and sound quality are expressive in this new high-definition transfer, and Donaldson, Neill, and Ian Mifune are on hand for a commentary track.

The Making of Sleeping Dogs (1977):
This twenty-eight-minute behind-the-scenes documentary features interviews with Roger Donaldson and Sam Neill pertaining to the making of the film.

The Making of Sleeping Dogs (2004):
This hour-plus retrospective documentary features interviews with Roger Donaldson, Sam Neill, and Geoff Murphy on the making of Sleeping Dogs.

Film Review: ★★½/☆☆☆☆☆
Disc Review: ★★★½/☆☆☆☆☆