Sleeping Dogs (1977 film)
| Sleeping Dogs | |
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| Directed by | Roger Donaldson |
| Produced by | Roger Donaldson Larry Parr |
| Written by | Ian Mune |
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Release date
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1977 |
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Running time
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107 minutes |
| Language | English |
Sleeping Dogs is a 1977 film based on the book Smith's Dream by C. K. Stead, and is the first feature film by director Roger Donaldson. Featuring Sam Neill, Clyde Scott and Warren Oates it is notable for being the first feature-length 35 mm film produced entirely in New Zealand.
A political thriller with action film elements, it follows the lead character "Smith" (Neill) as New Zealand plunges into a police state as a fascist government institutes martial law after industrial disputes flare into violence. Smith gets caught between the special police and a growing resistance movement and reluctantly becomes involved.
Following the break-up of his marriage caused by his wife's affair with another man named Bullen (Mune), "Smith" (Neill) arranges to live on the Coromandel peninsula on an island owned by a Maori tribe. Meanwhile, political tensions escalate as an oil embargo leaves the country in an energy crisis. Tensions boil over into a civil war and guerrilla activity. However, Smith enjoys his peaceful island life and has little interaction with the rest of society and his dog which was given to him by a friend.
Smith's idyllic life is shattered when a bomb is exploded in a nearby town, and police arrive on his island to arrest him and search for illegal weapons. After they find a cache of explosives that Smith had been unaware of, he is taken to a police station where he is imprisoned, interrogated and tortured. The dog is last seen swimming after the boat that Smith is being taken away in. He recognises one policeman as a former schoolmate, Jesperson (Clyde Scott) who then takes over the interrogation. Jesperson reveals that the Government regard Smith as a key leader of the guerillas and offers expulsion from New Zealand in return for a confession, or alternatively trial by a military tribunal with a likely death sentence.
During a prison transfer, Smith deliberately forces himself to vomit to confuse his captors and escapes. He then flees the city, finding work at a small camping ground and love with a local girl. Happy to be outside the civil war again he blends in again until a US army unit arrives and takes over the camping ground. Smith clashes with the commander of the US forces Willoughby (Oates) and is suspected of being a rebel sympathiser. The arrival of Bullen (who is now a senior leader of the underground guerrilla movement) complicates matters further. As the US forces capture and kill more rebels, Smith is unwillingly drawn into participating in an attack on the military unit by Bullen.
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