In virtually all movies that feature the main protagonist with a dog companion, the dog lives. Even with utter destruction happening all around, the dog manages to reunite with its master. This is something a lot of people love; no one wants the dog to die!
I was just trying to think of movies where the dog actually does die. I find that if the dog (or other animal in general) is the focal point of the movie, there’s better chance that its life will tragically end (Old Yeller, Marley and Me, Charlotte’s Web - spider, I know, but sad nonetheless).
Then there are movies like I am Legend (this is why I added “possible spoilers” to the thread title). My mom got word that the dog dies and refused to see the movie for this very reason.
I was just thinking, what other movies have the dog die? Also, if you have a favorite scene where you think the dog is in danger, but makes a miraculous escape/emotional rendezvous with its owner, please share that, too!
The Thing by Carpenter. Actually, I suppose in reality the dog is already dead by the time the movie starts. Its body has been taken over but there’s still some substantial early bonding.
The dog makes an early miraculous escape. To survive intact while crossing miles of open, frozen wasteland while a helicopter is trying to dust you with a high powered rifle is pretty miraculous.
Then it and all the other dogs for that matter suffer a horrific death and there’s no doubt that they’re no longer with the living.
Apparently, I’m Hi, Neighbor’s mother, because I refused to see the movie for the same reason. Read the Marley book, teared up at the end, won’t go see that one either.
And Tom Hanks and Hooch is my favorite tear-jerker dog scene. That Dogue de Bourdais (sp?) is the best worst dog ever. Marley has nothing on him. He CRUSHED people’s windpipes!!!
Yup. A friend of mine had gotten together with relatives, and they planned to go out to a movie. She was going through a rough spot (still trying to cope with the surprise announcement a couple months prior by her husband that he was leaving her, and it was the Christmas season), and this looked like a lighthearted, fluffy film. Oops.
I’m trying to remember if a dog died in Mimic, or if it was just a kid or two. I do remember being surprised at the time that a Movie Kid got killed but don’t recall (over a decade later) if a dog was involved too.
I was just watching The Road Warrior…or was it Mad Max??..can’t really tell the two movies apart (or are they the same movie?) and I was really only half-watching it.
Anyway, towards the end of it there’s a character that’s going to shoot Max with a crossbow…Max’s doggie jumps up to I assume protect him and the doggie gets it, albiet off screen, you just see the guy shoot the crossbow and the doggie yelps.
I almost did not watch I Am Legend because of the dog thing myself, and I kinda regretted that I did watch it–I bawled my eyes out at that part.
That’s in ‘The Road Warrior’. sniff Cute little Australian Cattle Dog.
I just watched Marley and Me last weekend. I couldn’t finish the book cause I knew how it ended and my old dog Gizmo wasn’t doing great at the time (he’s doing ok now). I thought the movie was pretty crappy, though.
After watching “My Dog Skip,” I recommended it to my mother. She asked me, “This isn’t one of those movies in which the dog dies, is it?” I had to assure her it isn’t. And he doesn’t die in the movie, even though there is a scene in which Skip is injured and it looks bad for him. I know this isn’t what the thread was asking, but I had to share.
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