Violence to Animals in Film: August 2014

Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.

Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.

Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.

These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

Ivan’s Childhood

Ivan’s Childhood (Ivanovo detstvo). Andrei Tarkovsky, 1962.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #397, released 2013. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Italian Connection

The Italian Connection (La mala ordina). Fernando Di Leo, 1972.

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Edition screened: Raro Blu-ray included in Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection, released 2012. Italian language with English subtitles or original English dub. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.

Summary: Quick depiction of a kitten killed during a shootout, clearly fake, at 1:29:29.

A reasonably enjoyable drive-in movie. The character portrayed by the nice kitten should have been allowed to survive the shootout in the junk yard.

@ BL

Is There Sex After Death?

Is There Sex After Death? Jeanne and Alan Abel, 1971.

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Edition screened: Image Entertainment DVD, released 2004. English language. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

An unbearably boring film, inviting the feeble excuses fans dependably provide to justify allegiance to a “cult classic” …

Well, it may seem dated now, but in its time …… In its time it was insufferable.

The sexual content may offend some people …… The horrible script and failed comedy should offend everyone.

It speaks to an era of our past …… It differs not in content, style, or execution from juvenile garbage produced today.

You have to be in the right mood …… I was.

Come on! It’s Buck Henry! …… Come on. It’s Buck Henry.

Some other straw grasped at …… No.

Insomnia (Skjoldbjærg)

Insomnia. Erik Skjoldbjærg, 1997.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #47, released 2014. Norwegian & Swedish languages with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

Summary: Murder of a dog.

Details: Stellan Skarsgård lures a German Shepherd ith food then shoots her at close range (34:04). We hear the dog yelp but do not see the death. Skarsgård then makes an incision in the dog’s skin, extracts the bullet, and puts the dog’s body in a dumpster. This all is over by 34:40.

Innocents with Dirty Hands

Innocents with Dirty Hands (Les Innocents aux mains slaes/Dirty Hands). Claude Chabrol, 1975.

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Edition screened: Pathfinder DVD, released 2003. English language with Original French dub. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey

In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey. James Cullingham, 2013.

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Edition screened: First Run DVD, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 58 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Before the Revolution

Before the Revolution (Prima della rivoluzione). Bernardo Bertolucci, 1964.

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Edition screened: BFI Blu-ray, released 2011. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 112 minutes.

Summary: Two dead chickens are seen hung over the handlebars of a bicycle, 11:35-11:40.

The Grand Duel

The Grand Duel (Il grande duello). Giancarlo Santi, 1972.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2019. Italian language with English subtitles or original English dub. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.

Summary: Cruel physical abuse to a horse.

Details: Depiction of a galloping white horse being shot, then tumbling body-over-head, then lying to appear very dead, 19:38-19:45.

I suppose this could be a stunt performed by the world’s most well-trained horse, but it sure looks like the horse was taken down with a trip wire and seriously crippled or killed in the fall. The situation is made worse by the outlaws who “shot” the horse coming to the animal’s body, lifting its tale, and making a crude joke about its rectum.

Forbidden Games

Forbidden Games (Jeux interdits). René Clément, 1952.

😿😿😿😿

Edition screened: Criterion DVD #318, released 2005. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.

Summary: Apparent real murder of a puppy.

This highly regarded anti-war film depicts the effect of war on children. In one scene the film shows a very young girl carrying a dying puppy in her arms. This is very disturbing when you realize that the filmmakers must have injured the dog, put it in the little actress’s arms, and asked her to ignore it. It appears that the puppy was really hurt and in its death throws, as its twitching could not have been faked. There were many ways to fake the puppy's death. Harming the dog was totally unnecessary. The scene hung like a pall over the entire film and might therefore ruin the film’s message for many viewers. There was a coldness and hypocrisy to the film when you analyze the ‘anti-war’ filmmakers attitude toward dog and actress.

- Thanks to our friend Bob Grandcolas for this submission.

James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set

James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set. Various directors, 1962-2006.

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Edition screened: MGM 42-DVD box set, released 2007. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 2631 minutes of juvenile humor and explosion-defying boredom.

My enjoyment of James Bond films is limited to mild interest in the title sequences and a normal appreciation of physically attractive women in sexy clothes. The former is dependably located near the beginning of a Bond film. The latter is sprinkled throughout, and in some instances can entice me to sit part way through the thumb-twiddling action and incessant childish jokes.

This Ultimate Collector’s Set includes four individual box sets:

James Bond Ultimate Edition Volume 1

Goldfinger (1964)

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

The Living Daylights (1987)

The World is Not Enough (1999)

James Bond Ultimate Edition Volume 2

Thunderball (1965)

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

A View to a Kill (1985)

License to Kill (1989)

Die Another Day (2002)

James Bond Ultimate Edition Volume 3

From Russia with Love (1963)

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Live and Let Die (1973)

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Goldeneye (1995)

James Bond Ultimate Edition Volume 4

Dr. No (1962)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Moonraker (1979)

Octopussy (1983)

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Casino Royal (2006), wrapped individually, also is crammed into the box.

You Only Live Twice

You Only Live Twice. Lewis Gilbert, 1967.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 125 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The World Is Not Enough

The World Is Not Enough. Michael Apted, 1999.

😸

Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 128 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A View to a Kill

A View to a Kill. John Glen, 1985.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 127 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Tomorrow Never Dies

Tomorrow Never Dies. Roger Spottiswoode, 2002.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 119 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Thunderball

Thunderball. Terence Young, 1965.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 130 minutes.

Summary: A shark is shot and shown bleeding, 2:01:21-2:01:24.

The Spy Who Loved Me

The Spy Who Loved Me. Lewis Gilbert, 1977.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 125 minutes.

Summary: Jaws (Richard Kiel) nibbles a shark to death, 1:58:50-1:59:04.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Peter R. Hunt, 1969.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 140 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Octopussy

Octopussy. John Glen, 1983.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 131 minutes.

Summary: Disrespect of animals for comedic effect.

Details:

1) Disregaurd for chickens’ safety as jeep plows through a barnyard, 4:22-4:26.

2) Juvenile ew-gross!!! banquet scene with presentation of “stuffed sheep’s head” and and associated eyeball plucking and eating, 52:25-52:43.

3) Large spider, presumably a tarantula, smashed on a shirt sleeve at 1:02:02.

Moonraker

Moonraker. Lewis Gilbert, 1979.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 136 minutes.

Summary: Killing for sport and in perceived necessity.

Details:

1) Typical pheasant hunting scene with overdressed buffoons killing animals pointlessly, 29:13-29:50. We subsequently see a display of dead pheasants on the back of a jeep 30:20-30:31.

2) Bond kills a (fake but reasonably convincing looking) large constrictor resembling a Reticulated Python by stabbing it in the throat, 1:23:31-1:23:39.

The Man with the Golden Gun

The Man with the Golden Gun. Guy Hamilton, 1974.
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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 125 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Nice AMCs.

The Living Daylights

The Living Daylights. John Glen, 1987.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 130 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Live and Let Die

Live and Let Die. Guy Hamilton, 1973.

😿😿

Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.

Summary: Although clearly a special effect, the depicted incineration of a (non-poisonous) speckled kingsnake, 34:29-34:34, is cruel and unnecessary.

About 23 minutes in, a bar scene has a 1967 Bally Dixieland and a 1972 Williams Super Star.

License to Kill

License to Kill. John Glen, 1989.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 134 minutes.

Summary: Depiction of a slaughtered shark, 42:15-42:25.

Goldfinger

Goldfinger. Guy Hamilton, 1964.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 117 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Goldeneye

Goldeneye. Martin Campbell, 1995.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 130 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

@ BL

From Russia with Love

From Russia with Love. Terrence Young, 1963.

😸

Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

For Your Eyes Only

For Your Eyes Only. John Glen, 1981.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 127 minutes.

Summary: Mild display of fishing gore, 9:24-9:27.

Dr. No

Dr. No. Terence Young, 1962.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 111 minutes.

Summary: Killing of a tarantula.

Details: Depiction of a tarantula pounded well beyond need with a shoe, 44:12-44:19. We see Sean Connery flailing his shod hand about but the impacts are screened by furniture.

Die Another Day

Die Another Day. Lee Tamahori, 2002.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 127 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Diamonds are Forever

Diamonds are Forever. Guy Hamilton, 1971.

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Edition screened: Included in MGM James Bond: Ultimate Collector’s Set (21 films on 42 DVDs), released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 125 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Human Condition

The Human Condition (Ningen no jôken). Masaki Kobayashi, 1959-1961.

😿😿😿

Edition screened: Criterion 4-DVD set #480, released 2009. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 574 minutes.

Summary: Cruel murder of a dog.

Details:
1) The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (disc 1): A happy energetic dog is picked up and thrown against an electric fence to show what will happen to any prisoner who tries to escape, 41:45-41:51.

2) The Human Condition II: The Road to Eternity (disc 2): Men return from a hunt with a large animal (a big goat?) suspended by the legs from a pole, 29:17-29.27. Not gruesome.

The Criterion release contains the entire 9 ½ hour experience:

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959, 206 mins.)

The Human Condition II: The Road to Eternity (1959, 177 mins.)

The Human Condition III: A Soldier’s Prayer (1961, 190 mins.)

The Holy Mountain (Fanck)

The Holy Mountain (Der heilige Berg). Arnold Fanck, 1926.

😸

Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema DVD #2, released 2004. Original German intertitles with English subtitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

An astounding film from start to finish, a mesmerizingly oafish dance sequence by Leni Riefenstahl and a horrific mountaineering tragedy, respectively.

High and Low

High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku). Akira Kurosawa, 1963.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #24, released 2011. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 143 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

High and Low is a fabulous vehicle for the great Toshiro Mifune, and shows Kurosawa’s masterful use of psychologically compelling widescreen composition.

High and Dizzy

High and Dizzy. Hal Roach, 1920.

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Edition screened: Included on Kino Slapstick Symposium: The Harold Lloyd Collection 2 DVD, released 2005. English intertitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 26 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Hell (Tanovic)

Hell (L’enfer). Danis Tanovic, 2005.

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Edition screened: Momentum DVD, released 2006. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Heartbreak Kid

The Heartbreak Kid. Bobby and Peter Farrelly, 2007.

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Edition screened: Dreamworkds DVD, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 116 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. Asia Argento, 2004.

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Edition screened: Palm DVD, released 2006. English languages. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Bakumatsu taiyô-den

Bakumatsu taiyô-den: A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era (The Sun Legend in the Last Days of the Shogunate). Yûzô Kawashima, 1957.

😿😿

Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #60, released 2013. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.

Summary: Abuse of a cat and display of dead animals, all for comedic effect.

Details:

1) A dead dog is shown floating in the water, 23:44-23:48.

2) A seated man plucks the whiskers from a cat, and the cat recoils in pain at each occurrence, 35:54-36:05. At 36:26 we see that the cat is partially bound in restraint and cannot move.

3) A man is pushed off a dock into shallow water, and comes up clutching a dead cat which then serves as a quick slapstick prop, 41:36-41:51.

Greed in the Sun

Greed in the Sun (Cent mille dollars au soleil). Henri Verneuil, 1964.

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Edition screened: Olive Blu-ray, released 1964. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 125 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

An enjoyable film marred by one of the most imbecilic quick wrap-up endings I've ever seen.

Forgotten Silver

Forgotten Silver. Peter Jackson and Costa Botes, 1997.

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Edition screened: First Run Features DVD, released 2000. English language. Runtime approximately 53 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Evil Dead (Alvarez)

Evil Dead. Fede Alvarez, 2013.

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Edition screened: Sony Blu-ray, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: Display of tortured and murdered animals.

Details: Many animals are found in the basement of the cabin, hanging dead from the ceiling and bound with twine as they were when tortured to death.
1) A first and focused shot of one dead cat, 2:30-2:40, followed by an overview of the room 2:56-3:00. The hanging animals are seen in the background during dialogue through 5:02, when the title screen appears. There are close-ups of cats but some animals are larger.
2) People enter the basement and see this same scene, but it is later and the bodies are withered and decaying 16:46-17:05.
3) A trail of blood at 32:12 is followed to a dying whimpering dog at 32:24. The bloody dog is cradled while it dies, 32:43-33:06, then we see a nearby hammer and cut to a Deadite hammering … something.

As usual, that ol’ devil Liberal Hollywood cuddles up to the misinformed fantasies of animal-hating, religiously paranoid conservative ’Murika.

This is poor and base work in many ways. Obviously there is the gratuitous focus on recently tortured animals, and intentional muddying of the water that differentiates magick from satanism. (Ok, so poor and base in my opinion, but right on message for the God, Guns, and Guts crowd.) But most significantly, this 2013 effort fails to understand how important a sense of humor was to Raimi’s original game-changing Evil Dead (1981). A sense of humor is not the same thing as making stupid jokes.

Animal abuse aside, the film begins with a truly horrifying and well-made set piece showing a Deadite’s execution/soul liberation. Soon thereafter comes the brightest moment in the film as we meet a cast member sitting on the hood of Ash’s Delta 88, abandoned at the cabin thirty years earlier. But the script quickly devolves into 80 additional minutes of James Bond-style chainsaw-through-the-head/“splitting-headache” knee-slappers.

Sense of humor: desirable, absent.
Stupid jokes: undesirable, plentiful.

Thorvaldsen

Thorvaldsen (Thorvaldsen: Denmark’s Great Sculptor). Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1949.

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Edition screened: Included on Image DVD Three Films by Carl Theodor Dreyer, released 2004. Danish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 10 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

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