The Doberman Gang (1972)

Dogs are the greatest, most noble animals in the world. They love humanity and will do anything, as this movie proves, for us. This is a really fun movie where a gang gets the idea to use Doberman's a quite intelligent breed, to rob a bank. The movie works well and the heist is well filmed. A really enjoyable, if silly, movie.

"The doggonist gang that the world had ever seen..."At dinner one night, my father-in-law saw a Doberman on TV and asked if I had ever seen the movie where Dobermans rob a bank. I hadn't...but knew from that description alone that I had to track it down.It was released in 1972, directed by Byron Chudnow. Chudnow only directed four movies in his career...The Doberman Gang, The Daring Dobermans, The Amazing Dobermans, and Alex and the Doberman Gang. Pretty safe to say that this guy had an unhealthy obsession with these dogs. It stars TV journeyman actor Byron Mabe, Hal Reed and Julie Parrish, none of whom you've ever heard of.The story revolves around an ex-con named Eddie and his desire to rob a bank without the element of 'human error' once a bank job goes wrong. To do this, he and a dog trainer snag a pack of Dobermans and train them to rob a bank using whistles. Sound crazy? It is. It really is.The premise of this movie sounds a bit better than it actually is. What we actually get is about 10 minutes of set up, an hour of dog training, and a ten minute heist. A bunch of character decisions make no sense, none more than the fact that Eddie is about the least careful criminal one could be. He pulls a waitress that he's known for one night into the job because...well...sex, and when the dog trainer threatens to bolt, he basically lets him. He flat out deserves to get caught. At least the 70's music is 'groovy', featuring a song about the dogs that just classic(ly bad).I cannot recommend seeing The Doberman Gang. The only thing redeeming about this thing is the music and watching a bulldog try to run the doberman course.My final grade: D

You may have seen the hilarious trailer for this movie online. If not, simply search "doberman gang" on YouTube. I advise you to do this, then skip the movie entirely.I am not exaggerating when I say that the trailer has everything worth watching. "The Doberman Gang" is not a "so bad it's good" film. Worse than that-- the movie is painfully dull. Nothing happens, and I mean NOTHING for an entire hour. It is only in the last twenty minutes do we see the dogs in action. And again, it's everything you see in the trailer, only edited horribly to stretch out the scene. Think about it---dogs robbing a friggin' bank, and they somehow managed to make it boring! See instead "Daring Dobermans" the superior sequel. It picks up immediately where this film leaves off (the dogs succeed in robbing the bank, but then run away to the woods). A new band of criminals capture the dogs and train them for another heist. "Daring Dobermans" is truly enjoyable with a better story, more interesting characters including a cute kid, more doberman action and this time, the heist is exciting and fun.

Considering that the main cast are primarily television bit actors, they gel together very well. Even director Byron Chudnow's primary work was producing and editing in television, which probably goes a long way to explain why the film is so economically paced. Julie Parrish was most recognized for appearing opposite Elvis Presley in "Paradise, Hawaiian Style", and briefly in Star Trek's "The Menagerie" (part 1).The film is notable especially for being composer Alan Sylvestri's first motion picture score (alternating between dramatic and humorous), with absolutely no prior composing experience, and a two week deadline. He would eventually be linked regularly to director Robert Zemeckis, enjoying a working relationship similar to Steven Spielberg and John Williams.Extremely entertaining and generally a well paced film, rated GP on original theatrical prints (re-classified PG) for a couple of bloody sequences.