Sleeping Dogs (1977 film)

Following the break-up of his marriage caused by his wife's affair with another man named Bullen, Smith arranges to live on the Coromandel Peninsula on an island owned by a Māori tribe. Meanwhile, political tension escalates as an oil embargo leaves the country in an energy crisis. Tension boils over into a civil war and guerrilla activity. However, Smith and his dog enjoy peaceful island life, having little interaction with the rest of society.

Smith's idyllic life is shattered when a bomb explodes 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 in which Smith is being taken away. Smith recognises one policeman as a former schoolmate, Jesperson, 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 campground. Happy to be outside the civil war again, Smith blends in until a US Army unit arrives and takes over the campground. Smith clashes with Willoughby, the commander of the US forces, who suspects Smith 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.

Fleeing the scene of the successful attack, Smith and Bullen are pursued by government forces and cornered in a nearby forest. After government forces surround the guerrillas and bomb their encampment, Smith and Bullen escape, only to be cornered by Jesperson and his elite squad. After Bullen is fatally wounded, Smith – wishing an end to what is happening – deliberately provokes Jesperson into shooting him.

The scene in which Sam Neill ("Smith") escapes the police van and runs off into the crowded street was filmed without formal permission from the police. When Neill's stunt double ran from the van, an off-duty police officer tackled him, mistaking the stuntman for a real criminal attempting to escape custody. The stuntman had to point out the camera crew to get the officer to release him.

In the scene where Warren Oates steps out of his jeep and meets "Smith", he is actually holding a page of the script, fearing that he would forget the lines. Oates acted as if the paper were a list of directions to the motel.

The riot scenes in which police with batons and shields beat back protestors closely mirrored actions of police and protestors four years later during the 1981 South African national rugby team's – the Springboks' – tour in New Zealand, which sparked anti-apartheid protests.

RNZAF A-4 Skyhawks also featured in the film courtesy of the permission obtained through AVM Siegert.

The film was the highest-grossing New Zealand film in New Zealand at the time with a gross of $450,000.^[1]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars in his Chicago Sun-Times review: "Roger Donaldson's "Sleeping Dogs," from New Zealand, is a very well made and acted movie... The movie resembles "Z" and "The Battle of Algiers" in the way it combines ideology with fiercely-paced action."^[5] The film also received a positive review from Janet Maslin in The New York Times: "Roger Donaldson's sharp, suspenseful direction does wonders for the material. What it lacks in originality, Sleeping Dogs makes up in intensity and conviction...Mr. Neill remains appealing and believable, even when the film takes its most improbable turns."^[6]

• Martin, H., and Edwards, S. (1997) New Zealand Film 1912–1996. Auckland: Oxford University Press. p. 64. ISBN 019 558336 1

• Sleeping Dogs at IMDb
• Sleeping Dogs at Rotten Tomatoes
• Sleeping Dogs at AllMovie
• Sleeping Dogs (1977) at New Zealand Feature Film Database