MovieChat Forums > S.O.B. (1981) Discussion > What's the point of the dog side story?

What's the point of the dog side story?

posted 13 years ago by dbjorck
13 replies | jump to latest

Hi!

In the first scene a famous actor gets a heart attack on the beach at Felix' beach house. His body is ignored throughout most of the movie, eventhough there's plenty of people on the beach. I get the point they're making there. But his dog sits faithfully by his side. There are several absolutely heart wrenching scenes of the dog crying, even howling in grief. I find it so sad I have to look away every time the dog comes on. There must be some symbolism of having these repeatedly deeply disturbing scenes of an abandoned dog all throughout the movie. But I don't get what it can be. Why did they put that in??

Brgds

Danny

[–] IceboxMovies 13 years ago

While I didn't think Edwards executed the device with the dog as well as he could have, I thought it was one of the more interesting aspects of the movie. The film is trying to be a satire of Hollywood, and how it quickly makes and breaks the careers of people who don't comply with higher powers. So, when the old actor dies on the beach, nobody cares. The bourgoisie turns a blind eye. The actor is lined up for a second-rate funeral and the dog (i.e. the actor's family) is left with nothing.

I thought the ending was weird, though. When the dog wags its tail during the "Viking funeral", I didn't really understand why. Why is the dog happy that producer abandoned by the industry was shot and killed? I could understand it if the dog were pleased over the deaths of the executives who took his movie away from him (all of the villains in this movie go unpunished). But to wag his tail over the producer's death is a little... arbitrary.

"What I don't understand is how we're going to stay alive this winter."

[–] gribfritz2 8 years ago

The dog is happy Felix received an appropriate sendoff as opposed to his master. Although, technically, his master actually received a lavish funeral since he was in Felix's casket.

[–] jztzt 12 years ago

A lot of Blake Edwards's films have some funny sight gags, subplots or events going on in the background, like the drunk waiter in The Party (1967). It's like his trademark. He's great when it comes to slapstick and physical comedy. In the case of this film, I haven't thought of it as symbolism, but merely black comedy and the idea that some actors and directors are unfairly treated and forgotten in the entertainment business. But if it is intended as symbolism, then I would guess perhaps the dog symbolized the state of mind that Felix was in. Felix was very dedicated to his picture but it failed miserably. The dead actor could be symbolic of the failure of the picture "Night Wind", and the dog could symbolize Felix's tremendous grief but still unyielding dedication to the picture.

[–] preppy-3 12 years ago

I never understood it either. I saw it with a friend of mine and he thought the dog watching the smoke was saying something like it's a dogs life (i.e. a bad life). But the other comments above make a lot more sense. Still I agree with O.P.--it was sad and depressing seeing that poor dog whining near its owners body.

[–] N0TY 11 years ago

I got took Dog as this... It's a metaphor for people who are so wrapped up in themselves and their own situations, that they ignore the commonplace or meaningful things happening around them... Their existence revolves around artificial people, things or situations, like the Hollywood scene.

[–] mnoe 11 years ago

22 January 1941, Dunkirk (NY) Evening Observer, “Harrison in Hollywood” by Paul Harrison, pg. 6, col. 5:
And then there was Frank Fay’s advice to René Clair, the newly arrived French director. Said Fay, “If you’re going to stay in this town and want a friend, go out and buy yourself a dog.”

This general quote has been attributed to a lot of people about a lot of towns, but people in show business would certainly recognize the oblique reference Edwards was making to a common axiom. Nobody loves you in Hollywood except your dog.

last 2 dvds: Ten (2002) & La ragazza che sapeva troppo (1963)

[–] bellamae 10 years ago

I think this is the most plausible reason/answer. The only truly loyal friend you will have in Hollyweird is your dog.

[–] DJ_Dank 11 years ago

I felt the only acts of true love and kindness shown in the movie were Felix's drunken friends stealing his body and giving him a Viking funeral. Everyone else in the movie was a selfish SOB working in Hollywood and playing the ruthless game, So as the dog looses his master and goes through the indignities of being ignored and abused, to finally see the smoke from the funeral fire at sea, shows hope in the dog eat dog world depicted in this acidic black comedy.

[–] mit800 10 years ago

very good explanation DJ.

It`s too baqd that some people have to be nurse-maided through films.

JKOC.

Dorothy stop that, Mr. Ha Ha`s lookin at you!!

[–] dshenderson 10 years ago

Sorry I don't have time to read this whole thread right now, but quickly...
The dog scenes reminded me of Dudley Moore in a couple of scenes in "10" that take place in the sand. Purely because of the imagery.

[–] jegprods-7-127794 8 years ago

I think there are 2 purposes of the dog:

1- Julie Andrew had a doctor who asked her and her husband, Blake Edwards, who directed S.O.B., if he could be in their film. I grew up with the doctor's children, and he was also my doctor throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He was close friends with Julie and Blake, who put him in most of his movies! His name is Herb Tanney and is often billed by different variations of this name. If you look up Herb Tanney in IMDB, you'll see how many times Blake Edwards gave Herb small cameos in many of his films. So, the first reason for the dog is not really for the dog at all. It's so that Blake Edwards could use his friend and doctor in a role that always has some significance in his films.

2 - The second purpose, I believe, is that Blake is taking a very deplorable look at the film industry. This can be seen through the title alone, but the man who has a heart attack on the beach is a great example of how narcissistic and self serving people in the film industry can be. Here are a bunch of people in the "business", having a party to help cheer up a filmmaker. Right next to them is either a dead, or a dying man, stranded on the beach. With the exception of his dog - the man is ignored completely. The film industry S.O.B.s are so single-minded and self serving that even when the dog howls, they cannot see or hear it. OR, the people in the film industry know he's there, but can't be bothered to help him! I think it highlights what Edwards is saying about the film Industry in a wonderful, non verbal way!!! I'm sure Edwards intended it to be funny, but he missed the mark, because it's too upsetting to be funny. It would have been more funny had the man sat right next to a party-goer, so close that he can actually touch her, but she is so self-absorbed that she pays him no mind. Or it might have been funnier had the party-goer seen the man gasping for breath and, in one swift move, changed her seat on the beach in order to sit next to someone who is actually alive, hence has the ability to help her! She simply has no time for anyone who cannot further her career!

[–] ChuckOp 8 years ago

It's black comedy, in which you are meant to feel guilty for finding the humor in the situation.

But I just read this interview Blake Edwards did with Larry King and it explained a couple of themes of S.O.B. to me:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0207/27/lklw.00.html

EDWARDS: OK. I had decided that the time had come. I didn't want to live anymore. I went up on a bluff in Malibu where we lived. I had decided on the method, which was probably to slash my wrists, because I figured I could bleed into the lawn and nobody would notice it. And, I got a straight razor blade and I sat down in a chair on a beautiful sunny day looking out at the Pacific.

I'm in my tennis shorts, and as I prepared to do the deed, I felt a wet nose at my ear and I responded. It was my Great Dane and he knew something was going on. He just knew and I said "Get away. Go away." I pushed him away and finally he became so almost abusive trying to get me to stop doing whatever it was I was doing. I had locked him up in my studio, but I could see him through the glass because it was all glass studio.

KING: He knew?

EDWARDS: Yes, he knew. He was jumping and running and whining. You could hear him. And I thought well, in a little while that won't make any difference. I won't have to worry about him and I'm ready to do it again. And I feel this wet soggy thing at my crotch, and I look down and it's a tennis ball and our other dog, our retriever had now brought me a tennis ball and he knew what the hell was going on and he kept fetching this tennis ball and I kept saying, "Go away," and throwing the tennis ball.

KING: This is the suicide gone wrong.

EDWARDS: Right. So finally, I figured, I know what I'll do. I'll throw this ball over the cliff. It will go down on the beach. By the time he finds it and retrieves it...

KING: You're dead.

EDWARDS: I'm dead, right? So I wind up and I throw the tennis ball and I dislocate my shoulder, and I fall over backwards in the chair and I decided at that moment that today was not the day for it.

KING: The gang that couldn't shoot straight.

EDWARDS: So I turn around and I started back toward the house feeling just terrible, and I thought oh, wait a minute. You know, always the one to worry about other people and I thought that razor blade's in the lawn somewhere. So I went over looking for the razor blade and stepped on it and cut, opened my heel up about that deep and ended up in the emergency in Malibu saying "hurry up or I'm going to bleed to death." That was one suicide attempt.

KING: What a great -- that's incredible.

EDWARDS: Yes, it's true.

KING: Taught you a lesson, though. You believe the dogs knew, though?

EDWARDS: Oh, they knew. There's no doubt they knew. Absolutely.