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.

Showing posts with label Wheels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wheels. Show all posts

Jackson County Jail

Jackson County Jail. Michael Miller, 1976.

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Edition screened: Included on Shout! Factory DVD ‘Roger Corman’s Cult Classic Double Feature’ Jackson County Jail/Caged Heat, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.


Summary: A small squalid room has many amateur taxidermy projects in varying stages of completion, 20:24-23:00. There is no particular focus on the taxidermy but we see pelts or dead animals lying on a table and a pelt hanging on a form in the background.



Psychomania

Psychomania. Don Sharp, 1973.

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Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume 2, released 2024. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


César et Rosalie

César et Rosalie. Claude Sautet, 1972.

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Edition screened: Studio Canal Blu-ray, released 2012. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 111 minutes.


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


52 Pick-Up

52 Pick-Up. John Frankenheimer, 1986.

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Edition screened: Koch Lorber Blu-ray, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.


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



Baby Driver

Baby Driver. Edgar Wright, 2017.

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Edition screened: TriStar Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 117 minutes.


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


My Cousin Vinny

My Cousin Vinny. Jonathan Lynn, 1992.

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Edition screened: 20th Century Fox Blu-ray, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 120 minutes.


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


They Call Her One Eye

They Call Her One Eye. Bo Arne Vibenius, 1974.

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Edition screened: Blu-ray included with Vinegar Syndrome UHD set Thriller: A Cruel Picture, released 2022. Original English dub. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


They Call Her One Eye is the family-friendly version of Thriller.


Avenged

Avenged (Savaged). Michael S. Ojeda, 2013.

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Edition screened: Uncork’d Blu-ray, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.


Summary: A dead coyote or wild dog is found in the desert in a state of decomposition, 5:08-5:30.


America as Seen by a Frenchman

America as Seen by a Frenchman. François Reichenbach, 1960.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2020. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.


Summary: The cruel and trashy spectacle of a high-diving horse, 44:22-45:12. There is no indication of physical injury to the horse. This time.


Willy’s Wonderland

Willy’s Wonderland. Kevin Lewis, 2020.

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Edition screened: Screen Media Blu-ray, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.


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


A custom Willy’s Wonderland pinball machine is featured periodically throughout the film.

Death Has Blue Eyes

Death Has Blue Eyes (To koritsi vomva/The Para Psychics). Nico Mastorakis, 1976.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2021. English dub. Runtime approximately 80 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


Spirit of Cheshire

Spirit of Cheshire. Kevin Marshland, 1980.

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Edition screened: Included on BFI DVD Red Shift, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 20 minutes.


Summary: No animals in the film.


A group of historic Rolls-Royce automobiles lead an enjoyable tour around historic Cheshire. 

Highway Racer

Highway Racer (Poliziotto sprint). Stelvio Massi, 1977.
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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray box set Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers 1973-1977, released 2021. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.


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


Sorcerer (Friedkin)

Sorcerer. William Friedkin, 1977.

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Edition screened: Universal Blu-ray, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.


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


Around the 25:00 mark there is a brief long-shot of pig carcasses being carried through a village, followed by the suggestion that we will see a chicken slaughtered, which we do not.


Colt 38 Special Squad

Colt 38 Special Squad (Quelli della calibro 38). Massimo Dallamano, 1976.

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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray box set Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers 1973-1977, released 2021. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


Tommy Boy

Tommy Boy. Peter Segal, 1995.

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Edition screened: Warner DVD, released 1995. English language. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.


Summary: Comedy about killing animals.


Details:

A gag ensues 42:00 - 47:00, in which a deer is hit by a car (off screen) and presumably killed, then it’s loaded into the back seat of the GTX, then it’s not really dead, trashes the car and escapes. We don’t see the car hit the deer. Or anything funny.


Wise Blood

Wise Blood. John Huston, 1979.

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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #470, released 209. English language. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.


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


Game Night

Game Night. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, 2018.

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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.


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


Drive

Drive. Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011.

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Edition screened: Sony Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.


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


Savage Three

Savage Three (Fango bollente). Vittorio Salerno, 1975.

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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray box set Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers 1973-1977, released 2021. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.


Summary: Killing of laboratory mice; pheasant hunting.


Details:

1) A group of mice in a plexiglass box are incited to attack and kill each other, 4:10-4:48. We see the mice launch into a biting frenzy before they collapse dead and bloody.

2) Two brief and typical images of pheasants being shot during a hunt, 1:02:24-1:02:30 and 1:03:14-1:03:25.